Cry in the dojo - Laugh on the battlefield

道場で泣き戦場で笑う (dōjō de naki senjō de warau): weep in the dojo, laugh on the battlefield. 道場 (dōjō) is the training hall and 戦場 (senjō) the battlefield; 泣き (naki) is weep in the form that runs on to the next clause, and 笑う (warau) is laugh, so the phrase is a balanced couplet, the tears in one place and the laughter in the other. It is the rule every hall teaches, that the hard work is done in training so that the real contest is easy, and the Japanese says it with tears and laughter rather than with sweat. The phrase is modern Japanese, plain and correct, and it lives in the halls and on their walls; a search of every book to 1946 finds it in none, and it has no author. Cry in the Dojo, Laugh on the Battlefield is the house's rendering; weep is the closer word for 泣く, since cry in English can also mean shout.