Kōya no Asatte (紺屋の明後日 – One of These Days Is None of These Days)

Both

English

Japanese

The Japanese phrase kōya no asatte (紺屋の明後日) can be used to describe that the promised due date is unreliable.

約束の期日が当てにならないことを、「紺屋の明後日」と表現することができます。

Kōya (紺屋) was used in the Edo period to refer to a dyer.

「紺屋」は、江戸時代に使われていた言葉で、染め物屋を意味します。

In addition, asatte (明後日) means “the day after tomorrow,” so the literal meaning of kōya no asatte is “the day after tomorrow of a dyer.”

また、「明後日」は “the day after tomorrow” を意味するので、「紺屋の明後日」の文字どおりの意味は “the day after tomorrow of a dyer” となります。

Since a dyer’s work was greatly affected by the weather in the process of drying cloth, their completion dates were often delayed.

染め物屋は、布を乾かす工程が天候の影響を大きく受けるため、仕上げが予定よりも遅れることが多くあったそうです。

Therefore, when the dyer mentioned “the day after tomorrow,” it came to be regarded as unreliable, which led to the current meaning of this phrase.

そんな染め物屋の言う「明後日」は、当てにならないというわけです。