Should have tried the Power of Rock.

薬石無効
yaku.seki.mu.kou

Literally: medicine – stone – nothing – efficacy

Alternately: Neither medicine nor treatment were effective. The 石 in 薬石 refers to traditional Chinese treatments making use of stones, such as bian stones.

Notes: Some variation of this phrase may be used to describe a patient’s death from disease, although it seems to also be usable on a more metaphorical level.

Some people may replace 効 with homophone 功 (“achievement”), but 効 is preferred.

A book cover (title means approximately “No cure for love”) from this illustrator’s portfolio. The protagonists’ names pun on the yojijukugo.