136Japanese idiom 四字熟語
花鳥風月
かちょうふうげつKachō fūgetsu
“Flowers, birds, wind, moon.”
The meaning
Four words for all natural beauty and the art of contemplating it. Pausing before it is not lost time: it is an ancient way of finding one's place again, at peace.
At the origin
A classical expression for the aesthetic contemplation of nature in Japanese arts.
The characters
In practice
Give yourself five minutes of flowers, birds, wind or moon today.
Themes
Similar proverbs
- 101 月に叢雲、花に風 Over the moon, gathering clouds; over blossoms, wind.
- 111 花は盛りに、月は隈なきをのみ見るものかは Should we look at blossoms only in full bloom, at the moon only when it is clear?
- 168 菜の花や月は東に日は西に Field of rapeseed — the moon in the east, the sun in the west.
- 281 雪月花 Snow, moon, flowers.
- 162 五月雨をあつめて早し最上川 Gathering the rains of June, how swiftly flows the Mogami.