Monzen Barai (門前払い - Turned Away at the Gate)

Monzen Barai

The action of turning away a visitor without meeting them is called 'monzen barai' (門前払い) in Japanese.

Since 'mon' (門) means "gate," 'zen' (前) means "front," and 'barai/harai' (払い) means "to expel," the literal meaning of this phrase is "to expel someone from the front gate."

Originally, this phrase meant the lightest banishment sentence during the Edo period, which involved expelling the offender from the front gate of the magistrate's office.

This has evolved over time to carry its current meaning.

If you are a visitor who is turned away without meeting anyone, you can say something like 'monzen barai wo kū' (門前払いを食う), using the verb 'kū' (食う), which means "to experience an undesirable situation."

門前払い

訪ねてきた人に会わないで追い返すことを、「門前払い」と言います。

「門」は "gate"、「前」は "front"、「払い」は "to expel" を意味するので、「門前払い」の文字どおりの意味は "to expel someone from the front gate" となります。

もともとこの言葉は、江戸時代の追放刑の中で最も軽い、奉行所の門前から追い払う刑罰を表すものでした。

これが転じて現在の意味を持つようになったというわけです。

あなたが訪問者で追い返される場合は、「好ましくない事を身に受けること」を意味する「食う」を使って「門前払いを食う」のように言います。

• Monzen Barai (門前払い - Turned Away at the Gate)
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Monzen Barai
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• The action of turning away a visitor without meeting them is called 'monzen barai' (門前払い) in Japanese.
• The action of turning away a visitor without meeting them is called 'monzen barai' (門前払い) in Japanese.

  I think "without meeting them" is redundant as "turned away" already carries that meaning.

• Since 'mon' (門) means "gate," 'zen' (前) means "front," and 'barai/harai' (払い) means "to expel," the literal meaning of this phrase is "to expel someone from the front gate."
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• Originally, this phrase meant the lightest banishment sentence during the Edo period, which involved expelling the offender from the front gate of the magistrate's office.
• Originally, this phrase referred to/meant the lightest banishment sentence during the Edo period, which involved expelling the offender from the front gate of the magistrate's office.

• This has evolved over time to carry its current meaning.
• This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!

• If you are a visitor who is turned away without meeting anyone, you can say something like 'monzen barai wo kū' (門前払いを食う), using the verb 'kū' (食う), which means "to experience an undesirable situation."
• If you are a visitor who is turned away without meeting anyone, you can say something like 'monzen barai wo kū' (門前払いを食う), using the verb 'kū' (食う), which means "to experience an undesirable situation."