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豆腐の角に頭をぶつけて死んでしまえ。 Used to say that a person is so stupid (that he would believe this and real find a piece tofu to die). (source) ...の爪の垢を煎じて飲む。 Use the dirt under the nail of ( some expertise ) as a drug, (you'll get some of his talent). (source) 名人の爪の垢を煎じて飲めば少しは腕が上がるだろうに It'll be hard to make any sense out of them if you see them alone. ...

I agree with the accepted answer. However, to supplement it, I would like to note that "lighthouse"--a rather modern concept--is not an acceptable translation for this saying. Rather, 灯台 in this case refers a type of old-style room lighting that is made of wood and resembles a candlestick. They were primarily in use from Heian through Edo period. You place a ...

As sawa suggested, 母なる大地 (which literally means “the earth which is a mother”) is a fixed phrase to refer to Mother Earth, a common personification of the earth. Just to clarify, 父なる砂漠 is not a common phrase, but it clearly builds on top of the phrase 母なる大地. The phrase may be an invention by the writer of the song. Interpretation of song lyrics is a ...

と is used to introduce a subordinate clause, and is close to the English that. When to omit them with quotations seems to differ between the two languages. I cannot give you an explanation, but let me just illustrate. Complement of quotation verbs 　He said that he likes apples. 　He said he likes apples. × He said that "I like apples". 　He said "I ...

It does not say it has been a father. It says it is the father. Vast natural things like sea, earth, desert, universe, etc. are often metaphorically expressed as mother, father, the ancestors, or the homeland of human. 母なる大地 'Earth, the mother of human' 父なる砂漠 'Desert, the father of human' 生命のふるさと、海 'The sea, the homeland of life' I ...

Well, since no one has commented with a contradictory theory, I'll post mine as an actual answer. Quoting a recent MSN産経ニュース "10 years ago today" article: ケガに負けず貴乃花２２度目Ｖ 大相撲夏場所千秋楽で、東横綱の貴乃花が西横綱の武蔵丸を優勝決定戦の末に下し、通算２２度目の優勝を飾った。貴乃花は前日、右足を負傷したため、千秋楽の出場は微妙とみられていたが、患部をテーピングして強行出場した。気迫あふれる名勝負を演じた貴乃花を、小泉純一郎首相は表彰式で「痛みに耐えて、よく頑張った。感動した」とたたえた。首相の「感動した」は流行語になった。 ...

This was originally a comment to point out that it may not have been written with the kana/kanji in use today, but I realized it's an example of an alternative way to write it: It's a painting of Yoshitoshi that was published by another artist in the same month he died. The source transcribes it the same way it's written in silvermaples answer.

合氣道が一番武道です is in fact possible, but it's a pattern you use for special meaning (e.g. スーパードライが一番ビールです). I find it unlikely that 植芝 盛平 said that (not that I know him personally or something, but this pattern is a bit copy writingy :p). 合氣道が一番の武道です sounds more likely. 合氣道は一番の武道です sounds ok as well. Both 合気道は最良の武道です and 合気道は最高の武道です sound natural but if I were ...

I agree with Frishert, but instead of 一番{いちばん}　I would use maybe 最良{さいりょう}, meaning "the best". 一番 is an adverb, therefore it needs to modify a verb, (一番早い, 一番高い) and 最良 is an adjective which modifies the noun (in this case 武道). You end up with 合気道は最良の武道です. That being said, I can't tell (as a non-native) how natural that sounds to a native speaker.

Your transliteration's almost spot on. I'd go for this: 合気道は一番武道です。 氣 is the Chinese, outdated version of the kanji 気. Modern Japanese uses 気, so go for that one. Both が and は are grammatically correct, but if you take your phonetic transcription (which says wa), you should go for は. There's a slight grammatical difference, but it is of no concern in ...

Here it is: 夜{よ}をつめて照{てり}まさりしか夏{なつ}の月{なつ} I found it here (near the bottom), and it seems to have "ka" where what you found says "wa"...I've found other romaji versions with "wa", so I'm not sure which is correct...

You hear 老いて子供に戻る a lot, but I haven't heard 幼いときに老けて. Google seems to agree with me, so I'm assuming it's not a proverb or something. The phrase 幼いときに老けて is rather peculiar because 老ける means "become an old man / behave like a old man" and has a negative nuance. So it's not the same as "grow old"; if you are 幼い and do 老ける, then that's very unusual. It's ...