笑う門には福来る warau kado ni wa fuku kitaru Fortune Comes To Those Who Smile

笑う門には福来る is a wish for a household more than advice to one person. 門, the gate, stands for the house and the family behind it. Good fortune comes as a visitor, a god of fortune arriving at the door. The laugh meant is the innocent kind, from the belly. 来る is read kitaru, the old form the proverb keeps.

The proverb is native Japanese, heard in the kyōgen 筑紫奥, and its first dated witness is Matsue Shigeyori 松江重頼's proverb collection 毛吹草 of 1638, where fortune comes to the place that laughs, 笑フ所へ福來ル, before 門, the gate, became the usual word.

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