此の父にして此の娘有り kono chichi ni shite kono musume ari Like Father, Like Daughter
此の父にして此の娘有り (kono chichi ni shite kono musume ari), such a father, such a daughter, is a Confucian proverb, Japanese since Bakin's novel of 1807–11, made specific for a daughter. Its one precedent in the National Diet Library's books to 1946 is a 1944 study of Hokusai, said of the painter and his daughter Ōi, herself a fine painter.
Abstract
此の父にして此の娘有り, such a father, such a daughter, is the Japanese proverb この父にしてこの子あり made specific for a daughter. The proverb is Confucian, from the 孔叢子, and Japanese since Bakin's novel of 1807–11, where it is praise. The daughter's form has one precedent in the National Diet Library's books to 1946: a 1944 study of Hokusai, said of the painter and his daughter Ōi.
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 daughter: 娘 in place of 子, a substitution a 1944 study of Hokusai made independently, about the painter and his painter daughter. A companion text makes it specific for a son, 此の父にして此の息子有り, 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 娘 musume, daughter; あり, there is, which this text writes in kanji as 有り, keeping the character of the Chinese [1].
The text in English. The English idiom behind it, 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, 娘 for a daughter in place of 子; 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 [4].
1944. The daughter's precedent. The daughter version has one Japanese precedent in the Library's books to 1946, and it is a good one: a 1944 study of Hokusai, noting that his daughter Ōi was herself a fine painter who took to divination and the Buddhist path as he had, concludes まさに此の父にして此の娘ありといふ可きであらう, one may well say: such a father, such a daughter [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 child who is the parent's equal. Its career is mostly of sons, and the daughter's form stands on a good precedent, the 1944 study's word for Hokusai and Ōi. 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
- 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
- 浮世絵研究会 (ed.), 北斎の研究, 上, 北光書房, 1944, scan 89. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1068949/1/89