The writing on the wall

August 11, 2007 on 10:59 pm | In Culture, Language | | Email This Post

My Japanese friends couldn’t tell me what this meant… 「二不土身」(it’s old school, so you read it backwards… Japanese is weird like that.)

So I looked it up! Cause I’m such a geek!

The question posted by this Japanese person in this forum helped me out!

『身土不二』は「しんどふじ」と読みます。
意味は、「人と土は一体である。人の命と健康は食べ物で支えられ、食べ物は土が育てる。故に、人の命と健康はその土と共にある」と言うこと。

My translation of the meaning that was written by this poster follows.

“Mankind and earth are of the same body.  Mankind’s life and health are supported by food. Food is raised by the earth. Therefore, mankind’s life, and health, are one with the earth.”

The literal translation is more like…

“People and soil are of the same body.  People’s life and health are supported by food. Food is raised by the soil. Therefore, people’s life, and health, are one with the soil.”

By the way, this restaurant is in Osaka, near the Hankyu line in Umeda station. It is all you can eat for like 1800 yen, and the food is all natural… Organic if you will. It’s great stuff. If anyone wants to go there let me know and I’ll add details on the neglected SHOPS section of this site.

- Harvey

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6 Comments »

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  1. Gravatar

    Wikipedia is a very good place to look up sayings like these:

    http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/身土不二

    Comment by Michael — August 12, 2007 #

  2. Gravatar

    Oh wow! They have that phrase in Japanese, too? I learned that in Korean. It’s pronounced nearly the same:

    신토불이

    Means the same thing. I don’t really like the nuance of it. It’s printed on a lot of packages in Korea, meaning, “Made in Korea so it’s best for Koreans,” which I don’t really agree with. (Sidenote: I don’t like things that have “MADE IN USA” written on them, either. I don’t care one way or the other)

    But it’s not written backwards in your picture…身（しん）土（ど）不（ふ）二（じ）

    I just found this nifty site, too.
    http://www.shindofuji.com/

    Comment by Alex — August 12, 2007 #

  3. Gravatar

    So how does this place compare with Keke in Yokohama?

    Comment by Joe — August 12, 2007 #

  4. Gravatar

    どこ？Sol-Viva?
    Kana was working there…
    かぼちゃのプリンうまいよ。。。お腹いたくなるけど。。。
    I will be in Osaka a few days in September… Let’s go to Hermanos !!

    Comment by Matthieu — August 13, 2007 #

  5. Gravatar

    Yeah it is Slo-viva! Wow Kana works there awesome! 大阪に来たら連絡して！遊ぼうぜ〜

    Comment by harvey — August 13, 2007 #

  6. Gravatar

    Actually, the literal translation is probably closer to:

    “Body and earth are not two”

    ie probably better translated as “Man and earth are one” as you suggested…

    Comment by VK — September 24, 2007 #

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