Uwa no Sora (上の空 - Absence of Mind)

Recently, I often become a state called uwa no sora (上の空).

Uwa no sora means that you can't concentrate on what you have to do because you can't stop thinking other things.

Uwa (上) means "above/upper" and sora (空) means "sky," so the literal meaning of this term is "above the sky."

Originally, there were terms that mean that you don't concentrate; kokoro sora nari (心空なり - one's heart is in the sky) and sora naru kokoro (空なる心 - one's heart is in the sky).

In order to emphasize these terms, it became uwa no sora naru kokoro (上の空なる心 - one's heart is above the sky), then changed to just uwa no sora (上の空).

上の空

私は最近、「上の空」によくなります。

「上の空」とは、他の事に心が奪われて、目の前のことに集中できないさまを表す言葉です。

「上」は "above" や "upper," 「空」は "sky" を意味するため、この言葉の文字通りの意味は "above the sky" となります。

もともと、「落ち着かないさま」を表す言葉として「心空なり」「空なる心」がありました。

これを強調するため「上の空なる心」となり、後半が削られて「上の空」になったというわけです。

• Uwa no sora means that you can't concentrate on what you have to do because you can't stop thinking other things.
• "Uwa no sora" means that you can't concentrate on what you have to do because you can't stop thinking about other things.