此の父にして此の息子有り kono chichi ni shite kono musuko ari Like Father, Like Son
此の父にして此の息子有り (kono chichi ni shite kono musuko ari), such a father, such a son, is a Confucian proverb, Japanese since Bakin's novel of 1807–11, made specific for a son. In Japanese it is praise, of a son who is his father's equal; its blame sense, which the English like father, like son also carries, is dated in Japanese to 1965 and marked a misuse.
Abstract
此の父にして此の息子有り, such a father, such a son, is the Japanese proverb この父にしてこの子あり made specific for a son. The proverb is Confucian, from the 孔叢子, and Japanese since Bakin's novel of 1807–11, where it is praise; its blame sense, which the English like father, like son also carries, is dated in Japanese to 1965 and marked a misuse.
Overview
The sense. The proverb この父にしてこの子あり, Confucian in origin and Japanese since Bakin, made specific for a son: 息子 in place of 子. A companion text makes it specific for a daughter, 此の父にして此の娘有り, and has its own history.
The words. にして, being, given that it is; 子 ko, a child of either sex, which the proverb uses, replaced here with 息子 musuko, son; あり, there is, which this text writes in kanji as 有り, keeping the character of the Chinese [1].
The text in English. Like father, like son carries praise and blame alike; the Japanese proverb, the dictionary says, is praise, and its blame sense, dated 1965, is marked 誤用, a misuse [1].
The historical record
Before 1807. The proverb. The Japanese dictionary and the Chinese one cite the same source, the 孔叢子, chapter 居衛, and print it differently: kotobank sets the kanbun with its return marks, 子思曰、有二此父一、斯有二此子一、道之常也, and zdic's text reads 有此父斯有此子，人道之常也, Zisi said: with such a father there is such a son; that is the constant way of man [2]. In Japanese the proverb is この父にしてこの子あり, first cited from Bakin's 椿説弓張月 of 1807–11 as an exclamation of praise, 嗚乎この父にして、この子あり; the dictionary's headword is 此親にしてこの子あり, and its first sense is praise, only such a fine father could have such a fine child; its second, blame, it marks a misuse and dates to 1965 [1]. A 1931 book on loyalty and Zen uses it of Kusunoki Masatsura dying at Shijōnawate as his father died: 此親にしてこの子あり。母の〓諫多きによる, such a parent, such a child; it was his mother's admonitions that did it [3]. The proverb's Japanese career is praise, and especially of sons who die like their fathers. Here it is made specific, 息子 for a son in place of 子, and the son's form is in no book to 1946 in the National Diet Library in either spelling of あり [4]; and it is written あり in kanji, 有り, which is the character the Chinese itself uses and which the kanbun tradition keeps when it reads the line into Japanese — a 1921 teishō on the 碧巌録 prints the Chinese 此父而有此子 and gives its 和訓 as 此の父にして此の子有り, said there of a Zen master and the heir who matched him [5].
Today. What a rendering must keep is the knowledge that the proverb's sense is praise.
A reading
The proverb's sense is the one easiest to lose: この父にしてこの子あり is praise in Japanese, of a son who is his father's equal. 有り and あり are one word in two spellings; the kanji is the Chinese source's own character and the kanbun reading's, attested 1921.
References
- 「此親にしてこの子あり」, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/此親にしてこの子あり-2039684
- 「有其父必有其子」, at zdic. https://www.zdic.net/hant/有其父必有其子
- 飯田欓隠, 忠禅, 中央仏教社, 1931, scan 40. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1032017/1/40
- National Diet Library Digital Collections, next-generation full-text search on 此の父にして此の息子有り and 此の父にして此の息子あり, 0 books each to 1946. https://lab.ndl.go.jp/dl/
- 日置黙仙, 鉄笛倒吹講話, 下巻, 実業之日本社, 1921, scan 122. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/963235/1/122