雨降って地固まる

Japanese

Kanji in this term
雨	降	地	固
あめ Grade: 1	ふ Grade: 6	じ Grade: 2	かた Grade: 4

Etymology

Phrase composed of 雨 (ame, “rain”) 降って (futte, conjunctive form of 降る (furu, “to fall”, as of rain or other precipitation)) 地 (ji, “ground”) 固まる (katamaru, “to get hard, to harden”, intransitive).

Literally “the rain falls and the ground hardens”.

Proverb

雨(あめ)降(ふ)って地(じ)固(かた)まる • (ame futte ji katamaru) 

1. a relationship is stronger after conflict
   • 2006, 紺家 孝雄, 激流を泳ぐ: 日本と米国の狭間に生きて!, 新風舎, page 208,

     日米(にちべい)の国交(こっこう)が戦後(せんご)やっと再開(さいかい)され、大使館(たいしかん)も同時(どうじ)に戦時中(せんじちゅう)の閉鎖的期間(へいさてききかん)を過去(かこ)の出来事(できごと)として再度開館(さいどかいかん)されることとなり、日本(にほん)とアメリカは、「雨降(あめふ)って地固(じかた)まる」の譬(たと)えを地(じ)でいくように、より緊密(きんみつ)な外交関係(がいこうかんけい)によって固(かた)く結(むす)ばれるようになった。

     Nichibei no kokkō ga sengo yatto saikai sare, taishikan mo dōji ni senjichū no heisateki kikan o kako no dekigoto to shite saido kaikan sareru koto to nari, Nihon to Amerika wa,“ame futte ji katamaru” no tatoe o ji de iku yō ni, yori kinmitsu na gaikō kankei ni yotte kataku musubareru yō ni natta.

     US-Japan diplomatic relations finally resumed after the war, and at the same time the embassy was reopened, putting the closure during the war into the past, with Japan and America turning the metaphor of “the rain falls and the ground hardens (→ seeing clearly once the rain is gone)” into a reality and forming a close and strong diplomatic relationship.

Usage notes

• Despite similarity, this proverb is not the same as English after a storm comes a calm, which does not imply the storm was good in the end. This is more like adversity builds character in that respect, but is used of relationships between people.

See also

• 喧嘩(けんか)するほど仲(なか)がいい (kenka suru hodo naka ga ii)
• 一難去(いちなんさ)ってまた一難(いちなん) (ichinan satte mata ichinan)