When you’re afraid of a disaster, don’t just sit still, that’s all I’m saying.

疾風迅雷
shi-.ppuu.jin.rai

Literally: rapid – wind – swift – thunder

Alternately: High winds and a violent thunderstorm. By extension, any situation that develops rapidly or changes violently.

Notes: Replacing 迅 with homophone 甚 (“exceedingly”) or 雷 with homophone 来 (“to come”) is an error.

This compound comes to us from the Book of Rites (礼記, in Japanese Raiki), a collection of disparate writings that eventually became one of the foundational texts of Confucianism.

The name of a manga series by Moriyama Matsuro about… Shinsengumi yakuza? Jerks? Jerk Shinsengumi yakuza with hearts of gold, no doubt. And I guess they go fast, too.