245Japanese idiom 四字熟語
五里霧中
ごりむちゅうGori muchū
“Lost in five leagues of fog.”
The meaning
No longer knowing where you are or where to go: the state is painful but nameable, and therefore crossable. In fog one does not run — one advances one sure step at a time.
At the origin
An idiom of Chinese origin for times of total uncertainty.
The characters
In practice
When all is blurred, give up seeing far: take the one visible step.
Editorial note
Ancient Chinese origin.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 176 明日の百より今日の五十 Better fifty today than a hundred tomorrow.
- 206 人の噂も七十五日 A rumor lives but seventy-five days.
- 221 めでたさも中位なりおらが春 A happiness about medium, I'd say — my own New Year.
- 225 五月雨や大河を前に家二軒 June rains — facing the swollen river, two houses.
- 231 鶏頭の十四五本もありぬべし Cockscombs — there must be fourteen, maybe fifteen.
Related expressions
- 113 一寸の虫にも五分の魂 Even a one-inch insect has half an inch of spirit.
- 162 五月雨をあつめて早し最上川 Gathering the rains of June, how swiftly flows the Mogami.
- 232 春や昔十五万石の城下かな Spring — long ago, a proud castle town of a hundred fifty thousand koku.
- 003 千里の道も一歩から A journey of a thousand leagues begins with a single step.