Japanese Proverb - 頭隠して、尻隠さず Hide Head, Don't Hide Butt

頭隠して、尻隠さず atama kakushite, shiri kakusazu
Literal: Hide head, don't hide butt
English Equivalent: Hiding your head in the sand (like an Ostrich)
[Not a very similar meaning, but both are used for ridicule when someone does something foolish]

Notes:
隠して kakushite hidingThe て form of 隠す kakusu to hide; conceal
隠さず kakusazu not hide; the ず is a negative ending

しんのすけは、かくれんぼうするとき、いつもおしりが見えている。まさに、頭隠して尻隠さずだ。
shinnosuke wa, kakurenbou suru toki, itsumo oshiri ga mieteiru. masa ni, atama kakushite shiri kakusazu da..
Shinnosuke when playing hide-and-go-seek, always (hides somewhere that) exposes his backend. Truly, this is hiding his head but not his butt.

しんのすけ shinnosuke—a boy's name
かくれんぼう kakurenbou—hide-and-go-seek (children's game)
するとき suru toki—when doing...
いつも itsumo—always
おしり oshiri—butt; backend
見えている miete iru—able to be seen
まさに masa ni—surely; certainly; truly

Category:

Education

Tags:

• japanese
• language
• proverbs
• lesson
• learn

[VTPPGLVR]

i only hear "sticking your head in the sand" to be said of someone who's foolish, but foolish in that they're trying to ignore something obvious.

is this phrase advice, or used as an analogy/example to compare the foolishness to? like, "dumb as a doorknob". (doorknobs don't get double-digit IQ scores, and this person doesn't, either. ;))

[thejapanshop]

It does seem to carry a 'foolish' meaning for someone who thinks he has it all figured out. Also very often it is used in a literal sense. For example: The cat hid from the dog under the chair but left the tail sticking out.

[ASL8306]

ありがとうございます! I was just researching ことわざ、頭隠して尻隠さず is one of the ones i recently read, thanks for the explanation.

[thejapanshop]

Great! Glad it helped.

[sdm42393]

Thanks for the upload ^_^

[thejapanshop]

Thank you!

[colinDESU]

ことわざのサイトによると、「お母さんに内緒でケーキを食べたで­しょ？フォークは片づけても、口の周りのクリームが頭隠して尻隠­さずになっているわよ」 というふうにも使えます。

[msdali10]

noway you got to be kidding for that what

you just put of the word butt. *_*

[MrOonter]

Lol, are they talking about Shinchan?

[nipponbuta101]

頭隠して尻隠さず.

[bestiaccia]

Very good!