舟に刻みて剣を求む

Japanese

Kanji in this term
舟	刻	剣	求
ふね Grade: S	きざ Grade: 6	けん Grade: S	もと Grade: 4
kun'yomi	kun'yomi	on'yomi	kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
舟に刻みて劍を求む (kyūjitai) 船に刻みて剣を求む

Etymology

Literally, “to carve a mark on a ship (where a sword was dropped into the sea) in the hope of finding the sword later near that carving”. Calque of Literary Chinese 刻舟求劍 (kèzhōuqiújiàn).

Idiom

舟(ふね)に刻(きざ)みて剣(けん)を求(もと)む • (fune ni kizamite ken o motomu) 

1. (figuratively) Foolish it is to ignore that times are changing.

References

• Shinmura, Izuru, editor (1998), 広辞苑 [Kōjien] (in Japanese), Fifth edition, Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, →ISBN