＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
We use Japanese words casually, but over the years, they often come to be widely used (misused) in a meaning different from their original meaning. This is called the “evolution of the Japanese language,” but the “evolution of the Japanese language” is a natural progression, and this in itself is not a question of whether it is good or bad. However, I think it is important to know the original, correct meaning and usage.
In this article, we will introduce some “Japanese words that are easily confused,” so please use this as a reference.
(1) “The Royal Way”（王道）
“The Royal Way” has the following meanings:
1) A Confucian ideal referring to the “rule by benevolence” of legendary ancient Chinese emperors such as Yao and Shun. In contrast, “rule by military force or strategy” is called “the way of the hegemon（覇道）.”
2) The easy way (for a king). This is the translation of the “royal road” in the proverb below.
There is a famous proverb that goes, “There is no royal road to learning.” This proverb is based on the story of Greek mathematician Euclid, who was asked by Egyptian King Ptolemy I, “Isn’t there an easier, more straightforward way to learn geometry?” to which Euclid replied, “There is no royal road to geometry.”
A similar phrase to “There is no royal way to learning” is the four-character idiom “kagaku jō tatsu（「下学上達（かがくじょうたつ）」）” (studying from the bottom, progressing to the top). This means “starting with learning familiar and simple things, and gradually understanding more advanced and profound principles.” In science, “applied science” can only flourish once “basic research” has been carried out. Without a “foundation of basics and fundamentals,” anything becomes a “castle in the sand” or “empty theory.”
③By extension, since the Heisei era, the term has come to mean “straightforward approach（「正攻法」）,” “standard method（「定番」）,” or “standard move（「定石」）.”
(2) The Difference Between “Ozanari（おざなり）” and “Naozari（なおざり）”
“Ozanari” and “Naozari” both mean “to deal with something carelessly,” but the difference is that “ozanari” means “to take some kind of action, even if it’s careless,” while “naozari” means “to do nothing and leave something alone.”
“Ozanari” (御座成り) was an slang term used by hokan（幇間） (flatterers) and geisha in the Edo period to refer to the way they treated customers differently and to the way they behaved in a superficial manner. From there, it came to mean “getting by with a temporary solution” or “handling things carelessly.”
In contrast, “Naozari” (or “Tokan(等閑)”) originally meant “not paying attention” and means “to do nothing but neglect” or “to let things take their course.”
(3) The Difference Between “Katsuai（割愛）” (Omission) and “Shoryaku（省略）” (Abbreviation)
We often say, “I don’t have time, so I’ll skip this（＊）.”
（＊）「時間がありませんのでこれについては割愛します」
“Katsuai” means “to boldly throw away or let go of something that you feel is a pity” or “to cut something that is necessary and a pity, but is unavoidably cut.” In contrast, “Shoryaku” means “to cut something that is unimportant and unnecessary.”
Therefore, saying, “This part is unimportant, so I will skip it（＊）,” is completely incorrect.
（＊）「この部分は重要でないので割愛させていただきます」
The origin of the word “Katsuai” is a Buddhist term referring to the process of becoming a monk. Becoming a monk meant leaving one’s beloved family and hometown, and required extraordinary resolve. The feeling of being torn away from a loved one was expressed as “giving up love,” or “Shoryaku,” and came to be used to mean cutting off feelings.
(4) “Right-Right Wing（最右翼）” and “Seat Order（席次）”
Today, “right-wing” is most often used to mean “the most promising competitor,” such as “the favorite to win” or “the favorite to be the leading hitter.”
This originates from the prewar days of military academies and old-style high schools, where students were assigned seats by grade, with the most outstanding students sitting in the right-most seat in the last row of the classroom. Then, students would move to the left, with second and third students, and after the last row, students would sit in the row immediately to the right.
Apparently, first-year seating order (called “seat order”) was based on entrance exam scores. While entrance exam results are now posted in “exam number” order and names are not visible, in the past, names were posted in order of grade. Therefore, it was apparently obvious what rank you were when you passed.
Nowadays, your grade order is not clearly visible at the time of admission, during your time at school, or at graduation. It’s only at the level where you can find out where you ranked in the “school mock exams” in high school. However, in the old days, it seems that even at graduation, the ranking of grades was clear, with students graduating at the top of their class.
Literally, it means “the rightmost part of something that spreads out to the left and right,” and is used in Hino Ashihei’s “Earth and Soldiers” as in “Our Arakawa Unit will land in front of the enemy on the far right.”
It can also mean “the most right-wing ideology, or someone who holds that ideology,” or “extreme right-wing,” but it doesn’t seem to be used often in this sense.