漁夫の利

Japanese

Ultimately from a story in the Chinese text 戰國策 / 战国策 (Zhànguócè), specifically the section 趙且伐燕 / 赵且伐燕, wherein a snipe and a clam are arguing, and while they are busily focused on each other, a fisherman catches them both.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

First attested in 1877.^[1]

漁(ぎょ)夫(ふ)の利(り) • (gyofu no ri)

[from 1877] fishing in troubled waters: a metaphor for the way that a third party can swoop in and gain while two opponents are busy fighting each other
Synonym: 鷸蚌の争い (ippō no arasoi, literally “a fight between a snipe and a clam”)

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 “漁夫の利”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎^[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006
^ “漁夫の利”, in 日本大百科全書：ニッポニカ (Nippon Dai Hyakka Zensho: Nipponica, “Encyclopedia Nipponica”)‎^[2] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, 1984
^ Matsumura, Akira (1995) 大辞泉 [Daijisen] (in Japanese), First edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, →ISBN
^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 Kindaichi, Kyōsuke et al., editors (1997), 新明解国語辞典 [Shin Meikai Kokugo Jiten] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN