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The frog in the well knows nothing of the great ocean.

Japanese proverb

PhilosophyProverbs

The story behind the card

The Japanese proverb, 井の中の蛙大海を知らず (i no naka no kawazu taikai o shirazu), goes back to the Zhuangzi, a classic of Chinese philosophy named after the thinker Zhuang Zhou (4th century BC). Its chapter “Autumn Floods” says you cannot talk about the sea to a frog in a well, which knows only its well. Later in the chapter a frog boasts of its well to a turtle from the Eastern Sea, who describes a sea that years of flood and drought never changed. The frog is lost for words.

Türkçe oku
Kuyudaki kurbağa koca okyanustan habersizdir.
Japon atasözü

Atasözünün Japonca aslı 井の中の蛙大海を知らず (i no naka no kawazu taikai o shirazu) biçimindedir ve Çin felsefesinin klasiklerinden Zhuangzi'ye dayanır. Kitap adını MÖ 4. yüzyılda yaşamış düşünür Zhuang Zhou'dan alır. “Güz Selleri” bölümüne göre kuyudaki kurbağaya deniz anlatılmaz, çünkü o yalnızca kuyusunu bilir. Aynı bölümdeki bir hikâyede kurbağa, Doğu Denizi'nden gelen bir kaplumbağaya kuyusuyla övünür. Kaplumbağa ona öyle bir deniz anlatır ki yıllarca süren seller onu yükseltememiş, kuraklıklar alçaltamamıştır. Kurbağanın dili tutulur.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Zhuangzi (book)
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