How to Read “A beautiful woman is the enemy of an ugly woman”
bijo wa shūfu no ada
Meaning of “A beautiful woman is the enemy of an ugly woman”
This proverb means that a beautiful woman becomes a hateful presence to an unattractive woman. It honestly expresses the negative human emotions of jealousy and inferiority that arise from differences in appearance.
When beautiful women exist, women who lack confidence in their own looks feel their position and value appear relatively lower. This feeling grows stronger when they share the same space or environment, creating more opportunities for comparison.
Witnessing a beautiful woman receiving attention and admiration from others can create feelings of exclusion and unfairness.
This proverb objectively describes such human psychology. It might be used when pointing out differences in treatment based on appearance, or when explaining the subtle emotions between women.
In modern times, openly discussing such feelings is considered inappropriate. However, this proverb is understood as accurately capturing emotions that genuinely exist in the human heart.
Origin and Etymology
There are no sufficient written records documenting the clear origin or source of this proverb. However, based on its structure, it likely expresses relationships between women that existed in Japanese society since ancient times.
The word “ada” (enemy) is used in modern Japanese to mean “adversary” or “object of revenge.” In older usage, it carried emotional nuances of “hateful existence” or “object of envy.”
By using the contrasting expressions of beautiful and ugly women, the proverb concisely captures universal human emotions of jealousy and inferiority.
Literature from the Edo period contains various expressions about women’s appearance. This proverb likely emerged from that historical context.
In that era, women’s value was greatly influenced by their looks. Beauty directly connected to marriage prospects and social status.
Therefore, the existence of beautiful women highlighted the misfortune of those who were not beautiful.
This proverb calmly observes human psychology. It honestly puts into words the emotional movements created by the visible difference of beauty and ugliness.
Usage Examples
- In that workplace, “a beautiful woman is the enemy of an ugly woman” – the newly hired attractive employee faces strong hostility
- When she became popular, people started gossiping about her as if “a beautiful woman is the enemy of an ugly woman”
Universal Wisdom
This proverb reveals the cruelty of comparison, a human instinct. We constantly compare ourselves to others, trying to confirm our position through those differences.
Appearance is especially visible, making it an easy target for comparison. The emotions born from such comparisons can sometimes be intense.
Why was this proverb created and passed down through generations? Because people arbitrarily created hierarchies despite there being no absolute standard for beauty and ugliness, then felt joy or sorrow within those rankings.
The structure where beautiful people’s existence causes suffering to others doesn’t actually blame beauty itself. The cause lies in the comparing mind.
However, this proverb isn’t simply about jealousy. It reflects human weakness in seeking self-worth through appearance, the narrow-mindedness that cannot genuinely celebrate others’ happiness, and how we’re manipulated by society’s beauty standards.
Our ancestors didn’t deny these emotions. Instead, they put them into words to examine human nature.
Acknowledging that ugly emotions are also part of being human becomes the first step toward understanding and growing ourselves.
When AI Hears This
The human brain makes a strange calculation error when evaluating beauty. Logically, Person A being beautiful and Person B being beautiful are completely independent facts. Just like apples being sweet and oranges being sweet can coexist.
But when evaluating beauty and ugliness, the brain suddenly acts as if “the total amount is fixed.”
This is the structure of a zero-sum game in game theory – mistakenly believing that if someone gains, someone else must lose. For example, on a 100-point test, the class’s total score isn’t predetermined.
Theoretically, everyone could score 100 points. But with beauty evaluation, a thought process automatically kicks in: “The total beauty is fixed at 10, so if someone takes 7, only 3 remains.”
This illusion occurs because humans are creatures who judge things through relative evaluation. Throughout evolutionary history, rank within a group affected survival and reproduction more than absolute beauty.
So information that someone else is beautiful automatically converts in the brain to a signal that “my relative ranking has dropped.” Even though nobody’s beauty has actually decreased, it feels like someone stole a piece of pie.
This proverb captures with surprising accuracy the distortion in evaluation built into the human cognitive system.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches us the importance of freeing ourselves from comparison. The emotion of hating beautiful people may be evidence that you can only measure your value through comparison with others.
When you feel envious or jealous of someone, it’s actually a sign that you’ve lost sight of your own value. Another person’s beauty doesn’t reduce your worth.
Each person’s charm isn’t something to compare – each one shines in its own way.
In modern society, environments like social media constantly encourage comparison with others. That’s why we need conscious effort to escape the trap of comparison.
Having the mental space to genuinely acknowledge others’ happiness and beauty, and valuing your own inner worth, is the path to liberation from these negative emotions.
This proverb teaches us about human weakness. At the same time, it shows that recognizing that weakness enables growth.
Don’t blame yourself for feeling jealous. Instead, use it as an opportunity to notice your true desires hidden beneath that emotion.
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