How to Read “A revolving lantern with its fire gone out”
Hi no kieta mawari dōrō
Meaning of “A revolving lantern with its fire gone out”
“A revolving lantern with its fire gone out” describes being stuck in a hopeless situation. It also expresses sitting quietly in loneliness.
A revolving lantern spins and creates beautiful scenes only when its fire burns. Once the fire goes out, it can do nothing.
This state represents someone who has run out of options. It also shows someone who has lost their energy and sits quietly in sadness.
This proverb is especially used when a once-active person or lively place loses vitality. Everything becomes quiet and lonely for some reason.
It also expresses a helpless state where you can do nothing but endure. The concrete image of a revolving lantern vividly conveys this loneliness and powerlessness to listeners.
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records explain the origin of this proverb. However, we can make interesting observations from the words themselves.
The revolving lantern has been beloved in Japan since the Edo period. It is a traditional lighting device.
When you light a candle inside, the heat creates an upward air current. This makes the inner cylinder with painted pictures spin around.
People used these lanterns during Obon to welcome ancestral spirits. Children also loved them as toys.
In the darkness, pictures appeared and disappeared one after another. The lantern seemed alive and full of energy.
But what happens when the fire goes out? The spinning stops. You cannot see the pictures anymore.
It becomes just a cylinder made of paper and bamboo. All the brightness and movement that entertained people disappears. Everything falls silent.
This dramatic change must have made a strong impression on people’s hearts.
From a state full of energy to helpless silence in an instant. This vivid contrast perfectly expressed certain life situations.
Through this familiar tool, people found words for deep loneliness and powerlessness.
Interesting Facts
The spinning mechanism of revolving lanterns is scientifically fascinating. The candle flame heats the air, making it lighter.
This light air rises upward. The rising air current turns a pinwheel inside the lantern.
In an age without electricity or motors, this device cleverly converted heat energy into motion energy.
The custom of displaying revolving lanterns during Obon carried a special wish. People believed ancestral spirits could find their way home without getting lost.
The spinning light served as a marker connecting this world and the afterlife.
Usage Examples
- That once-thriving shopping district now looks like a revolving lantern with its fire gone out
- Since being hospitalized with illness, he has been living quietly like a revolving lantern with its fire gone out
Universal Wisdom
“A revolving lantern with its fire gone out” teaches us something important. Human existence deeply depends on external energy and environment.
A revolving lantern shines and moves only with fire as an external force. We humans are the same. Without some driving force, we cannot function.
This proverb has been passed down for so long because everyone experiences “fire going out” somewhere in life.
Health, work, relationships, dreams, and hopes. When something that moved us disappears, we suddenly face our own powerlessness.
The vitality that was natural yesterday has vanished without a trace today. People feel deep loneliness from this huge gap.
But this proverb also contains hope. If the fire has gone out, it means fire once burned there.
The revolving lantern is not broken. It holds the potential to spin again if you light the fire once more.
In life too, even if you must endure quietly now, that period may not last forever.
Our ancestors knew that life has rhythms of light and shadow, movement and stillness.
This proverb contains wisdom to accept the state of extinguished fire as part of life, not just to lament it.
When AI Hears This
A revolving lantern is a small heat engine that converts thermal energy into rotational motion.
When fire burns, it creates an upward air current. This current turns the vanes, and shadow pictures appear on the wall.
This sequence follows thermodynamics textbooks exactly. It extracts “work” from energy flowing from high to low temperature.
What matters is what happens the moment the fire goes out. Rotation stops. Temperature differences disappear.
Everything returns to a uniform state called room temperature. This is the essence of entropy increase.
Entropy measures “the degree of disorder.” In the universe, this constantly increases.
Orderly energy flow always disperses toward a uniform state where nothing happens.
Notice that this process is completely one-way. Putting out fire is easy. But fire never lights itself naturally after going out.
The second law of thermodynamics is also called “the arrow of time.” It physically defines irreversibility from past to future.
A spinning revolving lantern is a “low-entropy state” temporarily created by constantly supplying energy.
The decline of people and organizations has the same structure. Energetic states cannot be maintained without external energy input.
If left alone, they inevitably move toward equilibrium, meaning stagnation. This is not a matter of feelings but a physical law governing the universe.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people that losing vitality is nothing to be ashamed of.
Everyone has periods when they become quiet like extinguished fire. This is not weakness but natural for humans.
Modern society demands constant movement. On social media, everyone seems to shine. There is an atmosphere that does not allow stopping.
But like a revolving lantern with its fire gone out, time spent quietly and still has meaning too.
That time may be a preparation period for lighting the fire next time.
What matters is noticing when the fire inside you is going out. If you force yourself to keep spinning, the lantern itself might break.
Sometimes have the courage to stop and think about what extinguished your fire.
And if someone around you is like a revolving lantern with its fire gone out, gently stay by their side.
That person is not broken. They just need time to spend quietly right now.
Believe that the day will come when fire lights again. Waiting patiently without rushing is also one form of love.
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