四字熟語: 「日」

This post is authored by Jonathan. Please check out his blog, Jonathan’s Japan(ese) Journal • ジョナサンの日本(語)日記, for more Japanese related articles.

Last time, we looked over the Sun kanji, 日, and the various meanings that it holds. We’re going to continue our study of this character today by looking at some 四字熟語 (よじじゅくご)–that is, four-character idiomatic compounds. What a great day to commemorate the new 四字熟語 deck here at Read The Kanji!

As you have hopefully surmised from the term itself, these kanji compounds are expressions composed of four kanji. Many of these were imported from China or various classical works, but some of them are unique to Japan. Since they generally are Chinese in origin, however, you’re likely to find that many of them use the Chinese readings (音読み) of the kanji. Makes sense, right? As such, in all of today’s expressions, 日 is read either にち or じつ.

The characters in 四字熟語 means, respectively:
四: four
字: character
熟: ripen, mature, acquire skill
語: word, speech, language

四字 is pretty straightforward, but 熟語 is a bit more of an abstract term. When you put these two kanji together, they come to mean “kanji compound; idiom; idiomatic phrase.” So then, “four-character idiomatic phrase” is pretty much an exact translation.

That’s pretty much how these things work, so let’s jump in it with our first expression, shall we?

一日三秋

いちじつ・さんしゅう or
いちにち・さんしゅう

(one / day / three / autumns)
Definition: to look forward eagerly to, each moment seeming like an eternity

The literal translation of the Japanese definition of this phrase can be rendered as “not meeting for even one day feels like not meeting for three autumns, or three years.” That really drives home the strength of the expression, which carries the nuance of very strong yearning.

Interestingly, you can see that this phrase can be read two ways—either starting with いちじつ or with いちにち. In normal everyday Japanese, 一日 is generally read いちにち, but these are somewhat special circumstances and it seems that いちじつ is actually the more traditional reading for this phrase. Choose whichever is easiest for you, though. Everyone will understand what you’re saying regardless and you’ll look pretty cool to boot. (Not guaranteed.)

The first three kanji are pretty obvious, but in this expression, the 秋 stands out. 秋 is the kanji that represents the season of autumn. Its Japanese reading is あき and its Chinese reading is しゅう. In this expression, though, it’s indirectly pointing to the passage of an entire year.

So let’s try using 一日三秋 in a sentence:

彼が海外出張から帰ってくるのを、彼女は一日三秋の思いで待っている。
She is eagerly looking forward to his return from his business trip overseas.

• 彼 (かれ): he; or one’s boyfriend, depending upon the context
• 海外 (かいがい): overseas
• 出張 (しゅっちょう): business trip
• 帰ってくる: to return home (where the speaker is)
• 私 (わたし; or わたくし in formal contexts): I, me, myself
• 思い (おもい): thoughts
• 待つ (まつ): to wait

Ah, young love. At least, that’s what I imagine when I read that sentence. The usage of the term here is 一日三秋の思いで待つ. This idiomatic expression often appears in the form 一日三秋の思いで. Likewise, 待つ is among the most appropriate verbs to use with an expression referring to the pain of waiting. Let’s remember that! 一日三秋の思いで待つ.

(Note: 一日千秋 (いちじつ・せんしゅう) is a variation of this phrase that replaces 三 (さん, three) with 千 (せん, one thousand). Thus, it’s an even stronger way to express the same thought.)

Let’s move on to our next expression.

旭日昇天

きょくじつ・しょうてん
(morning-sun / Sun / rising / heaven(s))

Literally: Full of vigor and vitality

The kanji might look a bit difficult at first glance, but if you break it apart and look at them individually, you’ll see that it’s actually fairly straightforward: “The morning sun rising into the sky,” more or less an elegant way to say “rising sun,” it seems. However, this is called an idiomatic expression for a reason: there lies a less obvious meaning behind it as well.

The idiomatic meaning here is “full of vigor and vitality” and you use this expression to describe someone’s actions. One can understand why the Sun rising in the sky would be a symbol of great power, I think, in a country that’s called the Land of the Rising Sun.

Here’s an interesting sentence for us to dissect:

日本は高度成長時代、旭日昇天の勢いで発展していった。
During the era of high growth, Japan developed with great vigor.

• 日本 (にほん): Japan
• 高度 (こうど): strong, advanced, rapid
• 成長 (せいちょう): growth
• 時代 (じだい): era, period
• 勢い (いきおい): force, vigor, power
• 発展 (はってん): development, growth, advancement

A more literal translation might be “During the era of high growth, Japan developed with the force of the rising sun.” Nice and dramatic.

Also, it seems that this expression appears often as 旭日昇天の勢い. Here’s another sentence in which it appears like this:

田中さんは、旭日昇天の勢いでプロジェクトを完成させようとしています。
Tanaka is vigorously trying to make the project a success.

• 田中 (たなか): a Japanese last name
• 完成 (かんせい): to succeed (完成させる means “to make a success”)

Again, more literally: “Tanaka is working with the vigor of the rising sun to make the project a success.” With that kind of praise, Tanaka’s likely to receive a bonus or something when the project ends, I’d imagine.

And with that, let’s move on to our final four-character compound today!

日進月歩

にっしん・げっぽ
(day / advance / month / walk)
Definition: To continue without fail as time goes on

This expression uses the にち Chinese reading of 日, abbreviated to にっ due to its being following by an “s” sound. The meaning of this expression is “to continue without without a pause; steady progress; rapid advance; fast-evolving.” An overly literally translation might be “to continue daily, to walk on monthly” or something like that. In other words, to never stop.

医薬技術の研究は日進月歩だから、癌やエイズの特効薬もいずれ開発されえると信じている。
Medical technology is advancing steadily, so I believe that a wonder drug for cancer and AIDS will be developed someday.

• 医薬 (いやく): medicine
• 技術 (ぎじゅつ): technology
• 研究 (けんきゅう): research
• 癌 (がん): cancer (often written in hiragana or katakana)
• エイズ: AIDS
• 特効薬 (とっこうやく): wonder drug, specific remedy
• 開発 (かいはつ): development
• 信じる (しんじる): to believe

An nice optimistic sentence chock full of interesting words. It looks like the basic construction for this phrase is 〇〇は日進月歩だ. What are some other examples of words that might fit with this term? How about 発展 or 改造 or 工事?

• 発展 (はってん): development
• 改造 (かいぞう): remodeling (of a building, etc.)
• 工事 (こうじ): construction work

There are certainly cases in which it seems these just never end—especially construction work! (At least, that’s what they say here in Texas.)

Here’s a final 日進月歩 example sentence for you:

道路の工事が日進月歩だから、このお店はまだ改造ができないらしいです。
Due to the continual roadway construction, this store can’t remodel yet.

• 道路 (どうろ): highway
• 工事 (こうじ): you should remember this one, since it’s only a few lines above!
• お店 (おみせ): a store

I hope that you enjoyed this introduction to 四字熟語. Try to make opportunities to use them in conversation to keep them fresh in your mind. Make them an in-joke with your friends, if that helps. Just try to find ways to use them as much as you can so that they’ll permanently lodge themselves in your mind.

See you next time!