Philology

389 texts on the shelf

Browse: Recently added · A text at random · By kind: Proverbs and Maxims · Haiku and Poems · Zen Phrases · Scripture · Classics · Words and Phrases

Every proverb, poem and phrase we brush has a past. Here we show our work: each text followed from its oldest surviving record to the design on our shelf, with the sources open beside it. Read one before you choose a scroll, or read them because the stories are good.

Examples

古池や蛙飛込水の音 · furu ike ya kawazu tobikomu mizu no oto Bashō - The old pond, a frog jumps in, the sound of water It stands at the head of a contest of frog verses his circle held in the spring of 1686.

一期一会 · ichigo ichie Each Moment Only Once The earliest witness found for this study is the preface to Ii Naosuke 井伊直弼's tea manual, finished in 1858.

見猿聞か猿言わ猿 · mizaru kikazaru iwazaru See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil A manuscript of 1597 already keeps three monkeys named by the three negatives.

初心忘る可からず · shoshin wasurubekarazu Never Lose Your Beginner's Spirit Zeami wrote it in 1424 at the close of his treatise The Mirror of the Flower, as the one maxim his school held good in every art.

Recently added

轉禍爲福 · wazawai o tenjite fuku to nasu Turn Misfortune into Good Fortune 7 November 2026 The close of a speech in the 戰國策, where 蘇秦 talks a king into giving back ten cities.

ぼさつ實がいればうつふく 人間實がいればあをのく · bosatsu mi ga ireba utsubuku, ningen mi ga ireba aonoku Rice Bows When It Fills; a Man Looks Up 6 November 2026 A common saying of the 1600s that sets ripe rice, which bows, against a man who prospers and looks up.

酒は礼に始まり乱に終わる · sake wa rei ni hajimari ran ni owaru Drink Begins in Courtesy and Ends in Disorder 6 November 2026 A proverb of the banquet, which Kyokutei Bakin printed in 1828 as what the people of old said, and gave to Zhuangzi.

謗者任汝謗嗤者任汝嗤 · soshiru mono wa nanji no soshiru ni makasu, warau mono wa nanji no warau ni makasu Those Who Slander, I Leave You to Your Slandering; Those Who Sneer, I Leave You to Your Sneering 6 November 2026 Sakuma Shōzan's eight-line poem, the last of twelve that open in prison, leaves the slanderers to their slander, for heaven knows him.

爲我有餘宜與人 · waga tame ni amari araba yoroshiku hito ni ataubeshi What I Have Beyond My Need Should Go to Others 6 November 2026 The last line of a poem the Zen monk Ten'in Ryūtaku wrote on Fukurokuju, the god of fortune, stipend and long life.

Browse by Kind

Proverbs and Maxims 64 articles

Sayings Japanese people still use, from saru mo ki kara ochiru, even monkeys fall from trees, to the four-character wishes hung for a household or a great vow. Each study follows the saying to its oldest printed record and to the book that first put it into English.

Haiku and Poems 52 articles

Verses by Bashō, Buson, Issa, Shiki and the poets around them. Each study reads the poem in its earliest print, says what its words meant then, and sets our English beside the translations a reader may already know.

Zen Phrases 36 articles

Short lines from the Zen records, such as kissako, do have some tea, and nichinichi kore kōjitsu, day after day, a good day. Each study finds the line in the record it comes from and the teacher it is told of.

Scripture 13 articles

Lines from the Buddhist sutras and from the Bible, in the Japanese they are brushed in. Each study names the sutra or the verse, and the translation the Japanese words come from.

Classics 46 articles

Phrases from the Chinese classics and from Japan's own masters, such as onko chishin from the Analects and Musashi's ware koto ni oite kōkaisezu. Each study opens the book the words come from and shows the passage they stand in.

Words and Phrases 178 articles

Single words and short compounds we brush, from bushidō to ikebana. Each study follows the word to its earliest record and says what it means in Japanese today.