後生大事

Japanese

Kanji in this term
後	生	大	事
ご Grade: 2	しょう Grade: 1	だい Grade: 1	じ Grade: 3
on’yomi

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ご​しょうだいじ​ (Atamadaka + Odaka)

• (Tokyo) ご​しょーだいじ [góꜜshòòdàìjì] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [ɡo̞ɕo̞ːda̠iʑi]

Noun

後(ご)生(しょう)大(だい)事(じ) • (goshōdaiji) 

1. (Buddhism) religious zeal; taking great care for the afterlife
   • 1927, Kayahara Kazan, Sei no shūkyō: ichimei gōri shinsei ron [A religious life: one person’s theory of the life hereafter], page 109:

     事(こと)賀(が)上(うえ)世(せ)界(かい)の仏(ぶっ)教(きょう)國(こく)は日(に)本(ほん)なりといって誇(ほこ)るものがあるが「後(ご)生(しょう)大(だい)事(じ)」も困(こま)るではないか。後(ご)生(しょう)大(だい)事(じ)で、無(む)賀(が)な百(ひゃく)姓(しょう)祈(いの)角(かく)汗(あせ)水(みず)滴(したた)らして、 […]

     Koto ga ue sekai no Bukkyō koku wa Nihon nari to itte hokoru mono ga aru ga “goshōdaiji” mo komaru de wa nai ka. Goshōdaiji de, muga na hyakushō inokaku asemizu shitatarashite, […]

     Japan boasts of being a most Buddhist country, but can not this “religious zeal” also be a burden? For attention to the afterlife, joyless peasants pray until the sweat drips, […]

2. fastidiousness, doing one's best; exaggerated or excessive deliberateness

See also

• 大(だい)事(じ) (daiji, “important; an important thing”)
• 後(ご)生(しょう) (goshō, “the afterlife, the next world”)
• 後(のち)生(おい) (nochioi, “that which is done later or happens later; (one's) future”)
• 後(こう)生(せい) (kōsei, “younger generations; one's progeny; youth”)