Tag Archives: Japan

“If dust piles up it becomes a mountain”

AGE: 49

Date_of_performance: February 21, 2025

Language: Japanese

Nationality: Japanese

Occupation: Banker

Primary Language: Japanese

Residence: New York

Context: “If dust piles up it becomes a mountain”. E heard this phrase growing up in Japan from her parents and she incorporates it into her day-to-day life today. She interprets it as small things add up to a great result. She gave me the example of happiness, and how being thankful for small things everyday leads to overall happiness in one’s life

Text: 

Interviewer is I. Subject is Eri, E.

I: So what kind of Japanese proverbs do you know of or like?

E: There’s a lot of them I like but one of my favorites is the phrase, “if dust piles up it becomes a mountain”.

I: What does that mean?

E: It means that doing small things will add up to a great result. If you study a language for an hour a day, eventually you will be able to understand a lot of it.

I: I see, so something as small as dust can become a mountain if there is a lot of it. How do you relate this proverb in your day-to-day life?

E: I use it for happiness. I think about small things I’m thankful for everyday. And that makes me very happy overall, it adds to my happiness.

Analysis:

Thinking deeper about this, I think this proverb fits in with Japanese culture. Japanese people have always been hard-working, although there is a sense that they work themselves a little too much. The idea of doing something little by little to make a profound change could be incorporated into how Japanese people view work. Personally, I want to apply this to life with going to the gym. Although results are not immediate, being disciplined and going to the gym often can result in great benefits.

“A child is a parent’s mirror” – Japanese Proverb

Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 2/19/2023
Primary Language: Japanese

1. Text

Main piece: The informant shared a Japanese proverb that goes: “A child is a parent’s mirror”.

2. Context

Relationship to the piece:

Informant: “This one I heard it from my mom”

Interpretation:

Informant:

“I think it’s both [good and bad]”

“like if a child is nasty, then the parent is nasty”

“but if the child is well mannered usually the parent is too”

3. Analysis

This Japanese proverb is similar to proverbs in other cultures like the Korean proverb “If you plant beans you get beans” and the North American proverb “an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”. This common comparison between parent and children across various cultures shows that people often judge parents by their children and vice versa. It also suggests that a child’s upbringing is very influential to their character. It seems to suggest that the parent-child bond is very strong and is difficult to break from. However, these proverbs come from traditional and conservative views of how families are structured and do not serve to explain all families. Therefore, the idea that children reflect their parents is not absolute but a cautionary message to parents raising children and children growing under the shadow of their parents to be better versions of themselves or break away from the mistakes or flaws of their parents.

“Trip seven times, get up eight times” – Japanese Proverb

Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 2/19
Primary Language: Japanese

1. Text

Main piece: Informant shared a Japanese proverb “七転び八起き”.

Original script: 七転び八起き

Phonetic: Nana korobi hachi oki

Transliteration: Seven falls eight get ups

Translation: Trip seven times, get up eight times.

Definition: Persevering, not giving up till succeeding; the ups and downs of life

2. Context

Relationship to the piece:

Informant:

“I read it in a book”

Meaning:

Informant:

“I never really understood what it was”

“I think it’s perseverance though”

3. Analysis

This Japanese proverb seems to say that life is falling seven times and getting up eight times. Even though you keep falling, if you keep getting up, you will end up on your feet. It also suggests that life is full of ups and downs, and is not easy. One must keep failing then trying again to stay afloat. It does have a positive connotation as the number of falls is less than the number of getting up. This outlook of accepting the struggle yet remaining hopeful is one way that Japanese people live their life. Although the meaning seems similar, this proverb is very different from its likes in the western culture like “failure is the father of success”, where failure is suggested to lead to success. Instead, the Japanese proverb tells the people that life is hard, and one must accept that and persevere, where getting up doesn’t mean success but does mean that one can keep on continuing forward. This shows how the Japanese proverb is more realistic and practical, while the North American proverb is more idealistic. This could be traced further back to the power dynamic differences between Japan and the US since the US is a superpower whereas Japan was defeated during WWII and has been forced to remove its military, renounce their emperor, and even be under control of the US for a period of time. As a superpower, the US has the confidence to use more idealistic proverbs while Japan after WWII has a much more stagnant and cynical outlook which leads to more realistic and pragmatic proverbs.

The Bamboo Cutter

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Glendale, California
Performance Date: April 7, 2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Japanese (as a child)

Context:

The informant–HO– is a third generation Japanese American 18 year old woman born in California who attended a weekly Japanese language school from age 7 to age 9. The tale was told to her by her grandmother (born in Japan) in English. I, the interviewer, am labeled as DJ.

Piece:

HO: So once upon a time, there was this little old man. He and his wife never had kids. So they were like very sad old people. And his job was to just like go out and cut bamboo all day, and then, like, sell it. So then one day he was like walking through the bamboo forest and was like, “Oh my God. Why does that bamboo look like the moon is shining directly on it?” Because it was. So he was like, “I’m gonna cut that bamboo down. It’s, like, I feel like it’s a sign.” And once the bamboo, like, falls down, he sees that, like where he cut it, there’s, like, a little tiny person like that big. Maybe, like, a few inches tall. And it’s just like a little lady. And she’s just, like, in there. And he’s like, whoa. You must have been sent from the gods cause you’re like a little child. And we never had kids. And then he takes it home to his wife. She’s like, “That’s a tiny kid.”

DJ: Wait, is it a kid or is it a woman?

HO: It’s like a tiny little girl, I would think. And then they’re like, “OK, well, we’re taking her in as our own.” And then- But then they don’t let anyone see her, obviously, because she’s, like, definitely smaller than the average baby. So several months later, she’s like the size of like a normal little girl, like a teen girl. Not 100 percent sure. And then they, like, have like a party where they, like, reveal her to the world. And everyone’s like, “Whoa. She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.” And they’re like, “Yeah, we know.” And then, like, news spreads fast because Japan is, like, tiny. So then everybody, like every man on earth is like, “Whoah, whoah, whoah, whoah!” They like travel to their little bamboo house and they’re like, “What’s up? Can I marry your daughter?” And the dad’s like, “No,” he’s like, “I’m not even, like, technically her real dad. So that’s why I’m telling you no.”

DJ: Oh, he tell people that he’s not her real dad?

HO: Yeah. Which is, like, really suspicious. That sounds like you stole her. Whatever. And then… And then he talks to his daughter in is like, “So like what do we do about all these suitors?” And she’s like, “I’ll pick one if they can do all these crazy tasks. And I don’t remember what any of the tasks are. So that’s my bad. But. Then, obviously, none of the men can do any of them. So she’s like, “OK, you’re all, like, not going to marry me. Because you’re the worst.” And then, like, the emperor, like, comes to see her and he’s like, “Well, what about me?” And she’s like, “No.” And he’s like, really disturbed by it because he’s like,”How could she say no to me, the emperor?” So then she’s just, like, lonely all the time and the dad’s like, “Well, it’s kind of your fault. And then she’s like, “Yeah, I know, but like the moon was just talking to me, and it told me that, like, my moon family is, like, coming back for me. The dad’s like, “No. No.” So then he calls up the emperor and is like, “Hey, we need to, like, we need to literally get all your guards and we’re blocking our house off because that would work against moon people” And so they like, guard the house. And the daughters like, “This is stupid, like. We’re otherworldly.” And then the moon people just, like, descend on a cloud, like, they have like a chariot on a cloud. They just like come down and are like, “Get in the chariot.” And she’s like, “All right.”And then she gets in the chariot. And she’s like, “Just think of me when you look at the moon.” And the dad’s like, “OK.” And then she just, like, floats away. And that’s the end.

Analysis:

This tale carries on a theme in Japanese folk tales of supernatural children hatching from plants discovered in the wild and taken in by an elderly couple. The tale is also a pre-science fiction narrative features extraterrestrial beings from another planet visiting Earth.

For a similar tale in which a child is discovered in a giant peach rather than a bamboo stock, see Momotarō (Peach Boy)

Blue Ghosts in Okinawa, Japan

Nationality: American
Age: college age freshman
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles
Primary Language: English

AM: So, it was- like the first month or two when i moved to Japan and I was hanging outside at like…2am like at night in a park. Um, the military base we was staying on was built like near like Japanese Shrines and whatnot and they said that you know the shrines are haunted and there’s a lotta “superstitions” with those. So while we’re out hanging, there was like oh look- you can see a bluf- blue figure on a hill like on top of the shrine and when I looked over you- I saw like a bluish like glow from the hills where the shrine was and they said that this island is one of the most haunted places and that there’s a lot of spirits around.

VG: Woah. What island was it?

AM: Okinawa.

VG: Woah-

AM: And that is- it is very common to see those there… so we was like “yeah, let’s get the hell out of here.”

 

Background:

Location of Story – Okinawa, Japan

Location of Performance – Dormitory room, Los Angeles, CA, night

 

Context: This performance took place in a group setting – about 2-3 people – in a college dormitory room. This performance was prompted by the call for stories about beliefs, ghosts, or superstitions as examples of folklore. This story came after a few others. The one prior was specifically about a high school grade being cursed.

 

Analysis: One point of interest in this performance is the effectiveness of the subtlety of the description of the “spirits.” The only physical description the audience receives about these supernatural beings is that they humanoid in figure and blue. The color is particularly notable because, at least in my experience, I have always viewed the ghosts in ghost stories as being neutral toned or white. Therefore, this description was able to create a whole new image for me and draw me deeper into this performance. It also reinforces the foreignness AM might feel since he had just moved to Japan: not only is the location different but also all of the local lore. One might even go so far as to say that this story was presented with a negative conation despite having no description of graphic hauntings or threats.