Ten Takaku Uma Koyuru Aki (天高く馬肥ゆる秋 – Autumn with the Sky Clear and Blue, and Horses Growing Stout)
Ten Takaku Uma Koyuru Aki
天高く馬肥ゆる秋
Comfortable weather in autumn is sometimes described as ten takaku uma koyuru aki (天高く馬肥ゆる秋) in Japanese.
秋の快適な気候のことを、「天高く馬肥ゆる秋」と表現することがあります。
Since ten (天) means “sky,” takaku (高く) means “high,” uma (馬) means “horse,” koyuru (肥ゆる) means “to grow fat,” and aki (秋) means autumn, the literal meaning of ten takaku uma koyuru aki is “Autumn, when the sky is high, and horses grow fat.”
「天」は “sky”、「高く」は “high”、「馬」は “horse”、「肥ゆる」は “to grow fat”、「秋」は “autumn” を意味するので、「天高く馬肥ゆる秋」の文字どおりの意味は “” となります。
In autumn, you will feel the sky is high due to the clear air.
秋は空気が澄んでおり、空が高く感じられます。
In addition, in this harvest season, horses will have a good appetite and grow fat.
また、馬も食欲を増し肥えるような収穫の季節でもあります。
In other words, this phrase represents the comfort of such autumn.
すなわちこの言葉は、そのような秋の心地よさを表現しているというわけです。
This phrase came from a traditional Chinese saying and was initially used to warn that looting was likely to occur in autumn.
語源となった中国の故事では、秋に略奪が起こりやすいことを警告するものとして使われていました。
