風林火山

Japanese

Kanji in this term
風	林	火	山
ふう Grade: 2	りん Grade: 1	か Grade: 1	さん > ざん Grade: 1
goon	on'yomi		kan'on

Etymology

A contraction of the slogan on daimyō Takeda Shingen's army banner, 「疾如風、徐如林、侵掠如火、不動如山」, originally from Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ふうりんかざん [fùúríńkáꜜzàǹ] (Nakadaka – [5])
• IPA^(key): [ɸɯ̟ːɾʲĩŋka̠zã̠ɴ]

Noun

風(ふう)林(りん)火(か)山(ざん) • (fūrinkazan) ^{←ふうりんくわざん (fuurinkwazan)?}

1. (military) "wind-forest-fire-mountain", a military strategy that's based on the premise of being "as swift as the wind, as silent as the forest, as fierce as the fire, as firm as the mountain"

See also

• 火(か)山(ざん) (kazan)