Japan Discovery How Japanese people think ”let it flow in water”
In a word, Japan is the opposite of a sand planet: a country of water. It is surrounded by the sea, and wherever you go there are rivers, lakes, and ponds. In such an environment, water doesn’t suit me. It becomes water. It smells like water. It doesn’t leak water. A good man who drips water, etc. There are many idioms related to water. I would like to introduce one of them, “Let it flow in water".
Japan, the country of water
If you look down on Japan from an airplane in the summer, you will see a landscape of greenery, except for parts of the coastline and urban areas. The abundant water that nurtures this greenery is brought by the long rains in early spring, known as the rapeseed rainy season, the early summer rainy season, the long rains in autumn, and the snowfall in winter, which fall all year round.
Ancient people called this land of water and greenery “the land of Mizuho." Mizuho means fresh ears of rice. This name was born from the scenery of abundant rice ears spreading out. It is also known as “The Land of Abundant Reed Plains and 1,500 Autumnal Waters of Toyoashihara." Reeds are plants that grow on the banks of rivers and lakes. They make up the vast reed fields, which also symbolize the abundance of water.
The abundant rain that makes up the Land of Mizuho falls on the mountainous regions that make up 75% of the country, and turns into rivers. Because there is little flat land, the rivers flow quickly. Their current carries away everything.
Let’s let bygones be bygones and move on
he original meaning of “let it flow in water" is to let thing flow , but Japanese people use it to mean forgetting or forgiving past events or problems. “Let’s let that talk flow in water " or “Let’s let that thing flow in water" suggests forgetting past failures and troubles. The good and bad feelings that each person has about the problem are forgotten completely and a new start is made, as things disappear when the water flows and are cleansed by the water.Let’s let bygones be bygones and move on.
Foreigners may think that it is not so easy to let go of anger, resentment, and sadness, but that is how Japanese people think. As the pirates in One Piece sing, Japanese people forget unpleasant pasts. This wisdom was born from continuing to work together on rice farming in an environment that is frequently hit by natural disasters such as earthquakes and typhoons.
If you continue to have negative human relationships, farm work will be delayed and the next typhoon will come before the harvest. Godzilla will come again before the town is restored. As an aside, Godzilla was created from the image of the atomic bomb and typhoon. Japanese people believe that it is better to forget the past in order to solve problems quickly and to prevent this from happening.
Impurity and purification
In Japan, there has been a belief in “impurity" and “purification" since ancient times. Impurity is something that makes people hesitant to participate in religious ceremonies and brings disaster to people. Japanese people dislike impurity attaching to the body or entering sacred grounds, towns, villages, and homes. The shimenawa ropes at shrines and the roadside guardians in villages are meant to prevent impurity from entering. The reason we take our shoes off when entering a house is to prevent impurity from entering along with the dirt on our shoes.
However, even when living an ordinary life, people can become impure by committing small sins or stepping on impure land. At that time, a ritual called purification is needed to ward off impurity. The basic practice is to enter a river or the sea to wash away the impurity from the body. The origin of misogi is said to be in the mythology written in the Kojiki and Nihonshoki during the Nara period, where Izanagi no Mikoto, who returned from the underworld, performed a purification ritual in seawater to cleanse himself of the impurities of the underworld.
The basic practice of misogi is to wash away the impurities with water, but it is also common to have a purification ritual performed at a shrine, or to transfer the impurities to a doll or a paper doll and then let it flow into a river or the sea. Nowadays, there are fewer opportunities to perform ostentatious misogi rituals, but misogi is deeply rooted in the lives of Japanese people. A common example is rinsing your mouth with water when visiting a shrine.
Everyone does this casually, but it is also a type of misogi and an important ritual. Don’t forget to do it when visiting a shrine. It is also the same idea when a scandal-ridden politician is elected and “misogi is over."
let it flow in water
The idiom “let it flow in water" was born from the belief in abundant water, rice cultivation, and purification rituals, and means to forget or forgive past events or problems. When a Japanese person says this phrase, it means to try to reconcile, so it’s best to answer “OK." Of course, you can’t let go of things you can’t forgive.