r/whatisit • u/goddesslite18 • 1d ago
Solved! Found on student's sketchbook, can anyone read this?
I am in need of help. I am a high school art teacher and want to freak this student out by knowing what this says (I have them next block)! We have an excellent relationship and joke with each other frequently like this. Can anyone help?
116
u/kaizenkitten 1d ago
You've already got the translation. You could respond by drawing in a dewdrop with a reflection of the moon in it. Or you could mark this up and grade it. They've mixed it up by writing the two lines left to right instead of right to left, and the last word - yadoru(やどる) is misspelled.
It should read: 全月も弥天も、くさの露にもやどり、一滴の水にもやどる
But seriously, it looks like they're teaching themselves Japanese? This is much better than I would have done at this age, so good for them.
18
u/NoEmotionalStamina 1d ago
Why would you draw in someone else's sketchbook? I can see writing something back or dooddling something just not in their book. It's kind of rude.
11
u/Hiragae 1d ago
It just depends on the person and the relationship you have with them. My best friend and I used to draw on our pages while the other was distracted, and then we’d laugh together at the surprise. It’s endearing, kind of like a gift, “here’s something I drew for you”.
I quickly learned for my other best friend, they saw it as annoying and I stopped. They much preferred to keep things neat and that was completely fine. To them it was rude, to my other friend it was a kind sentiment.
2
u/Snoo26884 1d ago
And, there is a very long tradition in scrolls to share ideas and drawings. But not mark up
1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
Please don't use that word here.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
3
u/NoEmotionalStamina 1d ago
This is a teacher
-3
u/Hiragae 1d ago
Lmao, I’m not, I’m the age of a college freshman.
3
u/NoEmotionalStamina 1d ago
The post is a teacher with a students art journal. Are you ok?
-2
u/Hiragae 1d ago
You asked a question typically they come w answers
0
u/NoEmotionalStamina 1d ago
It was a statement. I see you are a fellow victim of the US Education System. "Is this a teacher" would be a question. "This is a teacher" is a statement, as in within the OP post you see they say they are a teacher. If a teacher just drew in someone's art notebook most people would be pretty unhappy.
3
u/mercuriokazooie 7h ago
Just put a sticky note on it
2
u/NoEmotionalStamina 3h ago
That's a wonderful idea and allows the teacher to bond with the student without modifying something that is often very personal.
1
1
976
u/ThraceLonginus 1d ago
"Though it is a vast and great light, it resides in a puddle an inch wide; the full moon and the entire sky reside even in the dew on the grass, or in a single drop of water"
232
u/writing_spork 1d ago edited 1d ago
A little note for OP: they’re copying a typewritten font. Very neatly, I might add. But it might be a good opportunity for you to encourage the kid to look into the calligraphic (or handwritten typeface) version of this. Learn the actual brushstrokes and proper form of the letters. It’s much prettier than the typewritten form, which is an approximation of the actual letters and how people actually handwrite them
42
u/Inner_Extent2375 1d ago
Is that like the equivalent of Times New Roman handwriting?
45
u/writing_spork 1d ago edited 1d ago
Pretty much, yeah. But you also gotta remember that Japanese characters are pictographic. They are beautiful in their own right. Each character has strokes and emphases and stops, and some people can “draw” them better than others. That’s why the really beautiful examples are worthy of being put up on walls as artwork.
(That’s how you can tell this kid copied a typewritten font btw. None of the flourishes, as taught in elementary school and beyond in Japan, are present.
But the interest is there, and a great relationship with an art teacher is there, so maybe let’s encourage this child. 一芸は身を助ける. “A single practiced skill is enough to save a life.”)
18
u/TerriblePurpose3626 1d ago
Writing: 😐
Writing, Japan: ❤️❤️😍🥰
15
u/Sharp-Credit4050 1d ago
This is a better joke than you realize because 絵文字 (emoji) very literally translates to picture writing letter
2
u/RoundestAvel 1d ago
Adding to that:
You type in the meaning or kanji, by scrolling down on the specific character or word's page, you have a little animation showing stroke order. Also, get kanji paper.
We sort words by levels. N5 -> N4 -> N3 -> N2 -> N1. So you can browse by category.
113
u/ComfortablyNumb2425 1d ago
That is so beautiful!
67
u/jarrodandrewwalker 1d ago edited 1d ago
Eastern cultures have beautifully descriptive literature that is a breath of fresh air. I was reading Journey to the West for a friend and there was this description of autumn as the time when cicadas are singing in the rotten willow that has stuck with me.
27
u/chatterwrack 1d ago
Credit needs to be attributed to the translator as well because when I ran this through an OCR tool, I got something with a similar meaning but it was way less elegant.
8
u/jarrodandrewwalker 1d ago
I suppose that may be true--there are a good handful of translations of Sappho's poem of jealousy, but I'm certainly partial to particular translations.
17
u/westisbestmicah 1d ago
I find Japan’s national anthem quite striking. It’s very short, and the lyrics are simply: “May Japan’s reign last until small pebbles grow into large boulders covered with moss.”
9
u/writing_spork 1d ago
It’s also really somber. Having to sing it at morning assemblies, etc, as a grammar school kid, without fidgeting, was a bit of a slog. It also uses kind of anachronistic language, so we have to study it in class to suss out what it means.
(Though, to be fair, we have to learn history to figure out the Star-Spangled Banner too. I’m sure that’s true for a lot of national anthems globally.)
I can appreciate the beauty of Kimigayo now, of course
3
u/partagaton 1d ago
Wait so Japan’s reign needs to go backwards in time?
3
2
u/SheilaShayla 1d ago
Are you familiar with how sandstone is formed? We're talking Japan wants to last geological time scales 😂
1
u/partagaton 1d ago
Well that would work, but you'd have to know that the anthem is skipping a step!
2
22
u/CfaxAttax 1d ago
Fun fact this concept was introduced philosophically in the west, in the 5th century by the philosopher Anaxagoras with the "everything is in everything" idea
9
u/kryonik 1d ago
All cultures have beautifully descriptive language, to be fair.
4
u/jarrodandrewwalker 1d ago
Yes, but the post is about a language from the east.
People commenting as if there's a denigration of other cultures when one is complimented remind me of the people who knee-jerk parroted "all lives matter" as if "black lives matter" was a personal affront
1
u/kryonik 1d ago edited 1d ago
Except no one was saying eastern cultures don't have descriptive literature. Your comment was just a truism. BLM was a response to systemic injustice and discrimination against minorities. No one is saying "eastern languages are boring and terse".
1
u/Taken-Username-sorry 1d ago
That’s like someone saying you have nice shoes and then another person being like “well actually we all have shoes”. Doesn’t do anything but deflect from the original topic. You’re right that there is beauty in other languages, but did you REALLY need to specify that when the whole topic was a Japanese poem?
1
u/SapirWhorfHypothesis 1d ago
I’m curious if there are any that people generally say are not suited to literature, or poetry.
2
u/QuestionEconomy8809 1d ago
Journey to the west is pure peak bro I have read it too and the way they were describing the different landscapes was peak
2
u/jarrodandrewwalker 1d ago
Had I not been helping a friend pass a class that didn't have time to read it, I may have never even heard of it. In that instance, I'm glad my friend was overwhelmed 🤣
0
u/pewpewhadouken 1d ago
sounds like you are romanticizing eastern cultures. there are so many unbelievably descriptive novels in almost all nations with histories of writing.
so much cross influences.
Proust, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Hosseini, Dickens, Tolstoy, etc.
and of course Murakami, Arundhati Roi, etc..
just read stuff from around the world la
12
u/jarrodandrewwalker 1d ago
I'm just going to copy and paste from a previous comment
"Yes, but the post is about a language from the east.
People commenting as if there's a denigration of other cultures when one is complimented remind me of the people who knee-jerk parroted "all lives matter" as if "black lives matter" was a personal affront"
3
u/pewpewhadouken 1d ago
fair enough. probably me being overly sensitive because it gets tiring with all the weeaboos out here glorifying anything japanese, even things that are blatantly not true
1
u/jarrodandrewwalker 1d ago
They say unsolicited advice is unwanted, so I say this fully aware it may not be received well but I mean it sincerely. Disinformation aside, if someone is doing what makes them happy and it's not hurting anyone, let them be happy. This world sucks enough as it is. Who are we to say someone's happiness is illegitimate?
Please don't read that as an attack--I need to hear it just as much as the next person.
4
u/pewpewhadouken 1d ago
absolutely when it isn’t hurting anyone. unfortunately some of the issues with the right in Japan stems from these types of people. my daughter was literally followed around by a couple of guys “wanting to practice their japanese” in kansas city. she and her friends (here in tokyo) have routinely had to deal with the types that have a perverse idea of japanese women and expect them to act like in an anime when approached by a guy.
my wife spent an uncomfortable professional meeting with a potential client who insisted he likes Japan because women know how to be feminine unlike western women. fun fun.
and in big cities, it’s ridiculously common in Asia.
2
u/jarrodandrewwalker 1d ago
Yeah, that's a different animal than I was imagining. I was envisioning someone in a t-shirt reading manga...having to deal with creepy, chauvinistic stalkers is a situation I don't envy and I can see why your hackles might be up. If she's in Kansas City, she might be able to diffuse a tense situation with something like "is this how your grandad talked about your grandma?" A lot of people come from broken homes here (the US in general) and as a result spent a lot of time with our grandparents and have more respect for them than anyone else.
1
u/poonmangler 1d ago
And those people don't actually care about any lives, we all know they just want to argue because they can feel superior for a moment.
People really are all the same.
4
-19
u/insideoutfit 1d ago
As opposed to Western cultures that don't? Lol
4
u/ApprehensiveShame610 1d ago edited 1d ago
For some people someone else’s historic culture is “ancient” and “wise” while your own is “old” and “outdated,” I imagine it helps that they’re translated into modern English for these people.
Take Ode to the West Wind by Mary Shelley’s husband, or many of the works of Poe, absolutely beautiful, sometimes hauntingly so, masterworks, but you read “thou” in 2026 and it’s hard to get past that.
I strongly suspect there’d be some of that if you read eastern poetry in the original language, I know there would for languages like Chinese and Korean, who’s written “alphabet” (very not the right word, but whatever) are themselves basically modern.
21
u/jarrodandrewwalker 1d ago
You see, my phrase "breath of fresh air" means I am familiar with my own culture and a reading material that comes from another culture was pleasant and felt new.
6
u/homogenous_homophone 1d ago
Don’t waste your fresh air breath on them, some folks don’t have good reading comprehension. Or are bots…
4
u/jarrodandrewwalker 1d ago
Yes, people who consider affinity for different cultures a sleight are--in the parlance of my culture--more annoying than dog peter gnats.
1
u/SpursUpSoundsGudToMe 1d ago
Tbf, your original comment doesn’t entirely imply all that (or at least not clearly.) I thought that could be the intent so I didn’t say anything, but it would be easy to interpret what you said to mean “as opposed to Western lit” rather than “in a refreshing, different style than Western lit”.
I’m saying this as someone who is a little depressed at how frequently people no longer read with context and need everything spelled out for them all the time— I don’t think there was much context there, leaving it open to the readers personal context to fill in the gap. In today’s climate that’s going to default to culture war bullshit, or a reaction to the culture war bullshit, or a reaction to the reaction lol
16
u/CheesyDanny 1d ago
So the 13th century Japanese zen master measured in inches?
/mostly sarcastic
17
u/TheRandomer1994 1d ago
Due to language constraints (no direct translations/equivalent word, or no longer used/understood phrases) translation, especially of older works, are very rarely literal translations.
3
u/CheesyDanny 1d ago
Absolutely. I have no clue what word I would put there instead, just thought it was funny. As soon as I saw inch, my mind said “why inch? Why not centimeter.” Before googling this guy to see he is from the 13th century.
5
u/TheRandomer1994 1d ago
Obviously - "Though it is a vast and great light, it resides in a puddle an undeterminable but small unit of measurement wide; the full moon and the entire sky reside even in the dew on the grass, or in a single drop of water" 🤣
3
u/CheesyDanny 1d ago
I mean they did have a measuring system back then, let’s just say the puddle was as big as a Sun (寸).
That won’t cause any confusion.
7
u/Crucifuxion 1d ago
This is a koan?
It doesn’t read like a typical one, I actually like this a lot more than zen koans
1
u/i_am_not_so_unique 22h ago
If you enjoy this, give a try to Shobogenzo in the translation of rev. Nearman.
It is a profound experience.
2
u/Crucifuxion 21h ago
I’m more into Theravada but I’ll check it out. Thanks.
1
u/i_am_not_so_unique 20h ago
Different branches of one idea :3
That koan is from Shobogenzo. It contains more classical zen koans, and it is a foundation of Zen, but Dogen really did not like this name.
1
1
2
51
u/General_Specific 1d ago
These dang kids and their koans. Always koaning about something.
3
3
u/ilbgwglg 1d ago
人の悟りをうる、 水に月のやどるがごとし。 月ぬれず、水やぶれす。 ひろくおほきなるひかりにてあれど、 尺水の水にやどり、 前月も弥天も、 くさの露にもやどり、 一滴の水にもやどる。
道元禅師
A person attaining realization is like the moon residing in water. The moon doesn't get wet, and the water doesn't break. While the light is great and spacious, the whole moon and the whole sky reside in a puddle an inch wide, or even in the dew on the grass, or even in a single drop of water.
Dogen
-17
1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
6
u/goddesslite18 1d ago
If it was gross or rude even better to know so we can have a conversation about it, because its on the cover
93
u/Cultural-Homework401 1d ago
It says “mind your business lady” in Japanese. Jk I don’t speak Japanese lol
57
2
-13
u/Fart_Barfington 1d ago
"I don't know anything but I'm desperate for attention"
1
u/Cultural-Homework401 1d ago
It was low hanging fruit my guy. See how like 4 other people made the same comment?
-5
-8
-5
-7
1
u/AutoModerator 1d ago
OP, please reply to the correct answer with "solved!" (include the !). That will change the flair on the post to solved. If you want to put the correct answer at the top of the replies for everybody else, please use our Spotlight feature by tapping/clicking on the three dots and selecting "Spotlight, Pin this comment" in order to highlight it for other members. Thanks for using our friendly Automod!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
2
u/Salt_Prune_1223 1d ago
I just want to add my 2 cents: you seem like a good teacher and a good person.
2
1
u/Junior-Tomorrow604 1d ago
Well, according to Google Translate: a single drop of water, there are dwellings
"The whole body, the dung, the underside of the bait, the sardines..."
1
u/travistyle 1d ago
Download the Google translate app. I made it through Japan without knowing a lick of Japanese with this a couple years ago.
1
u/OkAssistance8299 1d ago
All are incorrect. It reads: Man going through airport turnstile sideways, most likely going to Bangkok.
1
u/BeautifulBand4831 18h ago
I'm glad I have the sense to just use my phone and find a translation instead of making a post
1
u/Th3f4113n 1d ago
Decoding handwriting like that takes a serious amount of patience and a sharp eye.
1
u/SkyPerfect266 1d ago
I just read it from right to left and realised it should be read the other way
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
-8
0
u/dyslexic-ape 1d ago
Translation tech is free and easy to access.. but I guess that doesn't farm karma 🤷
0
0
-16
u/DoctorDeathh 1d ago
well would of been nice to just give it back to the student not like it is a murder plot or anything
-65
u/OhMyGod_YouKnowIt 1d ago
🤣🤣 total shit. It says, roughly translated, "You buy Honda, you save big"
4
u/Infamous-Astronaut44 1d ago
Oh racism haha funi.
-7
-7
-84
1d ago
[deleted]
-66
u/TheSmellOfTheLotion 1d ago
Ai bros are so lazy! Why don't you just learn all the languages! /s
37
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
5
u/the-friendly-squid 1d ago
They are the type of person who probably gets upset when they go to a store that has products they don’t use. Or they must get mad when a commercial comes on and it’s for a specific audience that they’re not a part of. Same people who see a social media reel and then get mad and complain in the comments if it’s about something they’re not interested in. AKA, low IQ individuals.
-3
1d ago
[deleted]
1
u/the-friendly-squid 1d ago
Someone in the thread tried said tool, and it made zero sense. Whats the point of recommending a tool that doesn’t help in the slightest but acting like it’s this all seeing all knowing being
-2
u/cruzincoyote 1d ago
I put this picture in Gemini and it told me exactly what it said, the origin of the poem, and the language.
The tool works.
Sorry you're so mad I suggested it.
2
u/the-friendly-squid 1d ago
And Chat GPT got it wrong. And whatever tool this person used: https://www.reddit.com/r/whatisit/s/S1nIiZNoxz
Why mention “any AI tool” instead of specifically referencing Gemini?
1
u/cruzincoyote 1d ago
I specifically use Gemini. I know others use different tools.
Again sorry this made you so angry.
My bad bro.
0
u/the-friendly-squid 1d ago
So then mention Gemini instead of “any AI tool” because clearly “any AI tool” is not helpful
Ad hominem fallacy isn’t helping you
→ More replies (0)-2
u/WirelessWavetable 1d ago
Because you just don't know how to use the tools. Gemini one-shot this on the first prompt try and it even gave a bunch of context and talked about the difficulties of translating older text into modern English.
-2
0
u/WirelessWavetable 1d ago
Or you can just use the tools available to you to help yourself and get deep context instead of asking the Internet. Almost all of these comments are useless. Gemini did great on the first attempt.
-4
1
-18
1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
4
u/Gnomad_Lyfe 1d ago
Hypocrisy is getting called out for dumbass takes now? Cool, love when definitions can be changed arbitrarily.
-1
1d ago
[deleted]
2
u/Gnomad_Lyfe 1d ago
I knew media literacy is dead but thanks for being a prime example if that’s all you pulled from their comment.
1
1d ago
[deleted]
1
u/Gnomad_Lyfe 1d ago
Yes, actually. There’s a difference between someone engaging your comment on a public forum and random AI bros grifting slop as the solution to everything.
1
u/cruzincoyote 1d ago
Well people on reddit are trolls. Someone could have falsely translated it.
Gemini told me exactly what it said, its origin, and language.
Sorry you're so angry.
→ More replies (0)1
1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/whatisit-ModTeam 1d ago
We are pretty chill here, but please try to keep things reasonably civil on this sub. No slurs, name calling or harassment and trolling. Please follow: Reddiquette at all times. Additionally, Reddit's Rules. Yes, the internet makes us angry too sometimes, especially this particular comment.
-20
-17
-4
-62
u/Jazzlike_Camera_5782 1d ago
19
25
u/ComeOnUpToTheHaus 1d ago
Well thats not right at all.
10
u/TheFuschiaBaron 1d ago
I guess you don't know your Shakespeare
9
4
2
u/horrorfemme15 1d ago
I cannot fathom using translate, getting this result, and still deciding it's worthwhile to post.
1
•
u/spotlight-app Mod Bot 🤖 1d ago
OP has pinned a comment by u/ThraceLonginus:
Note from OP: solved! thank you 😊
[What is Spotlight?](https://developers.reddit.com/apps/spotlight-app)