Record of Missing the Mark

It seems that the Sanseido Kokugo Jiten 3rd edition in 1982 was the first dictionary to label "teki o eru" (to hit the mark) as a misuse, but in the 7th revised edition of 2013, that theory of misuse was retracted. I remember thinking it was a bold decision, even if it was a bit late. Incidentally, Jiji Press, in its 1981 "Article Style Book: New Usage and Terminology for Reporters"

showed insight, but it is unfortunate that the misuse theory ran rampant because the minority could not defeat the majority. It is said that Jiji Press also responded in a 2012 questionnaire at the Kansai Regional Terminology Liaison Meeting regarding "teki o eru" by saying, "There are cases where it is corrected and cases where it is not; the reality that many people use it cannot be ignored."

However, for the sake of what loyalty, there are still many people who insist that "teki o eru cannot be accepted." And those people never provide any clear basis for their claims.
Examples of "teki o eru" include, in the old days, "Many of our predecessors' translations into Chinese do not hit the mark" in Yamamoto Kakukaku's "Owari Dialect" (1748), and slightly later, "Even those who think they will shoot and drop it, when they draw the bow, they do not hit the mark" in Kyokutei Bakin's "Asaina Junshoki" Middle Collection, Part 4 (1821). If we look at the Meiji era,

and many other examples can be easily found, and it has been used up to the present day (even after being labeled a misuse). Note that these examples include not only the meanings of "hitting the core" or "getting the point," but also "achieving" or "shooting and hitting," but this is fine as a counter-argument to the theory that denies the collocation itself by saying "a mark is something you shoot, not something you get."
On the other hand, the oldest example of "teki o iru" (shooting the mark) in a sense other than releasing an arrow that can be found today is likely "'Teki o ita.' It refers to saying something well and hitting the mark. It is the same meaning as 'getting the point'" in "Dictionary of Proverbs" (Kumashiro Hikotaro, 1906). Since the title of the book contains "proverbs," it is a vulgar expression, but it must have been used quite widely.

I had an idea that this proverb might have originated from the archery ranges of the Edo period, and when I checked old senryu poems, I found

and other senryu, but I could not find the essential "teki o iru."
Since I went to the trouble, let me explain a little. Most of the phrases are simple, but "chara" in the second phrase is an abbreviation for "charappoko," meaning "irresponsible or random." The sixth phrase likens the archery range customer to Nasu no Yoichi and the archery range woman to Tamamushi-no-Mae. The seventh phrase has the surface meaning that "a beginner tries to nock an arrow but it slips from the bowstring, and the archery range girl helps them set it," and the hidden meaning is probably as you imagine. The "drum" in the last phrase is the drum-knot obi, which is a pun on "going to shoot and win the archery range woman"... no matter how you think about it, if it were a proverb from an archery range, it would likely have a different meaning, and it is a case of "that missed" with no one to help set it.

Yes, I have spoken useless words. Let's return to the subject. "Teki o iru" is considered a proverb, so there are not many examples in publications compared to "eru." Examples of "iru" began to increase after the war.
Next, it is interesting to notice the first appearances of similar expressions "-- o eru / iru" when lined up.

In any case, "-- o eru" is older and more common, just as in the case of "teki" and "seikoku" (the same applies to "kinteki," which has been common in both "eru" and "iru" in archery since the early Meiji period, but I omitted it to avoid clutter). It makes me feel that, contrary to what is said in common parlance, "teki o iru" might have been derived from "teki o eru," and that is precisely why "teki o iru" was considered a proverb.

Regarding "seikoku o eru," there are not many people who label it a misuse, but there are still people who advocate the theory of "It is 'seikoku o iru,' not 'eru'" (Muraishi Toshio, "Dictionary of Japanese Misuses," 1977). Also, the popular theory that it came to be called "seikoku o eru" in Japan during the Meiji era, inspired by "fushitsu seikoku," is clearly a mistake; it is an expression transmitted from China.
As for old examples in Japan, "toku seikoku" appears in "Funogo Koden Zuihitsu" (Shigetsu Eiin) and "Ojoronchu Seigi Josetsu" (Un-do) written in Chinese in the mid-18th century, and there are countless examples in literature since the Meiji era.
On the other hand, as for old examples of "seikoku o iru," "There is no obstacle to shooting the seikoku again because it leaves no ash" appears in "Encyclopedia of Applied Chemistry" (translated by Makiyama Kohei, 1873), which is one of the translations of "Information for the People," but there are very few examples before the war, and it only begins to increase visibly after the 1960s. The feeling of Ono Toru that "The increase in people saying 'seikoku o iru' is an interesting phenomenon when considered with 'teki o iru,' but this is a new way of saying it" ("The Essence of Japanese," 1978) is correct.

How about examples in China, the birthplace of this expression? Old ones include "The meaning of 'xingzai' as called by Wang Shiru is the mosthit the seikoku" (the interpretation of "xingzai" by Wang Shiru is the most accurate) in Zhu Youdun's (1379–1439) "Yuan Gong Ci Bai Zhang Jian Zhu," and much later in the Qing dynasty, there is Yan Fu's (1854–1921) "Like an archerhitting the seikoku, worrying about the weak official bow" (like an archer who hit the mark but worries about the weak official bow), and even today

and others can be found just by looking a little. However, there are no examples of "she seikoku," and there is "zhong seikoku." If you really want to use "she," it seems you have no choice but to make it a serial verb sentence (a complex sentence in Japanese) like Bai Juyi's "She Zhong Seikoku Fu" (A Poem on Hitting the Seikoku).
Some people argue that "seikoku is something you shoot" based on this "she zhong seikoku," but that is far off the mark. This shows that (in China) shooting alone does not mean hitting the target.
Also, I have been seeing the theory that "de seikoku" is a reverse import from Japanese for several years. I don't know what the basis for this is, but I can safely say it is a theory that is off the mark.

By the way, I also looked into "kukei ni ataru," which has a similar meaning to "seikoku o eru." It is a word that means "to hit the vital point; to correctly grasp the main point, core, or essence of a matter," based on the story of the cook Pao Ding who, when dismembering a cow in front of Lord Wenhui of Wei, accurately identified the kukei (the place where the meat is attached to the bone and the place where the tendons and meat connect) and dismembered it. The source is "Zhuangzi: Yang Sheng Zhu." As an idiom, it is "zhong kukei," but are there any examples using "de"?

It exists. In fact, if you look up "de" (得) in the "Hanyu Da Cidian," among the more than 20 definitions listed, it includes "zhong. ji zhong." (to hit; to hit the target). So, there is nothing strange about it. Therefore, just because Yoshida Shoin wrote, "In general, books value hitting the crux. If one is not hitting the crux and is instead just broadly knowledgeable, one's original intent becomes increasingly obscured" ("Komo Sakki," 1855), it is misguided to mock him by saying, "Don't you even know the idioms?"
There are examples in Japanese where "zhong" (to hit) changed to "de" (to obtain). For instance, the phrase "toki ni ataru" (to hit the time) in the "Taiheiki" ("Moreover, the current chancellor has reached a position that hits the time, and is a talent known to the world") means the same thing as what we now call "toki o eru" (to obtain the time). Similarly, what was once called "i ni ataru" (to hit the intent) is now referred to as "waga i o eru" (to obtain one's intent).
What do you think? Doesn't the idea that it derived or changed in the order of (hitting the) target -> (obtaining the) target -> (shooting the) target feel like it isn't that far off the mark?
It is likely closer to the truth that "teki o eru" (to obtain the target) came to be considered a misuse because people lost their grounding in Sinology.

Now, does that mean "teki o iru" (to shoot the target) or "seikoku o iru" (to shoot the bullseye) are the actual misuses? Not at all. To label words that have already become established and universal as "misuse" is more reactionary than conservative. Furthermore, it has been common knowledge since the era of Nasu no Yoichi that the Japanese word "iru" (to shoot) inherently carries the meaning of "to shoot and hit." In short, you can use whichever you prefer. It is almost impossible that you won't be understood.
To determine correctness based solely on an individual's naive linguistic sense, and even more so to wield that theory of misuse exclusively to attack discourses or individuals one dislikes, is what should truly be called missing the mark.

By the way, there is an idiomatic expression in China that uses "seikoku" (bullseye) to mean "sincerity, noble character, or moral integrity." It originates from a story where Confucius, when asked by his disciple Zilu about the way of the gentleman, replied, "The way of the gentleman is nothing but seikoku" ("se" meaning correct and incorruptible, "koku" being a white swan, a symbol of nobility). It is a bit of a pity that this expression did not take root in Japan. I wish I had lived a life where I could say things like, "You are a person of seikoku." Though I have no one to say it to.

[Postscript]
I did not cite this because it deviates from the main argument, but while looking for examples of "teki o iru," I found a letter from Mongaku Shonin to Minamoto no Yoriie (1200).

It says this, and "It is not a crime committed by others, but because your own body is not settled" is based on "If you miss the bullseye, look for the cause in yourself" (from the "Doctrine of the Mean"), "similar to shooting a target" is based on "shooting is similar to the gentleman," and the "knowledgeable person" refers to Confucius; in other words, it is based on the "Doctrine of the Mean."

[Note]
In my own translations of the Chinese text, I consulted multiple Chinese dictionaries and tools, but there may be errors; please use them only as a reference.

[Reference]