How to Read “The net lets fish big enough to swallow a boat slip through”
Ami, donshū no uo wo morasu
Meaning of “The net lets fish big enough to swallow a boat slip through”
This proverb describes situations where the law’s mesh is too loose, allowing those who commit major crimes to escape punishment.
Small crimes and minor violations get strictly punished. But serious wrongdoing by people with power or wealth often goes unpunished. This saying criticizes the unfairness in how laws are enforced.
People use this proverb when major corruption cases or powerful people’s crimes come to light but go unpunished. It also applies when masterminds of organized crime get away.
This expression works better than simply saying “that’s unfair.” It points out structural flaws in the legal system itself. The metaphor of loose mesh helps people visualize the problem clearly.
Even today, we see big companies’ wrongdoing or politicians’ corruption get light punishment. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens face harsh penalties for small violations.
In these moments, this proverb sharply highlights the gap between the ideal of equality under law and reality. It still carries power today.
Origin and Etymology
This proverb likely comes from an expression in the ancient Chinese text “Records of the Grand Historian” (Shiji). It appears in the “Biographies of Cruel Officials” section.
The original text uses the phrase “the net leaks fish that swallow boats.” It was used to criticize inadequate law enforcement.
“Fish big enough to swallow a boat” refers to enormous fish. In ancient China, such expressions symbolically represented powerful people or major criminals.
The “net” represents laws and the judicial system. The image shows how the law’s mesh is too coarse. Fish large enough to swallow boats slip right through.
This expression came to Japan when Chinese classics became widely read. Japan also had a long history of powerful people’s crimes being overlooked.
The saying resonated with people’s real experiences. That’s why it took root as a proverb.
What’s interesting is that this proverb goes beyond simple criticism. It points out structural problems in legal systems.
Small violations get strictly controlled. But bigger crimes more easily escape punishment. This ironic reality is expressed through the easy-to-understand metaphor of fish and nets.
Interesting Facts
“Fish big enough to swallow a boat” in this proverb doesn’t refer to any real fish species. In ancient Chinese literature, such imaginary giant fish often symbolized power or threats.
The expression of swallowing boats whole exaggerates the magnitude of their influence or danger.
Looking at Japanese legal history, the Edo period had an unspoken understanding that “daimyo lords cannot be judged.” This was exactly the situation this proverb describes.
Common people’s crimes were harshly punished. But wrongdoing by daimyo lords and high-ranking samurai was often quietly settled.
Usage Examples
- That big corporation’s tax evasion case ended up getting swept under the rug. The net lets fish big enough to swallow a boat slip through.
- Politicians’ corruption gets overlooked while ordinary people’s small violations get strictly controlled. This is exactly what “the net lets fish big enough to swallow a boat slip through” means.
Universal Wisdom
Behind this proverb’s survival through generations lies a universal contradiction in human society. Systems created to achieve justice sometimes ironically produce injustice themselves.
Why do bigger crimes more easily escape punishment? Because power and wealth have the ability to obstruct law enforcement.
Financial resources to destroy evidence. Economic power to hire excellent lawyers. Networks to exert political influence. All these factors widen the mesh of the law’s net.
Meanwhile, those without power get caught in the net mercilessly, even for small mistakes.
This structure shows that social systems humans create are not perfect. There’s the ideal that law should be equal. And there’s the reality of inequality in actual enforcement.
This contradiction has repeated itself in ancient China, Edo-period Japan, and modern society.
Our ancestors left this proverb not just to lament the current situation. Rather, they wanted to convey the importance of continuing to recognize this contradiction.
Don’t turn a blind eye to problems. Keep speaking up. That’s the only way to gradually make the net’s mesh finer.
Human society can never be perfect. But we must not give up trying to make it better. This proverb carries that message of hope too.
When AI Hears This
The finer you make the mesh, the heavier the entire net becomes and the harder it is to handle. This is not just a physical law but a mathematical constraint that applies to all management systems.
Consider tax audits, for example. If you perfectly checked every transaction of every citizen, you could prevent tax evasion. But that would require increasing tax office staff a hundredfold.
Then personnel costs would exceed tax revenue. So in reality, they use a “coarse net” of spot checks and focused audits of high earners. This creates the risk of missing organized large-scale tax evasion.
What’s interesting is that this dilemma has the same structure as the “sampling theorem” in information theory. In signal processing, measuring too finely increases noise (meaningless data) that buries the essential signal.
In other words, if you make the mesh too fine, you get buried in processing small violations. You lose the capacity to analyze truly dangerous big fish.
The same problem occurs in modern cybersecurity. Monitoring all communications increases safety. But it generates massive false positives, making it impossible to identify real cyberattacks.
Ancient Chinese observation saw through the essence of this trade-off 2,000 years ago.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches you the importance of staying sensitive to social unfairness. When you witness major wrongdoing being overlooked, don’t just accept it as “unavoidable.”
Treasure your sense that something is wrong.
What each of us can do may be small. But recognizing injustice as injustice and continuing to speak up has meaning.
Social media posts, voting behavior, choices as consumers. These small actions accumulating gradually make society’s net mesh finer.
At the same time, this proverb serves as a warning to yourself. If you reach a position of responsibility in an organization, if you gain power, ask yourself questions.
Are you using that power to slip through the net’s mesh? Are you overlooking small wrongdoing?
Justice may never be perfectly realized. But don’t give up trying to aim for a better society.
That’s the message this proverb has been conveying to us for hundreds of years. Your integrity will gradually change the world.
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