How to Read “Buying a sash for five ryō and paying three ryō to tie it”
Goryō de obi kōte sanryō de kukeru
Meaning of “Buying a sash for five ryō and paying three ryō to tie it”
This proverb points out the foolishness of misjudging priorities. It describes spending too much money or effort on secondary parts of something.
Buying a sash for five ryō was already expensive. Then paying three more ryō just to tie it shows a clear lack of balance.
The main item costs less than the total spent. The secondary work ends up costing more than it should. This creates a contradictory situation.
People use this proverb when someone gets the cost distribution wrong. It applies when the main part and the secondary part are out of balance.
It also fits when someone wastes money in ways that ruin their initial investment. For example, buying a luxury car without thinking about maintenance costs.
Or building a magnificent house, then spending absurd amounts on furniture. These situations match the proverb perfectly.
Even today, many people make big purchases for show or on impulse. Then they lose their cool and pile on related expenses.
This proverb still serves as a warning. It alerts us to this backwards pattern of spending.
Origin and Etymology
This proverb likely originated in the Kamigata region during the Edo period. Kamigata included Osaka and Kyoto, where merchant culture flourished.
The specific amounts “five ryō” and “three ryō” reflect this origin. These numbers show the developed monetary economy of urban areas at that time.
During the Edo period, one ryō equaled about 100,000 yen in modern value. Five ryō was a considerable sum of money.
A sash was essential for wearing kimono. Spending five ryō on a fine sash was already significant.
But then spending three more ryō on “kukeru” seemed absurd. “Kukeru” means sewing the edges of fabric together as a finishing technique.
This was normally a simple sewing task. It should not have cost much at all.
The proverb emerged from merchant society’s sense of balance. Merchants understood the tension between “appearance” and “practical benefit.”
Some successful merchants became obsessed with decorating their appearance. They neglected what truly mattered in the process.
They felt satisfied buying an expensive sash. Then they spent disproportionate amounts on finishing it.
This backwards consumer behavior needed correction. The saying spread among merchants as a cautionary phrase.
Usage Examples
- You just bought a new car, but you’re spending more than half the original price on options and custom parts. That’s like buying a sash for five ryō and paying three ryō to tie it.
- You bought a luxury suit, which is fine. But if cleaning and storage cost that much, it’s like buying a sash for five ryō and paying three ryō to tie it.
Universal Wisdom
Humans have a strange psychological pattern. After making a big decision, our judgment becomes clouded by momentum.
After spending five ryō, three ryō feels small. This connects to concepts in modern behavioral economics.
The “sunk cost effect” and “anchoring effect” explain this universal cognitive distortion. These are patterns all humans share.
This proverb has been passed down for generations for good reason. Humans fundamentally “cannot stop once they start running.”
Once we make an initial investment, we pile on related expenses to justify it. The psychology of “I’ve come this far” clouds our calm judgment.
Looking deeper, this connects to human “perfectionism” and “vanity.” We obtained something good, so we want matching accessories.
We don’t want to leave things half-finished. This psychology creates backwards situations before we realize it.
Our ancestors saw through this human weakness. When making big purchases, we must calmly estimate the expenses that follow.
Don’t act on momentum alone. Maintain overall balance. This wisdom transcends time and is embedded in this proverb.
When AI Hears This
This proverb contains a two-stage trap that distorts human judgment.
First, notice the specific distribution of “5 ryō and 3 ryō.” According to behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman’s research, humans feel stronger emotions about not wasting money as the amount already paid increases.
The moment you pay five ryō, the sash becomes not an objective value but “a memory of five ryō.” If you were calm, you could choose to “give up the sash and limit the loss to five ryō.”
But the brain extremely dislikes recognizing this as a loss.
More interesting is that the additional 3 ryō is less than the initial 5 ryō. Psychology experiments show that judgment errors happen most easily when additional costs are about 60% of the original cost.
If the addition were 10 ryō, you would give up. The exquisite amount of 3 ryō guides people toward irrational decisions.
The result is a total of 8 ryō. This is clearly more expensive than buying a product with sash and tailoring included from the start.
This has the same structure as the Concorde supersonic jet failure. Despite obvious losses, they continued investing.
Edo-period common people saw through this psychological trap more than 200 years before Nobel Prize theories emerged. They learned it from everyday shopping.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people an important lesson. When making big decisions, you must see ahead to the small decisions that follow.
Buying a house, buying a car, starting a new hobby. In these moments, we focus only on the first step.
But what we should really consider is the maintenance and related costs that come after.
Modern society constantly urges you to consume. Phrases like “since you’ve come this far” or “while you’re at it” are magic spells that dull calm judgment.
But stop. Look at the whole picture. What do you really need? What should your priorities be?
The important thing is not getting swept up in momentum. Always stay conscious of overall balance.
The bigger the initial investment, the more careful your subsequent judgments should be. Don’t let three ryō feel cheap because you spent five ryō.
Instead, because you spent five ryō, minimize the remaining expenses. We should have this kind of wisdom.
Your life is built from accumulated choices. When you make those choices with calm eyes that see the whole picture, true richness becomes possible.
Comments