Purple mountain majesties + brightly-shining streams

Posted on March 30, 2016 by Confanity

山紫水明
san.shi.sui.mei

Literally: mountain – purple – water – bright

Alternately: The purple color of mountains reflecting sunlight and the clarity of (mountain) streams or lakes. This phrase suggests the purity and beauty of natural landscapes in general. “Nature is pretty.”

Notes: This phrase was taken from one of the poems of Edo-era writer Rai Sanyou.

SanShiSuiMeiShot

The irony being that the water in that rice field, while very pretty, is full of mud and all sorts of little animals. Source.

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About Confanity

I love the written word more than anything else I've had the chance to work with. I'm back in the States from Japan for grad school, but still studying Japanese with the hope of becoming a translator -- or writer, or even teacher -- as long as it's something language-related.
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