How to Read “Let them cut your skin to cut their flesh, let them cut your flesh to cut their bone”
Kawa wo kirasete niku wo kiri, niku wo kirasete hone wo kiru
Meaning of “Let them cut your skin to cut their flesh, let them cut your flesh to cut their bone”
This proverb represents a strategy of accepting small sacrifices to deal a greater blow to your opponent. It’s the idea that by not fearing immediate losses or pain and accepting them, you ultimately achieve bigger results.
This saying is used in situations that require strategy to win something. These include business negotiations and competition, sports matches, and important life decisions.
It expresses tactics like giving your opponent a small victory to make them careless, or accepting temporary disadvantages to get inside their guard, ultimately gaining a decisive advantage.
Today, people understand it as an attitude of sacrificing short-term profits to aim for long-term success. It also means pursuing essential victory rather than obsessing over superficial wins and losses.
However, this doesn’t recommend reckless sacrifice. It means calculated strategic judgment.
Origin and Etymology
There are various theories about the clear origin of this proverb. However, people believe it came from the world of swordsmanship.
In Edo period sword fighting, there was a technique. Rather than completely avoiding an opponent’s attack, you deliberately offered a shallow part of your body. This let you get inside their guard and deliver a fatal strike.
The expression “let them cut your skin” means receiving a superficial wound. The skin is the outermost part of the human body. A cut here won’t threaten your life.
Next, “let them cut your flesh” is a deeper wound. But it still doesn’t reach a fatal injury.
Finally, “cut their bone” represents a deep strike that reaches the opponent’s bone. In other words, it means dealing decisive damage.
This step-by-step expression contains the resolve and strategic nature of combat. If you fear small pain, you can’t achieve great victory.
Rather, by making calculated sacrifices, you create carelessness or openings in your opponent. Then you strike there to decide the match.
This is the essence of martial arts put into words. The deep strategic thinking that masters of the sword discovered through life-and-death exchanges is condensed in this proverb.
Usage Examples
- In this business negotiation, I’ll make some concessions. But with the spirit of “let them cut your skin to cut their flesh, let them cut your flesh to cut their bone,” I’ll win the main contract.
- While receiving the opponent’s attacks, I’m aiming for a comeback victory using the “let them cut your skin to cut their flesh, let them cut your flesh to cut their bone” strategy.
Universal Wisdom
This proverb has been passed down because it brilliantly expresses a fundamental human conflict. We all have the instinct to avoid pain, not want to lose, and not want to get hurt.
But at the same time, we also hold a strong desire to accomplish something and grasp victory.
Between these two conflicting emotions, people constantly waver. If you choose to avoid the small pain in front of you, you’re safe. But you won’t gain great results.
On the other hand, if you have the courage to make calculated sacrifices, the possibility opens up to reach bigger goals.
Our ancestors knew that true victory isn’t something you gain without injury. Rather, they understood that the judgment of where to take wounds, where to stand firm, and where to deliver the decisive strike becomes life’s turning point.
This proverb contains timeless wisdom about balancing short-term and long-term perspectives. Don’t judge only by immediate gains and losses. Act while looking at the overall flow.
And to protect what’s truly important, sometimes have the resolve to make small sacrifices. This depth of human understanding is why this proverb still lives today.
When AI Hears This
Taking injury first seems disadvantageous at first glance. But actually, this is a perfect example of what game theory calls a “commitment strategy.”
In other words, it’s a tactic where you eliminate your own escape route to change your opponent’s judgment.
In a normal sword fight, both sides battle cautiously to avoid getting hurt. But when you seriously step forward with the attitude “I don’t mind if my skin gets cut,” your opponent falls into a difficult situation.
Why? Because the opponent must recognize that “this person will really charge in.” This is called a “credible threat.”
It’s not just an empty threat. By showing the attitude of actually accepting loss, you make your opponent believe “this is real.”
Nobel Prize-winning economist Schelling proved an ironic fact. The more rational a person is, the less they can respond when their opponent takes irrational action (the resolve to get hurt themselves).
The opponent thought “they’ll calculate the costs and back down.” But when you come forward accepting the loss, their calculations collapse.
As a result, by confirming a small loss first, you can force a bigger loss on your opponent. This has the same structure as nuclear deterrence theory.
The promise that “I won’t escape unharmed either, but I’ll deal a bigger blow to you” actually becomes the strongest weapon.
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches you today is the importance of having eyes to discern what’s truly important in life. We tend to get excited or disappointed by small wins and losses every day.
But are all of them really important?
When thinking about your career, can you look beyond immediate salary and benefits? Can you see the chance to “cut their bone” through long-term growth and experience?
In relationships too, aren’t you losing trust and bonds (the “bone”) by clinging to trivial stubbornness and pride (the “skin”)?
This proverb teaches the importance of living strategically. That doesn’t mean becoming cold-hearted.
Rather, it’s the wisdom to clarify what you truly want to protect and what you truly want to achieve. Then calmly judge what you can let go of for that purpose.
Modern society has a strong tendency to demand immediate results. However, truly valuable things are obtained by taking time and sometimes enduring pain.
In your life, what is the “skin” and what is the “bone”? When you can make that distinction, you’ll become able to protect and nurture what’s truly important.
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