I looked up some recipes in Japanese and I couldn't help but notice the phrase 「歴史を刻め」 virtually everywhere. I might be stupid but I can't seem to understand what "mincing history" means.
What gives?
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kotobank.jp/word/%E5%88%BB%E3%82%80-473403 It includes definition of (4) to progress by tiny bit. – user4092 Sep 10 '16 at 20:14
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2歴史に名を刻む is more poplular phrase. – Takahiro Waki Sep 11 '16 at 9:46
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歴史を刻む seems to mean "leave your/a mark" in history. (or I am misunderstanding the phrase -- the translations I'm seeing online are off in terms of English).
Doing a bit of googling, 歴史を刻め seems to primarily be the name of a Ramen shop in Osaka. Presumably it means something like "make a mark in history!"
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macraf's answer was also really good, but this one also explains why I see it in recipes all the time :P – strawberry jam Sep 11 '16 at 21:36
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In the context of cooking the answer below is the most appropriate explanation. What "leaving a mark in history" has anything to do with cooking? – user1602 Mar 4 '17 at 20:19
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It is probably closest to "make history" idiom in English. With 刻め being an imperative form with "make history!", "let's make history" nuance.
刻む{きざむ} means also "to engrave". You can engrave a death poem in a stone 辞世を墓石に刻む, you can also engrave some historical facts (which you'll find all over Japan). What is engraved lasts and will be remembered for a long time.
Linguistically it's not so much "make an imprint on history", as the history is the object (を) here, but the meaning is close enough.
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“歴史を刻め ” is an imperative form of “歴史を刻む,” meaning “mark (establish) sth (your achievement, work, name) on (a page of) the history.” But it sounds somewhat awkward, because you can engrave (mark) your name on history, but you can’t engrave (mark) history itself.
I recommend you to say ”(…を)歴史に刻む(め)” instead of ”歴史を刻む（め）” as Takahiro Waki reservedly commented it’s more popular.
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I couldn't let this pass because it's cooking-related... My favorite goto, Weblio, has this entered as 歴史を刻む "to let (feel) time pass". In other words, "to let sit". Or in the imperative "let sit". http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E6%AD%B4%E5%8F%B2%E3%82%92%E5%88%BB%E3%82%80 ...just as jparser answered at the very beginning. Show him/her some love.
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According to Jparser
To let (feel) time pass
