Teki ni Shio wo Okuru (敵に塩を送る – Helping One’s Enemy in Difficulty)
Teki ni Shio wo Okuru
敵に塩を送る
When you help your enemy in trouble or distress, it is called teki ni shio wo okuru (敵に塩を送る) in Japanese.
敵が苦しんでいるとき、あえてその弱みにつけこまずに援助することを、「敵に塩を送る」と言います。
Since teki (敵) means “enemy,” shio (塩) means “salt,’ and okuru (送る) means “to send,” the literal meaning of teki ni shio wo okuru is “to send salt to the enemy.”
「敵」は “enemy”、「塩」は “salt”、「送る」は ‘to send” を意味するので、「敵に塩を送る」の文字どおりの意味は “to send salt to the enemy” となります。
This phrase was coined from the following anecdote:
In the Sengoku period (period of warring states in Japan), Kenshin UESUGI sent salt to save people living in his enemy’s (Shingen TAKEDA’s) territory, who were suffering from a shortage of salt due to the economic blockade.
In the Sengoku period (period of warring states in Japan), Kenshin UESUGI sent salt to save people living in his enemy’s (Shingen TAKEDA’s) territory, who were suffering from a shortage of salt due to the economic blockade.
戦国時代、経済封鎖で塩不足に陥っていた武田信玄の領地に対し、その敵である上杉謙信が塩を送り助けたという逸話から、この言葉が生まれました。
This phrase teaches us that we should help each other as long as it is not the essential field of the conflict.
争いの本質でない部分では、助け合うべきであるという教訓になっているわけです。
