独立独歩 dokuritsudoppo Self-Reliant

独立 (dokuritsu) is standing alone, the word for independence, a nation's or a person's; 独歩 (doppo) is walking alone, by oneself and on one's own road. Two old words doubled into one, and the dictionaries give the compound two senses: the one this design carries is to think and judge for oneself and walk the road one believes in; the other is to have no equal, to walk alone because no one keeps pace.

独立独歩 is plain praise in Japanese, a school's motto, and it became the ordinary word for a self-made person in the age that first needed one, when the reformer whose watchword was independence wrote that a nation's springs from its people's, and said this word of himself. Self-Reliant is exact for the first sense and silent on the second: a buyer who means I stand on my own has the living word, and one who means I have no equal wants another.

一匹狼 (ippiki ōkami), the lone wolf, is the dictionaries' own neighbor for the outsider's shade of 独立独歩.

独立独歩 is composed of the words 独立 (read dokuritsu) meaning "independence; standing alone" and 独歩 (read doppo) meaning "walking alone; on one's own".

A related word for "self-reliant" is Lone Wolf (ippiki ōkami).

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 独立独歩.

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