Thank you for checking out the Japanese Proverb series!
Japanese proverbs are my favorite topic to talk about. They are so wise to live by and you can also learn some Japanese vocabulary and grammar.
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What does ’Senri no michi mo ippo kara’ (千里の道も一歩から) mean in English?
The literal translation is ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’.
It’s very similar to English proverbs like ‘Rome was not built in a day ‘(ローマは１日にしてならず) or ‘Little by little one goes far’. Do you have a similar proverb in your language?
I try to motivate my students with this proverb once in a while, they don’t seem to get too excited though, especially when I use this type of inspiring proverb to motivate them with their homework.
Yet the grammar is so easy that everybody gets the meaning in the class!
Where did it originally come from?
The origin derives from a Chinese classic document, Lao Tzu(Wikipedia)’s book in chapter 64. Lao Tzu is an old Chinese philosopher(some doubt if he ever existed!) from around 6th-4th BC. We call him Roushi(老子) in Japanese, his philosophy and Taoism have influenced so much the Japanese culture.
The Japanese translated version (the one we learn today) in written form can be tracked down back to Kamakura period(Wikipedia)(鎌倉時代 1185-1333AC).
Let’s break them down word by word!
千(sen, せん) – a thousand
千(sen, せん) means ‘a thousand’ in Japanese.
Are you good with large Japanese numbers?
A bit of a reminder for you! ✏️
10 十 じゅう jyuu, ten
100 百 ひゃく hyaku, a hundred
1,000 千 せん sen, a thousand
10,000 万 まん man, ten thousand
100,000 十万 じゅうまん jyuuman, one hundred thousand
1,000,000 百万 ひゃくまん hyakuman, one million
10,000,000 千万 せんまん senman, ten million
100,000,000 一億 いちおく ichioku, one hundred million
里(ri,り)
Ri is a unit for length, originally from China and its original name should be pronounced Li, the length has changed a lot over time! So 千里(senri) literally means ‘one thousand Li’ and it was approximately about 4,000km!…
If you want to know more about the unit Li, here is the link for you Li, Unit (Wikipedia).
I need to mention that this Kanji 里, is read as sato(さと) meaning ‘a village’ or ‘one’s parents’ home’, you may encounter a word 里帰り(sato gaeri) meaning ‘to visit parents’ home’ if you are above JLPT N3 level!
道(michi, みち) – a road
Michi means a road, street, path, the way.
The reading of 道 is dou(on-yomi) and michi(kun-yomi).
Useful words that have 道 are:
道路 どうろ douro, street
道に迷う みちにまよう michi ni mayou, to get lost
道具 どうぐ dougu, tool
茶道 さどう sadou, the way of tea, tea ceremony
華道 かどう kadou, the art of flower arrangement
書道 しょどう shodou, the art of Japanese calligraphy
武道 ぶどう budou, the martial arts
剣道 けんどう kendou, Kendo, Japanese swordmanship
柔道 じゅうどう jyuudou, Judo
の(no) – Japanese possessive particle
I cannot stress enough, no(の) is such an important and versatile particle! It is a possessive particle in Japanese.
So you have guessed it already, ‘Senri no michi'(千里の道) means ‘the road of one thousand Li’
も(mo) – too, also, as well
Mo is also a very important word meaning ‘also’, ‘too’, ‘as well’.
There is always an exception in Japanese, if mo(も) appears after number/quantity/length, it won’t mean ‘too’ anymore, it will mean ‘as many(much) as’! Be careful!
一歩(ippo) – one step, the first step
Ippo means the first step.
It comes from ichi(いち) meaning one.
Ho(歩)is a counter for a step, ichi(いち)+ ho(歩) becomes ippo.
The Kanji 歩 is used in a verb 歩く(あるく, aruku) ‘to walk’.
Some of you might know the comic/anime series called Hajime no Ippo(Wikipedia) the main protagonist is a boy called Ippo! I cannot believe the comic is still ongoing since 1989!
から(kara) – from
it means ‘from’ in Japanese!
That is for today! 😃
I hope you learn something new from this post!
Whenever you are afraid to challenge a new thing, remember ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step’!
Every long journey starts with the very first step.
Have a nice day!