Japanese Kanji 日曜大工 'Sunday Carpenter' Shirt

Do you love woodworking? If can't wait to grab a grab a hammer on your day off and indulge your love of carpentry, this shirt is right up your alley. A great gift for the craftsman in your family, too! 'nichiyoudaiku' (にちようだいく in hiragana script) is the reading for these four characters, literally, 'Sunday carpenter.' This is part of my collection of shirts and such that feature idioms that are made up of four kanji characters. These 'yoji jukugo' (四字熟語） compounds are required study for Japanese children and appear on school entrance exams, as well as in the conversation of well read people. They are linguistic gems, conveying meaning compactly, colorfully, and quite often, profoundly! Using them in speech shows that you have a feel for the culture as well as the language,as they are often infused with references to such things as classical Chinese and Japanese literature and history and Buddhist precepts. Japanese people are often surprised when foreigners know such expressions and can use them in the right context. Wearing this shirt and remembering how to read it is a great way to motivate yourself to go beyond the surface level of Japanese language and culture studies and explore the nuances that make Japan so endlessly interesting!