063Japanese proverb ことわざ
武士は食わねど高楊枝
ぶしはくわねどたかようじBushi wa kuwanedo takayōji
“Even unfed, the samurai holds his toothpick high.”
The meaning
Dignity does not depend on circumstances. Even in hardship, keeping one's bearing means refusing to let adversity decide who you are.
At the origin
An Edo image: the warrior without a meal pretended he had dined, toothpick in mouth. One can read both pride and its excess in it.
The characters
- 武士 bushisamurai, warrior
- は watopic marker
- 食わねど
- 高楊枝
はParticleMarks the topic: what the sentence is about — “as for…”.
In practice
In a hard stretch, keep your manner: it holds up the rest.
Themes
In the collections · Tsuwamono
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