How to Read “Hanging glass upside down”
Bīdoro wo sakasama ni tsurusu
Meaning of “Hanging glass upside down”
“Hanging glass upside down” is a proverb that describes a beautiful woman, especially one with refined facial features. The image of transparent, glossy glass called bidoro hanging upside down evokes the contours of a beautiful face and lovely skin.
This proverb was mainly used from the Edo period through the Meiji period to compliment beautiful women. Rather than directly saying “she’s beautiful,” people preferred this elegant and sophisticated expression.
Comparing someone to bidoro, which was a rare and beautiful imported item at the time, made the woman’s beauty stand out even more.
This expression is rarely used today. However, it reveals the aesthetic sense that Edo people possessed and their culturally refined way of expressing beauty indirectly.
It’s one of those delicate metaphorical expressions unique to Japanese. It overlaps the shape and texture of an object with human beauty.
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records explain the origin of this proverb. However, the components of the phrase reveal an interesting background.
“Bidoro” comes from the Portuguese word “vidro,” meaning glass. It entered Japan through Nagasaki during the Edo period and referred to glass products.
People especially loved bidoro as toys that made sounds when you blew into them. Transparent and beautiful, bidoro sparkled when light hit it. It was a rare and precious imported item at the time.
Why did “hanging upside down” become a metaphor for a beautiful woman? When you hang bidoro upside down, its rounded shape resembles plump cheeks and a chin line.
Also, the way transparent glass sparkles in the light perfectly expressed the beauty of fair, translucent skin.
In Edo period aesthetics, a plump, round face was considered a mark of beauty. The round, bulging shape of bidoro turned upside down was seen as a symbol of ideal facial features.
This is how this expression was born. You can feel the refined sensibility of Edo in this proverb that overlaps imported beautiful glassware with female beauty.
Interesting Facts
During the Edo period, bidoro was mainly enjoyed as a summer tradition. Glass craftsmen sold them on the streets with live demonstrations.
Children loved these toys that made a “poppen” sound when you blew into them. This cool sound was said to ease the summer heat and was valued as a prop for creating seasonal atmosphere.
Glass products in the Edo period were extremely expensive. Even small toys like bidoro that commoners could afford were special items.
Therefore, comparing a beautiful woman to bidoro meant more than just beautiful. It also implied that she was precious and valuable.
Usage Examples
- Seeing her profile, I admired her beauty like hanging glass upside down
- The onnagata I saw at the theater had beauty like hanging glass upside down, just as people said
Universal Wisdom
The proverb “Hanging glass upside down” reveals a universal human psychology. Rather than expressing beauty directly, people want to convey it by comparing it to something else.
Why do people want to use metaphors instead of simply saying “beautiful” when they see something lovely? It’s because the sensation of beauty is so intense that simple words can’t fully express it.
When your heart is moved, you desperately want to convey that feeling to others. This desire creates imaginative metaphorical expressions.
This proverb also reflects a culture that values dignity and refinement when speaking about beauty. Overly direct expressions were considered crude, and indirect, elegant phrasing was preferred.
This wasn’t just wordplay. It was also a sign of respect for others. When praising someone’s beauty, people wanted the praise itself to be beautiful too.
Furthermore, comparing someone to rare imported glassware emphasizes that their beauty is special. Throughout history and across cultures, people have compared precious or beautiful things to valuable treasures.
Expressions comparing loved ones to jewels or flowers exist across cultures. This reflects a universal human desire to express the highest respect and affection through words.
When AI Hears This
When you turn bidoro upside down, water droplets concentrate at the narrow neck. At this moment, invisible stress concentration occurs inside the glass.
Glass has a large thermal expansion coefficient. It expands and contracts by about 9 parts per million for every 1-degree temperature change. When water droplets evaporate or hand warmth transfers, these tiny changes concentrate at the neck.
What’s interesting is that this breakage happens probabilistically. In materials engineering, we predict failure using a statistical model called “Weibull distribution.”
Brittle materials like glass suddenly break from microscopic internal flaws. This means it might not break the moment you turn it upside down, but suddenly hours or days later.
Stress accumulates, and when the weakest point inside exceeds its limit, the entire structure collapses.
This concept is crucial in bridge and building design too. Even if the overall structure is strong, “singular points” where stress concentrates always exist.
Aircraft windows are round because corners create stress concentration points that become failure origins. Hanging bidoro upside down is a simple act.
But it’s a miniature of a chain reaction that eventually leads to total destruction by continuously applying load to the most vulnerable point in a system.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people about the richness of words expressing beauty and the thoughtfulness behind them.
In modern society, direct words like “cute” and “beautiful” flood social media. But when your heart is truly moved, don’t you want to express it with more special words?
This proverb teaches the value of putting heart into the expression itself when praising someone’s beauty.
This proverb also shows the importance of sensitivity to notice beautiful things in daily life. Edo people found beauty in the shape and sparkle of glassware and connected it to human beauty.
The ability to notice beauty in things around you and put it into words enriches your life.
When you praise someone important to you, why not search for your own metaphor instead of using common words? Express that person’s unique beauty in your own words.
This kind of communication will surely deepen the bonds between people.
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