130 proverbs

1130 proverbs, in three levels

• Elementary, 65 - the ones a child is likely to have heard already
• Intermediate, 40
• Advanced, 25

Rather than adding more proverbs, each one is asked from three different angles. Knowing the words of a proverb is not the same as being able to use it, so 130 known properly is worth more than a longer list half-remembered.

2Three ways of asking

• Fill the blank - complete 犬も歩けば □
• Meaning - a definition appears, and you pick the proverb that matches
• Scene - a one-line situation appears, and you pick the proverb that fits it

These are not three difficulty levels - they ask different things. Filling the blank shows you know the wording. Matching the meaning shows you understand it. Matching the scene shows you could actually use it.

Here is what that looks like for one proverb, 犬も歩けば棒に当たる - "a dog that walks about will run into a stick".

• Fill the blank - 犬も歩けば □, with four cards: "runs into a stick", "breaks a stick", "hits the target", "trips on a stone"
• Meaning - "go out and about, and you meet unexpected good fortune", and you pick the proverb that means it
• Scene - "I went outside and found a shop I had never noticed", and you pick the proverb that fits

Same proverb, three genuinely different questions.

Every one of the 130 has a scene written for it.

3The three wrong cards are chosen, not random

If the other three cards were simply drawn at random, the questions would be too easy: with three obviously unrelated options, elimination gets you the answer without knowing the proverb.

So the wrong cards are chosen like this.

• Blank questions - words that could plausibly fill that blank, so the wrong ones still read as a sentence
• Meaning and scene questions - other proverbs on the same theme, so a question about carelessness is surrounded by other proverbs about carelessness

The proverb above is themed "luck", so a question on its meaning is surrounded by other proverbs about luck - たなからぼたもち (a rice cake falling off the shelf) and 果報は寝て待て (good fortune comes to those who wait). All three are about luck, so only knowing the meaning gets you through.

Where four decent cards cannot be assembled, that proverb is not asked in that form at all. Better to leave it out than to ask it with a weak set of options.

4Sixteen themes

Each of the 130 carries one theme. The themes are what the wrong cards are drawn from.

• Money
• Company
• Effort
• Failure
• Learning
• Time
• Greed
• Carelessness
• Waste
• Caution
• Manners
• Appearances
• Parent and child
• Words
• Knowing your place
• Luck

Sixteen, and no more. More themes would sort the proverbs more finely, but each theme would hold fewer members - and some proverbs would end up with no plausible wrong cards at all.

5Nothing is written by hand

You always answer by picking a card; nothing is written. Being able to write the kanji of a proverb is not what this drill is for.

The aim is knowing what a proverb means and when to use it. The characters themselves are the business of the sister app, Daily Kanji.

Proverbs are shown with furigana, which can be turned off in the settings - so that an unfamiliar character never blocks the way to the meaning.

6A miss stays until it is right

Anything you get wrong is kept until you get it right, and kept per form of question - so "knows the meaning, could not place the scene" survives as exactly that.

7What is not covered

No four-character compounds, no idioms, no sayings of classical Chinese origin: just 130 Japanese proverbs. Nor are there notes on where each one comes from - only what it means and where it is used.