How to Read “噛む馬はしまいまで噛む”
Kamu uma wa shimai made kamu
Meaning of “噛む馬はしまいまで噛む”
“A biting horse bites until the end” means that once a person has acquired bad habits or character traits, they will never change until the very end.
This proverb expresses how difficult it is to change a person’s fundamental character or habits. In particular, it shows that people who have the nature to hurt others or be malicious will not change that essential part of themselves, no matter how old they get or how their environment changes. It is used in situations where you want to warn someone about an untrustworthy person, or when someone who has caused problems in the past does the same thing again, expressing the feeling of “I knew it.”
Even today, this proverb is understood as one that teaches us the importance of discerning the true nature of others in human relationships. It contains the lesson that we need to see through a person’s fundamental character and values without being misled by superficial changes.
Origin and Etymology
The origin of this proverb is thought to come from ancient wisdom based on observing horse behavior. While horses are naturally gentle animals, the expression arose from the empirical knowledge that once a horse starts biting people, this habit is very difficult to break.
In the farming villages and post towns of the Edo period, horses were important sources of labor and means of transportation. People accustomed to handling horses observed their personalities and habits closely. Horses with biting habits were particularly serious problems for horse owners, because once a horse had bitten someone, it would be viewed with suspicion and its value would decrease when being bought or sold.
Horses bite often due to fear, wariness, or unpleasant past experiences, but once this behavioral pattern becomes ingrained, horses tend to repeat it. Horse keepers would pass down warnings like “be careful of that horse because it’s a biting horse” from generation to generation, and this habit likely came to be applied to human character as well.
This proverb is said to appear in literature from the late Edo period, and it’s thought that folk wisdom widely used among common people gradually became established as a metaphor for expressing human relationships.
Interesting Facts
A horse’s biting force is actually extremely strong, said to be about 10 times that of a human. Therefore, for people in the past, being bitten by a horse could potentially lead to life-threatening serious injuries, and wariness toward “biting horses” was a much more serious problem than modern people might imagine.
Interestingly, horses are known to have very good memories and can remember people or places that gave them unpleasant experiences for long periods. This characteristic may be the very basis for the expression “until the end.”
Usage Examples
- That person is telling the same kind of lies again, but as they say, a biting horse bites until the end
- Even though he apologized, a biting horse bites until the end, so he’ll probably repeat the same behavior again
Modern Interpretation
In modern society, new perspectives have been added to the interpretation of this proverb. With the spread of social media and the internet, people’s past actions and statements are more likely to remain as records, and the idea that “a biting horse bites until the end” has come to have more complex meanings.
On the other hand, modern psychology and education are dominated by the positive idea that “people can change,” and some voices question the deterministic view held by this proverb. This is because the development of counseling and therapy has established methods for overcoming past trauma and bad habits.
However, in the business world, it still functions as an important guideline. There is a strong tendency to emphasize past achievements and behavioral patterns in hiring activities and selecting business partners, often making judgments based on the premise that “people don’t change easily.”
Also, in modern times, the scope of “biting horses” has expanded and is applied to various problematic behaviors such as power harassment, moral harassment, and fraudulent acts. It is increasingly cited as a reference when considering how to deal with problematic individuals, especially in interpersonal relationships within organizations.
While this proverb shows the immutability of fundamental aspects of human nature, in modern society it needs to be understood while considering the balance with individual growth potential.
When AI Hears This
From a neuroscience perspective, the behavior of a “biting horse” can be explained by hyperactivity in the amygdala. The amygdala is the brain region responsible for fear and aggression, and once an “attack” response pattern becomes reinforced, it automatically repeats the same reaction to the same stimulus. This phenomenon is called “neural circuit consolidation.”
What’s fascinating is that each time aggressive behavior is repeated, those neural pathways become thicker and more robust. According to research by neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, fear memories formed in the amygdala are difficult for the prefrontal cortex to control rationally, leading to instantaneous reactions. In other words, a biting horse isn’t “thinking before biting” – the brain is automatically switching into attack mode.
Even more remarkable is how extremely difficult it is to “erase” these attack circuits. While general learning can be overwritten with new experiences, amygdala response patterns can only be “suppressed,” not “erased.” This means the aggressive neural circuits remain intact, and when stress or fatigue weakens the prefrontal cortex’s control, aggressive behavior resurfaces.
This neuroscientific fact proves at the neural level what horse handlers understood experientially centuries ago – the immutable nature of certain behavioral patterns.
Lessons for Today
“A biting horse bites until the end” teaches modern people the importance of developing the ability to judge character. It shows the importance of cultivating the insight to see through a person’s essence without being misled by superficial words or temporary actions.
In modern society, we have more opportunities to interact with many people through social media and other media, which is precisely why the ability to discern others’ true nature is required. Observing past behavioral patterns and consistency, and building trustworthy human relationships, will be the key to living a better life.
At the same time, this proverb is also a warning to ourselves. It teaches us the importance of taking responsibility for our daily actions and words so that we won’t be thought of as “biting horses” by others. Since it’s not easy to recover trust once lost, we should strive to be sincere from the beginning.
I hope you too will use the wisdom of this proverb to build richer and more secure human relationships.
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