How to Read “Parents and children cannot be bought with money”
Oya to kodomo wa zenigane de kawarenu
Meaning of “Parents and children cannot be bought with money”
This proverb means that the bond and love between parents and children are precious things that cannot be bought, no matter how much money you have.
Blood ties, trust built over many years, and unconditional love cannot be measured by monetary value. This is the truth this saying conveys.
This expression reminds us that material wealth and economic success are not the only values in life.
For example, it might be used to help someone who sacrifices family time for work realize what truly matters. It’s also used when we want to reaffirm the preciousness of parent-child relationships.
In modern society, almost everything has become a commodity. Many things can be solved with money.
However, this proverb teaches us a universal truth. Human relationships, especially the bond between parents and children, can never be replaced by money.
Origin and Etymology
The exact first appearance of this proverb in literature has not been identified. However, it’s believed to have been passed down among common people since the Edo period.
Looking at the structure of the phrase, it uses the expression “zenigane” (money). This suggests it likely emerged when a monetary economy had deeply penetrated the lives of ordinary people.
What’s interesting is that this phrase uses the passive form “kawarenu” (cannot be bought). Instead of “kaenai” (cannot buy), saying “kawarenu” expresses a strong rejection of the idea that parent-child relationships could ever be objects of buying and selling.
During the Edo period, many families had no choice but to send their children into service or sell them due to poverty. Even in such harsh realities, this proverb embodies the belief that the parent-child bond alone remained something precious that couldn’t be measured in money.
Also, precisely because commerce developed and everything became tradable as goods, people became more conscious of the importance of values that money couldn’t buy.
As material wealth spread, people questioned what truly mattered. One answer they put into words was the preciousness of parental love.
Usage Examples
- No matter how wealthy I become, parents and children cannot be bought with money, so I want to treasure time with my family
- He succeeded in business, but they say he changed his way of life after realizing that parents and children cannot be bought with money
Universal Wisdom
Since ancient times, humans have assigned value to everything, exchanging and buying and selling. However, no matter how advanced civilization becomes or how complex the economy grows, some things can never be commodified.
That is the parent-child bond.
This proverb has been passed down for so long because it puts into words a truth humans instinctively understand. A parent’s feelings for their child and a child’s affection for their parent exist outside calculation and transaction.
Unconditional love that seeks no reward, deep connections that can’t be explained by logic—these relate to the very core of human existence.
What’s interesting is that this proverb uses “cannot be bought” rather than “cannot buy.” This expresses the strong will that parent-child relationships cannot become objects of buying and selling in the first place.
No matter how poor, no matter how desperate, the human dignity of wanting to protect the parent-child bond above all is embedded in these words.
Also, this proverb paradoxically shows the limits of money. Money is certainly convenient and can solve many problems. However, what truly matters in life cannot be obtained with money.
This recognition is what makes humans more than merely economic beings. Our ancestors condensed into this short phrase the importance of balancing material and spiritual wealth.
When AI Hears This
When we consider parent-child relationships through information theory, surprising facts emerge. In the computer world, there are two types of data compression.
One is lossless compression, which can be reversed. The other is lossy compression, which cannot be reversed. Parent-child relationships are completely the latter, compressed to the extreme limit.
Let’s look at this concretely. Human DNA contains about 3 billion characters of information. Add to this the 280 days of biochemical exchange in the mother’s womb.
Then countless physical contacts after birth, tones of voice, changes in facial expressions, memories of shared time. These represent an astronomical amount of information.
Yet the relationship called “parent and child” compresses all this massive data into just two words. This compression ratio is beyond imagination.
What’s important here is that this compression is completely irreversible. The act of buying something with money actually assumes an equivalent exchange of information.
You can exchange the numerical information of 1000 yen for goods because both can be reversibly converted. However, the massive information compressed into a parent-child relationship cannot be converted into any simple numerical amount.
In other words, money has too low an information dimension to express parent-child relationships. Just as you cannot restore the original password from a hash value, a parent-child relationship can absolutely never be reconstructed from money.
Lessons for Today
Modern society has become an era where more things than ever are commodified and can be solved with money. Housekeeping services, nursing care, educational support—much of what was once done within families can now be outsourced.
However, this proverb poses an important question to us. In exchange for convenience, what are we losing?
What this proverb teaches us is how to prioritize in life. Career advancement and income increases are important. But in pursuing these, aren’t we sacrificing time with family?
We can give children material wealth, but are we skipping time spent together and heartfelt dialogue? Such self-questioning is necessary.
What we especially want to tell modern people is this: investment in parent-child relationships is not monetary. Rather than expensive presents or luxurious trips, casual daily conversations matter more.
Time eating meals together and the attitude of listening to worries cultivate irreplaceable bonds. And those bonds become a force that supports you through life’s difficulties more than any fortune.
This proverb gently teaches us a way of life that cherishes richness that money cannot buy.
Comments