春秋筆法 (しゅんじゅうひっぽう)

Today’s Yojijukugo is 春秋筆法 (しゅんじゅうひっぽう).

Definition	Literal Translation	English Meaning
言葉づかいや文章の細やかな筆づかいの中に賞賛や批判の意味を暗に含ませること。また、公正な態度で厳しく批判すること。	To implicitly include praise or criticism in the fine prints of words or sentences. Also, to criticize severely in a (seemingly) fair manner.	Critical argument laden with value judgment, where an indirect cause, often trivial, is made to appear as leading to the effect

Japanese definition from the official Kanji Kentei Yojijukugo Dictionary

• Composition:
  • 春秋 (しゅんじゅう): 春 means “spring” and 秋 means “autumn”. As a result, the combination simply means “spring and autumn”. It’s a simple way to mention the two seasons. However, here, it is the name of a chronical called the “Spring and Autumn Annals“.
  • 筆法 (ひっぽう): 筆 means “writing brush” or simply “handwriting”. By combining it with 法 which means here “method”, it become : “style of penmanship”.

• Notes:
  • The pronunciation adds a の (possessive particle) between 春秋 and 筆法 but it doesn’t appear in written form according the Kanji Kentei dictionary. However, a quick look on Google will show the の appearing written in most cases.
  • The Spring and Autumn Annals were considered to be written by Confucius and contain some very severe criticism of history. Because of this, the expression “the Spring and Autumn Annals’ style of penmanship” became a way to indicate severe criticism.
  • The Spring and Autumn Annals were named this way because “spring and autumn” were a common metonymy for the year as a whole.
  • This Yojijukugo mostly appears followed by をもって（すれば） and is mostly used in written texts.

• Example:
  • 春秋筆法をもってすれば、智ちゃんが辞めた理由は上司の態度が大きい影響を及ぼしたと思う。
  • しゅんじゅうのひっぽうをもってすれば、ともちゃんがやめたりゆうはじょうしのたいどがおおきいえいきょうをおよぼしたとおもう。
  • I might be severely criticizing, but I think the attitude of Tomo-chan’s boss had an important influence in her resigning.

---

This Yojijukugo is part of the Kanji Kentei Level 5 (五級) and has three synonyms:

• 春秋筆削（しゅんじゅうのひっさく）- not part of the Kanji Kentei
  • The nuance here comes in the use of 筆削 which means “to write what needs to be written and delete what needs to be written”. In this situation, it therefore indicates a severe critic going straight to the point.
• 一字褒貶 （いちじほうへん）- Part of the Kanji Kentei Level 1 (一級)
  • This yojijukugo means that “one single character” (一字）can change the meaning and go from praise (褒) to criticism (貶).
  • While it would seem to hold a different (yet related) meaning than 春秋筆法, the Kanji Kentei Dictionary considers it a synonym.
• 筆削褒貶（ひっさくほうへん）- Part of the Kanji Kentei Level 1 (一級)
  • This yojijukugo is a combination of the two synonyms above and means to criticize fairly yet severely.

---

春秋筆法をもって話そうとすれば、相手が理解していただくか先に確認したほうがいい！