河童の川流れ Entry Discussion Citations Language Download PDF Watch Edit Japanese edit Kanji in this term 河 童 川 流 かわ > か Grade: 5 わっぱ > っぱ Grade: 3 かわ Grade: 1 なが Grade: 3 irregular kun'yomi Etymology edit Phrase consisting of 河童 (kappa, “water imp”, in traditional Japanese folklore) + の (no, possessive particle) + 川 (kawa, “river”) + 流れ (nagare, “flowing; flushing away”, the 連れん用よう形けい (ren'yōkei, “stem or continuative form”) of the verb 流ながれる (nagareru, “to flow; to be flushed away”)).[1][2][3][4] Literally “Even the kappa is flushed away by the river”. Metaphor for the way that anyone, even experts (as kappa are expert swimmers), might make mistakes.

First cited to a text from 1829.[1]

Pronunciation edit IPA(key): [ka̠p̚pa̠ no̞ ka̠β̞a̠ na̠ɡa̠ɾe̞] Proverb edit 河か童っぱの川かわ流ながれ • (kappa no kawa nagare)

[from 1829] even Homer nods: even the experts make mistakes Synonyms: 猿も木から落ちる (saru mo ki kara ochiru, literally “even monkeys fall from trees”), 弘法にも筆の誤り (Kōbō ni mo fude no ayamari, literally “brushstroke mistakes even in [the writings of] Kūkai”) References edit “河童の川流れ”, in 日本国語大辞典 [Nihon Kokugo Daijiten]‎[1] (in Japanese), concise edition, Tokyo: Shogakukan, 2006

“〈河童〉の川流れ”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎[3] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025