Episode 48: Konnyaku and Idioms 2

This time we will introduce idioms that include konnyaku!

Are you familiar with the idiom "building a stone wall with konnyaku"?

This idiom is used to describe something that is, as the word suggests, impossible to achieve.

Konnyaku is not hard but soft, and it is obviously impossible to build a stone wall using it.

It turns out that this was a well-known fact.

This also suggests that konjac has been a familiar food for a very long time (since the time when stone walls were being built).

A similar idiom is "to strike a star with a bamboo pole."

Like "building a stone wall with konjac," this is an example of the foolishness of trying to do something impossible.

It is also used as a metaphor for the frustration of not being able to achieve what you want.

You can't shoot down stars from the sky with a bamboo pole.

Moreover, in modern times, bamboo poles themselves are rarely seen,

It seems we can conclude that it's even more impossible to achieve.

Following on from last time, we've introduced more idioms that include konjac!

How many of these did you know?

Building stone walls with konjac

Shooting stars with a bamboo pole