Thanks! Very useful.

http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/yojifla/yojifla.html

Give this a go, it's a hell of a challenge for me, but I love the AHA! when I figure one out.

[Katsuo]

Omnistegan Wrote:http://www.gamedesign.jp/flash/yojifla/yojifla.html

Thanks. I just spent a happy half-hour playing with that.

I've always described myself to new friends as 亭主関白 - until my wife yells, cowing me into submission.

But the one my wife always agrees with is 器用貧乏. :/

Here's one I heard tonight that I haven't had a chance to look up completely:
狡兎良狗 (こうとりょうく)
(Thanks Kangorongo!)
A bad translation from my electronic dictionary: When the fish is caught, the net is cast aside. (It actually has to do with dogs catching rabbits, then both get boiled by an ungrateful master... at least that's how it was explained on Kangorongo, but you get the idea.)

電脳世界

電脳世界 -- Cyberspace?

rich_f Wrote:狡兎良狗 (こうとりょうく)

I'm not quite sure I understand this one. I don't know the Kanji, but from the individual definitions in rikaichan I would guess that "The cunning rabbit makes a good dog". Could be saying something about how cunning can be a partial replacement for talents you were not born with? I don't know.

I wouldn't rely on rikaichan to translate that one. I had to go to my 電子辞典 (another 四字熟語) for the bad translation in English about the fish and the net, even though the phrase was about dogs and rabbits. As bad translations go, it's not that bad... just not the greatest. There's an explanation in there in Japanese, I just didn't have time to go through it all. (And it was explained on Kangorongo, a great little show full of proverbs even more obscure than that one.)

馬耳東風

馬耳東風の「東風」は東から吹く暖かい風で「春風」の意味、馬耳東風の「馬耳」は文字通り「馬の耳」のこと。
つまり、人は春風（東風）が吹けば寒い冬が去って暖かくなると思い喜ぶが、馬は耳をなでる春風に何も感じないという意味で、他人の意見を聞き入れず、心に留めようともしないことのたとえとして「馬耳東風」と言ったものである。

from http://gogen-allguide.com/ha/bajitoufuu.html

I think a common one is 不老不死. It is easy to understand if you know the kanji.