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【No. 0658】Ashi wo Arau (Wash One's Feet)

Oct 6, 2016 19:12
Today, I will talk about the Japanese idiom "ashi wo arau."

The literal meaning is "to wash one's feet," and it expresses "to quit crime or evil jobs."

It's thought that this idiom comes from Buddhism.

In Buddhism, Buddhist priests walk around with their bare feet for ascetic training.

After they return back to temples, they wash their dirty feet for purifying spirits of evil thought in a secular world, then

From this fact, "ashi wo arau" (to wash one's feet) came to mean "to quit bad things."

There is another theory about the etymology, which comes from that Jesus Christ washed his disciple's feet, but it lacks credibility because the unspoken meaning is different.
足を洗う

今日は、「足を洗う」という日本の慣用句を紹介します。

文字通りの意味は "to wash one's feet" ですが、「悪事や悪い仕事をやめる」ことを表します。

この言葉は、仏教から来ているとされています。

仏教において、僧は裸足で修行に出歩き、寺に戻ったら俗界の煩悩を清めるため泥足を洗いました。

このことから、「足を洗う」は「悪いことをやめる」という意味になりました。

イエス・キリストが弟子の足を洗ったことを語源とする説もありますが、意味が異なるので信憑性は薄いです。

Corrections (1)

No. 1 Postbank
  • Ashi wo Arau (Wash One's Feet)
  • Ashi wo Arau (To Wash One's Feet)
  • Today, I will talk about the Japanese idiom "ashi wo arau."
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • The literal meaning is "to wash one's feet," and it expresses "to quit crime or evil jobs."
  • The literal translation is "to wash one's feet," but it means "to quit crime or evil jobs."
  • It's thought that this idiom comes from Buddhism.
  • This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
  • In Buddhism, Buddhist priests walk around with their bare feet for ascetic training.
  • In Buddhism, (Buddhist) priests walk around bare feet for ascetic training.
  • After they return back to temples, they wash their dirty feet for purifying spirits of evil thought in a secular world, then
  • After they return to their temples, they then wash their dirty feet to cleanse themselves of evil thoughts from the secular world.
  • From this fact, "ashi wo arau" (to wash one's feet) came to mean "to quit bad things."
  • Henceforth, "ashi wo arau" (to wash one's feet) came to mean "to quit bad things."
  • There is another theory about the etymology, which comes from that Jesus Christ washed his disciple's feet, but it lacks credibility because the unspoken meaning is different.
  • There is another theory about its etymology, which comes from Jesus Christ washing his disciple's feet, but it lacks credibility because the unspoken meaning is different.

Yes, I did think that the reference was to Jesus' washing of his disciples' feet! It was an interesting read; Thanks for sharing!

Toru
Thank you very much for correcting my post! (^^)

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