心機一転 shinkiitten Complete Change of Mind

心機 is the working of the mind, its spring, and 一転 is one turn, a complete change; the dictionaries keep two things, an occasion and a whole change of feeling. The word is a Meiji compound, found in print by 1888. Kōda Rohan used it in a novel of the early 1890s for the instant a father who has leapt from a rock into a whirlpool to die, his small son in his arms, is thrown up alive by the water and his heart turns from death to life. Between 1911 and 1918, two English-Japanese dictionaries offered it for to get religion and to be born again.

By 1910 the word was everyone's, and today 心機一転 is a fresh start, which Japanese-English dictionaries give as turning over a new leaf.

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