Tachi Ōjō (立ち往生 – Gridlock)
Tachi Ōjō
立ち往生
A traffic accident causing injury or death happened yesterday near the center of Tokyo, and many trains stopped, so many people did ‘tachi ōjō‘ (立ち往生) at platforms.
昨日は都心で人身事故があり、電車が止まり、多くの人が駅で「立ち往生」していました。
The original meaning of ‘tachi ōjō’ is “to die while standing,” but now it usually means a state in which someone is incapable of moving.
「立ち往生」の本来の意味は「立ったまま死ぬこと」ですが、それが転じて「身動きがとれなくなること」を表すようになりました。
‘Tachi‘ (立ち) means “to stand,” and ‘ōjō‘ (往生) is a Buddhist term that means “to die” or “to die and born in the legitimate land of Buddha.”
「立ち」は “to stand”、「往生」は仏教用語で「死んで仏の国に生まれること」や「死ぬこと」を意味します。
That is to say, the literal meaning of ‘tachi ōjō’ is equivalent to its original meaning.
すなわち「立ち往生」の本来の意味は、文字どおりの意味ということです。
