KANAE
115Japanese proverb ことわざ

隣の花は赤い

Tonari no hana wa akai

“The neighbor's flowers are redder.”

The meaning

What others have always looks brighter — precisely because it is not ours. Knowing this gives our own flowers back their colors.

At the origin

Japan's counterpart of "the grass is greener on the other side".

The characters

  1. 隣 tonarineighbor
  2. の noof (link)
  3. 花
  4. は
  5. 赤い

The complete word-by-word reading, in KANAE.

ParticleLinks two words: possession or belonging, like “of”.

In practice

List three things of yours that others might envy.

Themes

Similar proverbs

  1. 020 Dumplings over flowers.
  2. 059 Not saying is the flower.
  3. 111 Should we look at blossoms only in full bloom, at the moon only when it is clear?
  4. 262 The flower on the high peak.
  5. 263 What remains unseen is the flower.

Related expressions

  1. 181 Deep autumn — my neighbor, how does he live?
  2. 101 Over the moon, gathering clouds; over blossoms, wind.
  3. 136 Flowers, birds, wind, moon.
  4. 168 Field of rapeseed — the moon in the east, the sun in the west.

See also