Omou Tsubo (Thought Pot)

Both

English

Japanese

Today I would like to talk about the Japanese term “omou tsubo”.

今日は「思う壺」という言葉を紹介します。

The literal meaning is “thought pot”, and it means that something goes what you wanted or what you expected.

「思う壺」とは、思った通りになることや、期待通りになることを意味します。

Usage example: The war situation became enemy’s omou tsubo (thought pot).

使用例：戦況は敵の思う壺になってしまった。

Here, “tsubo” means a pot, especially which is used to roll a dice in gambling.

ここで「壺」は、賭博においてサイコロを入れて振るための壺（壺皿）を指します。

It is said that an experienced dealer who had a role of rolling a dice could decide the number of the dice as he thought.

熟練の壺振り師は、狙ったとおりのサイコロの目が出せたと言われいます。

From this fact, to become what you wanted/expected has come to be referred to as “omou tsubo” (thought pot).

このことから、思い通りになることを「思う壺」と呼ぶようになりました。