Japanese Kanji 順風満帆 'Smooth sailing' Nauticcal T-Shirt

Have you hit your stride and things are going your way? Has that headwind disappeared, and your efforts are bearing fruit? Keep the flow going or invite it to start. 'Junpuu manpan' (じゅんぷうまんぱん in hiragana script) is the reading for these four characters, which mean 'favorable wind, full sails.' 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!