Ken wo Kisou (妍を競う - Vying in Beauty)

When women compete on their beauty, you can describe the situation using the phrase ken wo kisou (妍を競う).

Ken (妍) means a beautiful appearance or grace of a woman and kisou (競う) means to compete or to vie.

Interestingly, the kanji 妍 is used almost only in the phrase ken wo kisou.
(At least, I haven't seen other usage of this kanji.)

Since there are many kanjis that can be read as ken (けん), I think that it is difficult to convey the meaning of ken (妍) in daily conversation.

Also, this phrase might be a little old, and recent young people might not understand it.

妍を競う

女性が美しさを競い合うことを、「妍を競う」と言います。

「妍」は女性の容貌が美しく整っているさまを表す言葉で、「競う」は "to compete" や "to vie" を意味します。

面白いことに、「妍」という漢字はほとんど、「妍を競う」という表現の中でしか使われません。
（少なくとも私は他の使い方を見たことがありません。）

「けん」と読む漢字は「剣」や「券」、「県」など他にも沢山あるので、「妍を競う」以外で「妍」を使っても口頭では伝わらないかもしれません。

また、「妍を競う」は少し古い表現かもしれなく、最近の若い人には意味が伝わらない可能性があります。

• When women compete on their beauty, you can describe the situation using the phrase ken wo kisou (妍を競う).
• When women compete based on their beauty, you can describe the situation using the phrase ken wo kisou (妍を競う).

• Ken (妍) means a beautiful appearance or grace of a woman and kisou (競う) means to compete or to vie.
• Ken (妍) means a beautiful appearance or the grace of a woman and kisou (競う) means to compete or to vie.

• Interestingly, the kanji 妍 is used almost only in the phrase ken wo kisou.
• Interestingly, the kanji 妍 is used almost exclusively in the phrase ken wo kisou.

  "used almost exclusively" is a stock phrase. You could say "is almost only ever used in the phrase..."

• (At least, I haven't seen other usage of this kanji.)
• (At least, I haven't seen any other usage of this kanji.)

• Since there are many kanjis that can be read as ken (けん), I think that it is difficult to convey the meaning of ken (妍) in daily conversation.
• Since there are many kanjis that can be read as ken (けん), I think that it is difficult to convey the meaning of ken (妍) in daily conversation.

  For some reason, almost all Japanese words in English have no plural. We don't eat sushis, for instance.

• Also, this phrase might be a little old, and recent young people might not understand it.
• Also, this phrase might be a little old, and recent young people nowadays might not understand it.