4-cha ra cter idiom s
5-minute Japanese Class by Hitomi Hirayama
四文字熟语
よん y on も mo じ ji じゅく juku
ご go
O ne of m y collea gues s ucceeded in his la tes t project, s o I told him , "C ongra tula tions ! Y ou did a n ex cellent job! " B ut s o m e m em ber s w ho helped him do the pr o ject w er e w a tching m e, a nd ca m e to m e, s a y ing, "K eep y our ey es on him , M r. P ole! B eca us e he is "hito no fundos hi de s um o o toru" hito des u y o. (L it. Doing s um o by w ea ring s om eone els e' s fundos hi) I looked up the w ord fundos hi in a pocket-s ized book fea turing J a pa nes e culture tha t I bought w hen I firs t ca m e to J a pa n. It s a id tha t fundos hi w a s a n old-s ty le loincloth m a de of one s heet of fa bric, a nd it w a s w o r n by m en a s under w ea r in the pa s t. I couldn' t believ e tha t he w a s s till w ea ring a fundos hi. I th in k s u m o w r e s tle r s w e a r m a w a s h i, n o t fu n do s h i, correct M s . Hira y a m a , do a ll J a pa nes e m en s till w ea r fundos hi ev en thes e da y s
I don' t think y ou ca n find a ny body w ho a ctua lly w ea rs fundos hi th e s e da y s , bu t I' m n o t s u r e . If y o u ta lk to pe o ple in fo r e ign countries a nd a s k them a bout their im pres s ions of N ihon, m os t of them w ould s a y s om ething like, "geis ha , " "liv ing in a hous e of w ood a n d pa pe r , " o r " pe o ple w h o a lw a y s w e a r kim o n o , " e tc. T h e ir im pres s ions of J a pa n a re s till old fa s hioned a nd ina ccura te. I think y ou m ight ha v e thought tha t "hito no fundos hi de s um o o toru" - by w ea ring s om eone els e' s underw ea r, " a nd m ea nt, "Doing s um o y ou m us t ha v e been s urpris ed! B ut it a ctua lly m ea ns , "B enefiting o n e s e lf a t s o m e o n e e ls e ' s e x pe n s e . " fu n do s h i m a y giv e a ba d im pres s ion to others , s o it m a y be better to s a y , "ta riki honga n" (benefiting ones elf w ith the help of others ). " A ls o, y ou s hould be ca reful w hen y ou us e idiom s , beca us e s om e idiom s m ight hurt the feelings of other people unw ittingly .

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