How to Read “魯魚の誤り”
Rogyo no ayamari
Meaning of “魯魚の誤り”
“Carp fish’s mistake” refers to writing errors or reading mistakes that occur due to the similar shapes of characters.
This proverb expresses the phenomenon of confusing kanji characters with similar shapes, particularly when copying documents or reading text. Usage scenarios include typographical errors during copying or printing, mistakes in letters or document creation, and character errors on signs or signboards.
The reason for using this expression is to clarify that it’s not just any “mistake,” but a specific type of error caused by the morphological similarity of characters. In other words, it distinguishes from mistakes due to carelessness or lack of knowledge, indicating that these are unavoidable errors caused by visual similarity. Even today, this is understood as a universal phenomenon that can occur as long as we recognize characters through their shapes, such as in digital conversion of handwritten text or difficulty distinguishing characters due to fonts.
Origin and Etymology
“Carp fish’s mistake” is a proverb originating from Chinese classics. It’s an expression born from the fact that the kanji characters “魯” and “魚” look very similar, referring to errors that easily occur when copying text.
The background of this phrase lies in the circumstances of book reproduction in ancient China. Before the development of printing technology, all books were copied by hand for reproduction. During this process, scribes frequently made copying errors by mistaking characters with similar shapes.
Besides “魯” and “魚,” similar errors easily occurred with the combination of characters “亥” and “豕 (inoko),” and these together are sometimes called “the errors of 魯魚亥豕.” Both are characters that become completely different in meaning with just a single stroke difference.
This expression is thought to have been introduced to Japan during the period when the study of Chinese classics became popular. In Japan too, similar character mix-ups were problematic when studying Chinese literature or copying books, so this Chinese-origin expression took root. The fact that it continues to be used in modern contexts involving characters and writing demonstrates the universality of this type of error.
Interesting Facts
The character “魯” actually refers to a country name, indicating the state of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period. Known also as Confucius’s birthplace, the people of that time probably never imagined that it would leave its name to posterity as a representative example of character mistakes.
In old printing technology, since printing was done by combining characters one by one using woodblocks or movable type, “assembly mistakes” where similar-shaped characters were mixed up during composition frequently occurred. This was like the ancestor of modern typos.
Usage Examples
- Due to a Carp fish’s mistake in an important section of the contract, it took time to confirm the content.
- When transcribing handwritten notes, I’m carefully checking each character one by one, being mindful of Carp fish’s mistake.
Modern Interpretation
In the digital age of today, “Carp fish’s mistake” has taken on new meaning. Now that the method of character input has changed from handwriting to keyboard input, in addition to the traditional “mix-up of visually similar characters,” modern errors such as conversion mistakes and input errors have also come to be included.
Particularly with the spread of smartphones, character input on small screens and conversion errors in voice input occur daily. Also, in OCR (Optical Character Recognition) technology for character reading, the phenomenon of misrecognizing characters with similar shapes is frequently observed. These can be called modern versions of “Carp fish’s mistake.”
On the other hand, with the development of digital technology, spell-check functions and predictive conversion functions play a role in preventing errors. However, these technologies are not perfect either, and human attentiveness is still required for appropriate character selection according to context.
In the information society, the possibility that a single character mistake could cause major misunderstandings or problems has increased. The accuracy of characters has become more important in all situations: social media posts, email exchanges, creation of important documents. While being a classical proverb, it’s an expression whose importance has rather increased in modern society.
When AI Hears This
A scribe in ancient China mistaking the characters for “Lu” and “fish,” and modern AI misrecognizing “O” and “0” share a remarkably similar structure. Both fall into the trap of “shape similarity.”
While OCR technology achieves over 99% accuracy, a closer look at that remaining 1% of errors reveals striking similarities to classic human misreading patterns. AI confuses “cl” with “d” and “rn” with “m,” while humans mix up similar-looking characters. What they share is a cognitive bias of focusing too much on local features while losing sight of the overall context.
What’s fascinating is that even the latest deep learning models, when subjected to “adversarial samples” with artificial noise, will recognize images that look identical to humans as completely different things. This is essentially the same phenomenon as the copying errors ancient scribes made due to fatigue or lapses in concentration.
Moreover, in our modern era, AI misrecognition gets amplified through automatic translation and text input, creating new problems as “digital character confusion errors.” Precisely because we live in an age of human-AI collaboration, the importance of this old proverb’s wisdom about “distinguishing between things that appear similar but are fundamentally different” has only grown stronger.
Lessons for Today
What “Carp fish’s mistake” teaches us today is the importance of striving for perfection while accepting human-like imperfection. No matter how carefully we act, anyone can mix up similar things. This is not shameful, but rather a natural human characteristic.
What’s important is not stopping our actions out of fear of mistakes, but developing habits of confirmation and review, assuming that mistakes can occur. Small efforts like re-reading before sending emails, having multiple people check important documents, and maintaining an attitude that questions our own assumptions make a big difference.
It also allows us to be tolerant of others’ mistakes. When someone makes a character error, we want to be people who can warmly point it out saying, “That’s a Carp fish’s mistake.” Not falling into perfectionism, but supporting each other’s imperfections while building better communication. The wisdom of human relationships is embedded in this old proverb.
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