Inujini (Death in Vain) ――Image Shiritori has begun (#114)

(#113) Accounting → 'I' → Inujini (Death in Vain)

First of all, let me clarify: 'Inujini' does not mean that.

……I mean, your playing dead skills are way too high, Pochi💦

The term 'Inujini' is an idiom meaning a meaningless death or a death in vain, and it absolutely does not mean 'a dog is simply dead'.

Well, a dog simply being dead is certainly 'a dog dying,' but if you call every such death a 'meaningless death' or a 'death in vain,' even a cat person like me would get annoyed.

There is no such thing as a 'waste' when a life fades away, and besides, is there any pet owner who would think the death of their beloved family dog is a 'meaningless death'?

However, not limited to this 'Inujini,' when the word 'dog' (inu) is used as a descriptor, it often carries a negative connotation.

Inuzamurai (Dog Samurai) refers to a cowardly samurai who does not understand Bushido, and
Inu-isha (Dog Doctor) is synonymous with a quack doctor. When used as a botanical prefix, it means 'something that looks similar but is different' or 'something inferior'.

Like Inuzakura (dog cherry), which has less impressive flowers than Sakura, Inutsuge (dog boxwood) and Inubuna (dog beech), which have inferior materials, or Inuzansho (dog prickly ash), which does not have a fragrant scent ――that sort of thing.

Well, although it is often said that the 'inu' prefix in these cases is unrelated to the 'dog' (inu) of our canine friends, if you look at dictionaries or botanical guides for things like the aforementioned Inutsuge, it is clearly written using the kanji for 'dog' (犬黄楊). So, it's hard to say they are unrelated (lol).

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Then why is the 'dog' so neglected in terms of expression? With over 7.1 million dogs kept as pets across the country
(*1) I think there is a large part of this that modern Japanese people cannot understand.

However, speaking specifically of Japan, it was only after the Meiji era, when the waves of civilization and enlightenment began to sweep through the country, that keeping dogs as pets became common. Before that, dogs in Japan existed close to human living areas, but their status was far from what it is today. Their position was that of a nuisance that scavenged for human leftovers, scavenged for carcasses, and spread rabies.

In the first place, according to Buddhist teachings, the world they live in is the 'Animal Realm' (Chikushodo). Since it is the status of reincarnation for humans who lived a worthless life and met a bad end, I think it is inevitable that expressions containing 'dog' carry negative or inferior images.

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On that note, in places like the UK, where there is a long history of keeping dogs as pets, it is interesting to see the differences from Japan in proverbs that use the same 'dog' motif.

――For example, something like this.

'When a child is born, get a dog. When the child is a baby, it will be a good guardian for the child. When the child is in childhood, it will be a good playmate for the child. When the child is in boyhood, it will be a good confidant for the child. And when the child becomes a young adult,

it will teach the child the preciousness of life through its own death

.'

Yes, in English proverbs, it is the exact opposite of the Japanese term "inugini" (dying in vain), and great meaning is attributed to such a death. As expected of the land of gentlemen (o^-')b♪

By the way, the setting for the memorable first part of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" by Hirohiko Araki is 19th-century (1888) England, and the protagonist Jonathan Joestar's house also has a dog named Danny. The breed is not specified, but judging by a quick look, it might be an English Greyhound or a Great Dane. 👇

When he first came to the Joestar house, he was very timid, so he reflexively bit young Jonathan when he tried to approach him, and after that, he was bullied by Jonathan.
However, one day when Jonathan was playing in the river and accidentally drowned, Danny saved him (👇), and the two became inseparable best friends.

If it followed the proverb, when Jonathan became a young man, he would teach the value of life through his own death, but in Danny's case—

He was suddenly kneed in the face upon his first meeting with Dio Brando, the other protagonist who appeared at the Joestar house ( ﾟДﾟ)!

After that, in retaliation for being soundly defeated and having his pride wounded in a fistfight with Jonathan, who was enraged because his girlfriend Erina had been hurt, Dio had Danny's mouth tied with wire, locked in a wooden crate, and thrown into an incinerator to burn to death (*´Д｀)
—a death that, no matter how you look at it, would only leave trauma (・_・)

…Hmm, as a sample after talking about a wonderful proverb from the land of gentlemen, this might not have been very appropriate (・_・).

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Let's pull ourselves together and pick today's song.
…Normally, this is the kind of article where you'd want Yuuri's "Leo." But, I already used it in a previous article for this project...

That said, "Leo" is still hard to pass up.
So, for today's song, I recommend Yuuri's "Leo" (o^-')b♪
I'll post it here just in case. 👇 The article itself is as silly as usual, so please feel free to skip it and definitely listen to the embedded song "Leo" at the very bottom m(__)m

Oops, it's already this late tonight.
Danny's end and the overly realistic playing dead of Pochi (pseudonym) from the joke image might appear in my dreams, so to reset my memory, I think I'll go for a run outside^m^💦

With that said,
I hope tomorrow will be a peaceful day where as many people as possible can treat dogs with kindness 🐶💛

■ Bonus

This is the car before the current one in this image shiritori train (113th car). If the title "Accounting" and the joke image on the bottom right caught your eye, please take a look if you have the time.