

Monday, February 9, 2009


tsutsu uraura

This week we're gonna look at two-kanji 四字熟語. In our post headings we'll write each of them out in their entirety, but they're just as often written out using the くりかえし mark： 々, Like this： 津々浦々。

To date, we've only posted one other two-kanji yo-ji. You remember it?

Researching this week's posts have given me tons of cool trivia and info to discuss with Japanese friends, and to show off my yo-ji knowledge. Test your friends by asking how many two-kanji yo-ji they can think of. By the end of this week, you should know more than they do!

Let's get into 津々浦々。

1. All over/Everywhere (geographically)
2. Every part of the country

You'll notice that the first part of the Japanese gives the literal meaning of 津々浦々, based on it's kanji. 津, meaning port, harbor, or haven, gets used an awful lot in the names of places in Japan, like 唐津, here in Saga-ken, famous for its beaches, pine forests and festivals. 浦, meaning inlet, gets used similarly (the picture above is of one of Kyuushuu's most famous inlets and rice paddies, located in 浜野浦, in 唐津).

When you take into account the Japanese linguistic practice of repeating something twice to imply a multitude or succession (人々、国々、日々, etc) and the fact that Japan is an island nation, you get a sense of how "Every port, every inlet," came to mean everywhere. 「津々浦々」wouldn't go far in a landlocked country, or a country with less 海 adjacent property...

Attach particles like の, から, and で for the most common usages.

That guy's a pimp. I heard he's got a girl in every port.


Claytonian said...

Mixing your distal and casual language?

Clay is hated from coast to coast for his pedantic affectations.

AzzidisRidden said...

The Daily Yo-ji still loves you, Clay.

What's distal?

Claytonian said...

Usually we just call distal "polite Japanese," but I am trying to break the habit myself because it can be used quite rudely.