Shinogi wo Kezuru
Japanese idiomatic sentences #1 with sword
There are some idiomatic expressions in the Japanese conversation referring to the Japanese swords. There seems to be most Japanese people even do not know those etymologies since a Japanese sword is no longer close to their daily life. I am going to introduce some Japanese expressions coming from the Japanese swords.
The first one is “shinogi wo kezuru（しのぎを削る）” = shave a shinogi
First of all, what is shinogi（鎬）?
It is the top edge line at both sides of a Japanese sword as you can see above photo with a red line.
After an intense and long fight, “shinogi “ lines will be scrapped off as two swords hardly crossing out each other. This means that they had a good fight long time with their good martial arts techniques and courage. So, “shinogi wo kezuru” is now referred that you have a good rival and friend in the Japanese conversation.
Note:
“sonoba shinogi（その場しのぎ）” and “touza shinogi（当座しのぎ）”
These idiomatic expression also mean that you go through tough time.