How to Read “There isn’t always a loach under the willow tree”
Yanagi no shita ni itsumo dojō wa inai
Meaning of “There isn’t always a loach under the willow tree”
This proverb teaches that a method that worked once won’t necessarily work again. It warns against overconfidence in thinking that accidental success was due to your skill or a foolproof method.
For example, someone who made money on an investment by chance might believe the same approach will always bring profit. It also applies to salespeople who keep using a technique that worked once, even though circumstances have changed.
People use this proverb to help others realize that situations constantly change. It points out the danger of sticking to the same method without recognizing the role of luck or coincidence.
The saying remains widely understood today as a way to highlight the importance of judging whether success can truly be repeated. It uses a simple metaphor to convey the value of thinking carefully about what made something work.
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records explain the origin of this proverb. However, we can learn a lot by looking at the elements that make it up.
Willow trees grow near water, and their branches hang down close to the surface. Loaches are fish that live in the mud at the bottom of rivers.
Imagine someone successfully catches a loach under a willow tree one day. That person might think, “I caught one here, so I’ll catch another if I come back.”
But loaches don’t stay in one place. They move along the river current and change locations looking for food. Just because one was there yesterday doesn’t mean it will be there today.
This expression likely emerged from the everyday experiences of common people during the Edo period. River fish were a valuable source of protein back then.
The proverb captures the contrast between human psychology—our tendency to cling to methods that worked once—and the reality that nature is constantly changing.
The wisdom of our ancestors is condensed in these words. They overlaid the waterside scene with the human tendency to mistake coincidence for certainty.
Interesting Facts
Loaches actually do have a habit of not staying in one place. They move through the mud at the river bottom, changing location based on water temperature and food availability.
They’re nocturnal and often burrow in the mud during the day. Even if you return at the same time to the same spot, you might not catch one. This proverb was born from accurate observation of loach behavior.
Willow trees have long been beloved in Japan. Their flexible, hard-to-break nature makes them a symbol of adaptability. In this proverb, however, the willow simply serves as a landmark.
By specifying “under that willow,” the saying vividly expresses the fixation on the same place and the same method.
Usage Examples
- Just because last year’s campaign was a hit doesn’t mean we should do the same thing this year. There isn’t always a loach under the willow tree.
- I was teaching my junior the method I used to pass the exam by chance, but I told them there isn’t always a loach under the willow tree, so they should find their own way.
Universal Wisdom
Humans have an instinct to feel reassured by methods that worked once and want to cling to them. Trying unknown methods creates anxiety, while approaches that already produced results feel safe.
This proverb has been passed down for so long precisely because it touches on this universal human psychology.
Success gives us confidence, but it also carries the danger of stopping our thinking. The belief that “it worked last time” blinds us to changing circumstances.
The world constantly flows and changes, yet our minds try to stay in the safe zone of past success.
Our ancestors saw through this human nature. They recognized our weakness in confusing coincidence with certainty, our laziness in wanting to take the easy path, and our cowardice in fearing change.
They overlaid all of this onto the image of someone waiting endlessly for a loach under a willow tree.
This proverb contains both strictness and kindness. Rather than blaming failure, it shows tolerance in accepting “that’s just how things are.”
Everyone waits under the willow for a loach at some point. Our ancestors left us these words because they knew this is what it means to be human.
They gently remind us of the importance of accepting change and continuing to search for new methods.
When AI Hears This
When we view the act of returning to a place of past success through information theory, a surprising structure emerges. The first success is a “signal,” but on the second attempt, environmental “noise” increases dramatically, and the signal-to-noise ratio rapidly deteriorates.
Let’s think concretely. When you first find a loach under a willow tree, that information is fresh and valuable. But as time passes, countless variables are added—water temperature changes, other predators appearing, shifts in loach movement patterns.
Information theory calls this “channel capacity reduction.” The useful information obtained through the same location “channel” degrades over time.
Even more interesting is how human memory stores information in “compressed” form. The initial success was actually a combination of countless coincidences, but the brain compresses it into a simple cause-and-effect: “under willow = loach.”
During this compression process, massive amounts of important conditional information are lost. This is exactly what information theory calls “lossy compression.”
The world constantly moves toward increasing entropy—toward greater unpredictability. Even if you try to recreate past success, a “low-entropy state,” the environment has already transitioned to a different state.
This proverb brilliantly captures how humans tend to underestimate the rate of information degradation.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people the importance of humility and flexibility. When we succeed, we need the ability to calmly determine whether it was our skill or largely due to luck and timing.
Especially in today’s rapidly changing society, past success can become a burden. We need the courage to look at the present moment with fresh eyes, rather than being trapped by “this worked before” thinking.
Specifically, when something goes well, develop the habit of carefully analyzing the success factors. Which parts are reproducible, and which were coincidental? How has the environment changed?
These questions help us think about our next move.
Most importantly, maintain an attitude of continuously trying new methods without fearing failure. Have the courage to leave the willow tree behind.
It may feel uncertain, but it’s also an encounter with new possibilities. Let’s be people who make change our ally and keep learning constantly.
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