How to Read “親の意見と茄子の花は千に一つも仇はない”
Oya no iken to nasuhi no hana wa sen ni hitotsu mo ada wa nai
Meaning of “親の意見と茄子の花は千に一つも仇はない”
This proverb means that parental advice is as reliable as eggplant flowers and never goes to waste.
Parents have accumulated years of life experience, and the advice born from that experience always has meaning. Even if you can’t understand it at the time or feel like rebelling against it, you will come to understand its value as time passes. Just as eggplant flowers almost certainly bear fruit, parental words also always bear fruit.
This proverb is used when children are dismissing their parents’ advice, or when you want to convey the importance of parental words. It’s also used when you become a parent yourself and recognize the value of advice you once received from your own parents. Even in modern times, it’s used to express the value of wisdom born from the difference in experience in parent-child relationships. Even when parental advice sometimes feels harsh, it expresses the trust that it is based on love and will surely benefit the child.
Origin and Etymology
This proverb has been used since the Edo period and has an interesting structure that combines the value of parental advice with the reliability of eggplant flowers.
Looking at eggplant flowers, the characteristics of this plant hold important meaning. Eggplants have the unusual property that almost all of their flowers bear fruit compared to other vegetables. Tomatoes and cucumbers have male and female flowers or often fail in pollination, so flowers often don’t become fruit even when they bloom, but eggplants are different. For farmers, eggplants were known as “crops that don’t betray.”
The “ada” in “sen ni hitotsu mo ada wa nai” doesn’t mean “enemy” as in modern language, but rather means “to become waste” or “to be useless” in classical Japanese. In other words, it means “not even one in a thousand becomes waste.”
The background to this proverb’s creation lies in the fact that the reliability of eggplant cultivation was widely known in an agriculture-centered society. The wisdom of farmers is embedded here – that parental advice based on experience, like eggplant flowers that reliably bear fruit, always has some value. Similar expressions can be found in Edo period moral instruction books and life guidance books, and it can be said to be a uniquely Japanese way of thinking that overlays family bonds with natural providence.
Interesting Facts
Eggplants were actually treasured by farmers as vegetables so reliable at bearing fruit that they were called “nari-sho” (fruit-bearing nature). Since it’s not uncommon for other vegetables to bloom but not bear fruit, the stability of eggplants stood out.
The classical word “ada” in this proverb is often used to mean “enemy” in modern times, but originally meant “useless” or “waste.” Therefore, modern people sometimes misunderstand the meaning when they first hear this proverb.
Usage Examples
- When my son was troubled about his future path and regretted not listening to his father’s advice, he keenly felt that “Parent’s opinion and eggplant’s flowers in thousand to one also enemy there is not”
- The nagging from my mother that I rebelled against in my youth was, when I think about it now, exactly as the proverb “Parent’s opinion and eggplant’s flowers in thousand to one also enemy there is not” says
Modern Interpretation
In modern society, complex aspects have emerged in the interpretation of this proverb. In the information age, there exists a technological knowledge gap between parent and child generations, and cases where children are more knowledgeable, especially in digital fields, are increasing. In areas that parents have never experienced, such as SNS usage, online learning, and remote work, the traditional idea that “parental advice is absolute” has become difficult to apply.
Also, due to the diversification of values, there are many situations where the common sense of parents’ era cannot be applied in modern times. In areas where social structural changes are rapid, such as work styles, views on marriage, and career formation, parental experience sometimes doesn’t directly apply to children.
However, there are certainly parts that remain valid across eras, such as how to build human relationships, how to deal with difficulties, and basic life wisdom. In modern times, rather than “blindly following parental advice,” the attitude of “discerning what can be learned from parental experience” has become important.
Particularly regarding emotional support and major life choices, parental advice still holds great value. In modern parent-child relationships, a relationship where both learn from each other is considered ideal, and this proverb is often understood not as “one-sided teaching” but as “sharing experience.”
When AI Hears This
The reason eggplant was chosen lies in its remarkably high fruit-setting rate. Eggplant flowers are botanically called “perfect flowers,” meaning each flower contains both pistils and stamens. Moreover, they’re capable of “self-pollination,” where pollination occurs within the same flower, making them independent of external factors like wind or insects.
This characteristic gives eggplants an astounding fruit-setting rate of over 90%. In contrast, tomatoes and cucumbers are insect-pollinated flowers that depend on insects, causing their fruit-setting rates to drop significantly during bad weather. Pumpkins and watermelons have separate male and female flowers, so if the timing doesn’t align, they won’t bear fruit.
What’s fascinating is a phenomenon called “polychasial flowering” in eggplant flowers. Multiple flowers bloom in stages within a single inflorescence, creating a system where even if one flower fails, the next flower can reliably set fruit.
Eggplants also possess an ability called “parthenocarpy,” where they can form fruit even without pollination. This is a rare trait in the plant kingdom, truly creating a situation where “not even one in a thousand will fail.”
People in ancient times observed their fields daily and witnessed how only eggplants consistently bore fruit regardless of weather or pests. This empirical observation became the basis for choosing eggplant as a symbol of certainty. Now that modern botany has scientifically explained these reasons, we’re once again amazed by our ancestors’ keen observational skills.
Lessons for Today
What this proverb teaches us modern people is the importance of discerning the value of experience. Precisely because we live in an age overflowing with information, it becomes important to understand the weight of wisdom based on actual experience.
While there’s no need to swallow all parental advice whole, we shouldn’t dismiss the love and experience behind it. The advice that makes us want to rebel often contains messages that are actually necessary for us. When we look back after some time has passed, we can see its value.
Also, this proverb serves as a guideline for when we ourselves are in a position to give advice to someone. If we seriously consider the other person and give sincere advice based on experience, it will surely reach their heart. Even if it’s not understood immediately, it becomes a seed that will someday bloom.
In modern society, there are many opportunities to learn from life seniors and experienced people other than parents. We should not forget that the words of such people also have the reliability of eggplant flowers. Cherishing the treasure of experience and passing it on to the next generation. Creating such a warm cycle may be the gift to modernity that this proverb teaches.
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