Proverb 19: Weak meat

Here is today's proverb:

弱肉強食

And in romaji:

jaku niku kyo shoku

And English: "Weak meat, strong eat."

This is the opposite of the Buddha's vision of the world — the law of the jungle, without compassion — but I could not resist including it because of the natural rhyme that happens in the English translation. I am also a fan of these 4-character sayings which are used both in Chinese and in Japanese, and in Korean too. You can see all three languages together on the same page here. These types of 4-character sayings are called chengyu in Chinese, yojijukugo in Japanese, and sajaseong-eo in Korean. This is a well-known saying, so I found lots of illustrated versions online, like this one:

My vocabulary for today:

肉
にく
"flesh, meat"

Haiku 28: Facing West

Here is today's haiku:

西方のはつ空拝む法師哉

And in romaji:

saihō no hatsu-zora ogamu hōshi kana

And English: "Westward, first sky of the New Year — the priest prays."

This is a haiku by Issa. The westward direction is auspicious in Pure Land Buddhism, where Sukhāvatī, Amitābha's "pure land," is in the west. This painting shows Amida welcoming Chūjō-hime to the Western Paradise; you can read more about Sukhavati and Chujo-hime at Wikipedia.

My vocabulary for today:

西
さい
"west"