千里の道も一歩より senri no michi mo ippo yori A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step

千里の道も一歩より is a proverb about small beginnings. 千里 is a thousand ri, an old measure of distance, and 道 is the road. 一歩 is one step. より, from, is the proverb's older particle, where today's speakers say から. However long the road, it begins with one step you can take today. Whether it is for the start of something long or for someone taking a first step is yours.

The proverb is Japanese-made from the Laozi's line 千里之行始於足下, which reached Japanese prose through a motto of Bai Juyi and the preface of the Kokinshū; its own wording is in the Zen monk Takuan's prose before 1646 and in print in Kaibara Ekiken's 大和俗訓 of 1708.

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