車水馬竜 (しゃすいばりょう)

Today’s Yojijukugo is 車水馬竜 (しゃすいばりょう).

• Meaning:
  • Definition: 車馬の往来のにぎやかなさま。非常ににぎわっているさま。
  • Meaning: Endless stream of horses and carriages. Heavy traffic on the street.

• Composition:
  • 車 (しゃ): Kanji for “Car”.
  • 水 (すい): Kanji for “Water”.
  • 馬 (ば): Kanji for “Horse”.
  • 竜 (りょう): Rare pronunciation of the Kanji for “Dragon”. It is normally read as 「りゅう」.

• Notes:
  • This yojijukugo is a metaphor depicting a situation in which the cars are endless like running water, and horses are in one long row stretching like a dragon.
  • The traditional character for 竜 is 龍.
  • The last character (竜) can be read in its more common variation as 「りゅう」.
  • This expression is an abbreviation of the sentence 「車は流水の如く馬は游竜の如し」.
  • This Yojijukugo comes from the 10th Volume (Annals of Empresses) of the Book of the Latter Han, in the part about Empress Ma. It appears as: “車如流水，馬如遊龍“.

• Example:
  • 引っ越したアパートに車水馬竜の道が近くあって、後悔していると言ってました。
  • ひっこしたアパートにしゃすいばりょうのみちがちかくあって、こうかいしているといってました。
  • She said the regrets moving because the apartment she moved in is close to a very busy street.

This Yojijukugo is in the Kanji Kentei Level 1 (準一級) and doesn’t have a synonym.

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まわりに車水馬竜の状態であっても集中して、前に進みましょう！