捕らぬ狸の皮算用
And in romaji:
toranu tanuki no kawa zanyo
And English: "Counting the skins of tanuki not yet caught."
I was excited to find a proverb about tanuki because I am such a fan of folktales about the tanuki, a great trickster and shape-shifter. You can read about the tanuki, or raccoon-dog, at Wikipedia.
This proverb is a great lesson about not living in the future: you don't know what the future brings, and you haven't caught those tanuki yet! There are similar sayings in cultures around the world. In English compare "counting your chickens before they're hatched," or, even closer to the tanuki saying, "Don't sell the skin till you have caught the bear."
Live in the present instead.
And watch out for those sneaky tanuki!
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