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Ichinan Satte Mata Ichinan (一難去ってまた一難 – )

  • Ichinan Satte Mata Ichinan

    一難去ってまた一難


    When misfortunes or difficulties come one after another with no time to rest, you can describe such a situation as ichinan satte mata ichinan (一難去ってまた一難) in Japanese.
    次々と休む間もなく困難や災難がやってくることを、「一難去ってまた一難」と言います。

    Since ichi (一) means “one,” nan (難) means “difficulty/misfortune,” satte (去って) means “pass away,” and mata (また) means “again,” ichinan satte mata ichinan literally means “one misfortune passed away, but another one came.”
    「一」は “one”、「難」は “difficulty/misfortune”、「去って」は “pass away”、「また」は “again” を意味するので、「一難去ってまた一難」の文字どおりの意味は “one misfortune passed away, but another one came” となります。

    You can translate this phrase into English as “Misfortunes never come alone” or “Out of frying pan into the fire.”
    英語では「Misfortunes never come alone」や「Out of the frying pan into the fire」のように表すことができます。

    Original sentence