風が吹けば桶屋が儲かる Entry Discussion Citations Language Download PDF Watch Edit Japanese edit

Japanese Wikipedia has an article on: 風が吹けば桶屋が儲かる Kanji in this term 風 吹 桶 屋 儲 かぜ Grade: 2 ふ Grade: S おけ Jinmeiyō や Grade: 3 もう Jinmeiyō kun'yomi Etymology edit Literally “The wind blows and coopers get richer.” The story goes: the wind causes dust, which gets into people's eyes, turning them blind; blind people make a living by playing the shamisen, whose body is made of cat skin, so more cats will be killed; with fewer cats, rodents will multiply; rodents nibble on tubs, so coopers will get richer.

Pronunciation edit IPA(key): [ka̠ze̞ ɡa̠ ɸɯ̟ke̞ba̠ o̞ke̞ja̠ ɡa̠ mo̞ːka̠ɾɯ̟] Proverb edit 風かぜが吹ふけば桶おけ屋やが儲もうかる • (kaze ga fukeba okeya ga mōkaru)

Used to point out a far-fetched or circuitous chain of events. For want of a nail the kingdom was lost. References edit “風が吹けば▲桶屋が▲儲かる”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025