How to Read “Even if you wash a crow a hundred times, it won’t become a heron”
Karasu wa hyakudo aratte mo sagi ni wa naranu
Meaning of “Even if you wash a crow a hundred times, it won’t become a heron”
This proverb means that your inborn nature and essential qualities cannot be fundamentally changed, no matter how hard you try.
Just as washing a crow repeatedly won’t turn it into a white heron, a person’s fundamental nature and true character won’t change through superficial attempts.
People use this saying when talking about someone’s essential personality or temperament. For example, it often describes someone who can’t break bad habits or whose inborn nature shows through their actions.
The expression works because of its strong visual imagery. The clear contrast between a black crow and a white heron helps everyone intuitively understand the idea of unchangeable essential differences.
Today, people use it to refer to the core parts of human nature that don’t easily change, like genetic factors or personality formed in early childhood.
However, it doesn’t deny the value of effort or personal growth. You can also interpret it as suggesting the importance of understanding your own true nature.
Origin and Etymology
No clear written records explain the origin of this proverb. However, the structure of the phrase offers interesting insights.
The choice of crows and herons as contrasting birds carries deep meaning. Crows are entirely black and were sometimes considered ominous birds in ancient times.
Herons, on the other hand, have pure white feathers and symbolize purity. This color contrast forms the heart of the proverb.
The expression “wash a hundred times” also deserves attention. In Japanese, the number hundred is commonly used to mean “many times” or “repeatedly.” It emphasizes the idea of “no matter how much effort you put in.”
This proverb likely spread among common people during the Edo period. It may relate to the social class system of that era.
In a time when birth largely determined your life path, people may have shared this saying as wisdom for accepting unchangeable realities.
However, the proverb doesn’t simply preach resignation. You can also interpret it as conveying the importance of understanding your true nature and living in a way that uses it well.
It suggests that crows have their own value, and herons have theirs.
Interesting Facts
Crows and herons frequently appear as contrasting birds in Japanese traditional performing arts and literature. In Noh theater, there’s a play called “Sagi” where a white heron is portrayed as a sacred being.
Meanwhile, crows appear in the legend of Yatagarasu as messengers of the gods, so they’re not necessarily bad creatures. The color contrast in this proverb emphasizes “difference” itself, not good versus evil.
Interestingly, real crows are highly intelligent. Science has proven they can use tools and remember human faces.
Herons also possess excellent hunting skills. Both birds have outstanding characteristics. This proverb can be interpreted as respecting “differences” rather than ranking superiority.
Usage Examples
- That person keeps making the same mistakes no matter how many times they’re warned. Even if you wash a crow a hundred times, it won’t become a heron—it’s really true.
- His short temper hasn’t changed since childhood. Even if you wash a crow a hundred times, it won’t become a heron—that must be his true nature.
Universal Wisdom
This proverb has been passed down through generations because humans have always struggled between the desire to “change” and the reality of “being unable to change.”
Everyone wishes to fix their flaws and become their ideal self. Yet through experience, we also learn that something within us remains unchanged no matter how hard we try.
This contradictory feeling is a fundamental human struggle. The proverb brilliantly captures this truth.
What’s fascinating is that this saying doesn’t just preach resignation. It points toward a path of deep self-understanding.
Recognizing the futility of a crow trying to become a heron leads to finding meaning in living as a crow. The wisdom here is that accepting your unchangeable nature is the first step toward true freedom.
Our ancestors intuitively understood, without scientific knowledge, that human nature has a core formed by genetics and environment. They condensed into this short phrase the importance of facing that unchangeable part and finding ways to use it well.
This demonstrates a depth of human understanding that transcends time. It’s truly universal wisdom.
When AI Hears This
Looking at the act of washing a crow to make it white from an energy perspective reveals something interesting. Washing requires multiple steps: carrying water, heating it, and scrubbing.
Each step consumes energy. If you wash something 100 times, you need 100 times that energy. Yet using all this energy won’t make the crow’s feathers white.
The color isn’t determined by surface dirt but by genetic information that produces melanin pigment inside the cells.
The second law of thermodynamics teaches that using energy can create local order, but overall disorder always increases. For example, cleaning a room uses physical energy, which breaks down nutrients in your body and generates heat.
In other words, making one place orderly necessarily increases messiness elsewhere.
When washing a crow, you can change the shallow order of surface dirt. But changing the deep order of DNA sequences requires astronomical amounts of energy.
Rewriting genes means precisely manipulating 3 billion base pairs. Even modern genetic engineering finds this extremely difficult.
This proverb intuitively captures a fundamental principle of the universe: energy cost and depth of possible change are inversely related.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches modern people the importance of self-acceptance. In an age where we compare ourselves to others on social media and chase ideal versions of ourselves, these words offer a crucial perspective.
Rather than denying the parts of yourself you cannot change, true growth begins when you understand and accept them.
An introverted person will live a far more fulfilling life by finding ways to use their deep thinking ability rather than forcing themselves to become sociable.
At the same time, this proverb teaches tolerance toward others. Understanding that people’s essential nature doesn’t easily change helps you realize the futility of placing excessive expectations on others or forcing them to change.
You gain the wisdom to acknowledge someone’s true nature and build relationships based on that understanding.
What matters is developing the ability to distinguish between what you can change and what you cannot. Your core nature may not change, but you can choose how to use it and how to express it.
Choosing to become the best crow you can be as a crow—that’s the true freedom this proverb points toward.
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