How to Read “Even if you’ve traveled seven ri, go back and drink your morning tea”
Asacha wa shichiri kaette mo nome
Meaning of “Even if you’ve traveled seven ri, go back and drink your morning tea”
This proverb teaches that drinking tea in the morning is extremely important for your health. Even if you forgot to drink your morning tea and left home, you should go back for it even after walking seven ri. That’s how valuable morning tea is.
People use this saying when emphasizing the importance of morning routines or healthy lifestyle habits. It’s especially effective when advising young or busy people not to neglect breakfast or morning rituals.
Today, more people skip breakfast or rush out of the house in a hurry. This proverb reminds us of the value of cherishing our morning time.
It contains universal wisdom that staying hydrated and having calm time in the morning creates the foundation for a healthy day.
Origin and Etymology
The exact origin of this proverb is unclear, but it was likely already well-known during the Edo period. For people back then, tea wasn’t just a beverage. It was an important habit for maintaining health.
“Seven ri” equals about 28 kilometers. That’s roughly a seven-hour walk one way, so a round trip would take an entire day.
The expression that you should drink morning tea even at such great effort shows how much people valued it.
Records show that Edo period medical books and health guides described the benefits of drinking tea in the morning. People believed that the morning cup gave energy for the day and kept illness away.
Green tea’s antibacterial properties were understood through experience. In an era without adequate sanitation, morning tea was practical wisdom for staying healthy.
Using the specific number “seven ri” makes the proverb more memorable and impactful. This technique of using numbers appears in many Japanese proverbs.
Trust in morning tea and earnest wishes for good health likely created this memorable phrase.
Interesting Facts
Edo period health guides stated that morning tea “wards off the day’s misfortunes.” This wasn’t mere superstition. It reflected an experiential understanding of catechin’s antibacterial effects in tea.
Drinking tea first thing in the morning washed away bacteria that multiplied in the mouth overnight. This reduced risks like food poisoning.
The distance of “seven ri” represents the typical travel range of people at that time. In the Edo period, average travelers walked about ten ri per day. Seven ri was most of that distance.
In other words, it expresses the strong will to “waste almost a full day’s journey” for morning tea.
Usage Examples
- Going to work without breakfast? Remember, even if you’ve traveled seven ri, go back and drink your morning tea. Health comes first.
- The old saying goes, even if you’ve traveled seven ri, go back and drink your morning tea, so no matter how busy I am, I never skip my morning cup.
Universal Wisdom
This proverb contains a deep insight: what humans need to maintain health is actually very simple. Not expensive medicine or special treatments, but daily habits like a morning cup of tea form the foundation of health.
People often get caught up in immediate busyness and put off what’s truly important. They dismiss small habits, thinking “just for today” or “I don’t have time.”
But health isn’t lost in a single day, nor can it be recovered in one. Daily accumulation eventually creates a big difference.
The proverb uses the extreme expression “even if you’ve traveled seven ri” because it understands our psychology. People tend to break habits with a “just a little” mindset.
That’s why it uses such exaggerated emphasis to engrave the importance of morning habits in our hearts.
Our ancestors knew this truth. The treasure of health is built through small daily choices. And what supports those small choices is the power of habit.
Through the concrete action of morning tea, it conveys universal wisdom about how to prioritize in life.
When AI Hears This
This proverb sharply targets the asymmetry of human time discounting. The cost of returning seven ri is about seven hours of walking—a certain, concrete loss.
Meanwhile, the health benefits lost by skipping morning tea are uncertain and far in the future. In behavioral economics, humans should extremely dislike certain losses. So why does this proverb say “accept a certain loss”?
The answer lies in hyperbolic discounting. Humans have a tendency to sharply discount value as time increases. The value of preventive actions is especially underestimated exponentially.
Research confirms contradictory behavior: people choose 500,000 yen today over 1 million yen in one year, but choose the latter when comparing 1 million yen in ten years versus 500,000 yen in nine years.
The “30 minutes saved” by skipping morning tea looks like an immediate certain benefit. But it’s actually just postponing a large future health risk as a loss.
The genius of this proverb is that it tries to correct cognitive distortion through extreme numerical settings. By presenting the exaggerated loss of seven ri, it reframes the true value of preventive action as “an immediate certain loss.”
In other words, it’s a cognitive trick that converts uncertain large future losses into small certain present losses. Modern people postponing health checkups is exactly this value reversal phenomenon at work.
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches you today is that health isn’t something special. It exists in small daily habits. Even without time for the gym or money for expensive supplements, you can stay hydrated every morning and have calm time.
In modern society, efficiency and productivity are emphasized. Many people skip breakfast and head to work. But isn’t true efficiency about maintaining health long-term and walking through life at a sustainable pace?
Saving ten minutes in the morning while damaging future health is putting the cart before the horse.
Your “morning tea” doesn’t have to be actual tea. It could be morning stretches, deep breathing, or a leisurely breakfast. What matters is having an attitude that prioritizes your health.
No matter how busy you are, secure time to care for your body. That determination is the essence of this proverb. Why not find your own “morning tea” starting today?
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