noun / expression:

• three kinds of harmful friends: hypocritical, sycophantic, and glib-talking ones (Confucius) - four character idiom Antonym: 益者三友

noun:

• longing for freedom when tied down; caged bird's longing for the open sky [literal] - four character idiom

noun:

• ladies and gentlemen - four character idiom

noun / adjectival noun:

• wise and virtuous; good and able men - four character idiom

noun / ~の noun:

• selflessness; unselfishness - four character idiom

noun:

• miswriting a word; using the wrong kanji to write a word - four character idiom ➜ 魯魚の誤り【ろぎょのあやまり】

noun:

• honeyed words; flattery - four character idiom ➜ 甘言・蜜語

noun:

• honeyed words; flattery - four character idiom ➜ 甘言蜜語【かんげんみつご】

noun:

• constantly changing phase and being highly unpredictable - four character idiom ➜ 一虚一実【いっきょいちじつ】

noun:

• locking the barn door after the horse has bolted; doing something too late; mending the pen after the sheep are lost [literal] - four character idiom

noun:

• miswriting a word; using the wrong kanji to write a word - four character idiom ➜ 魯魚の誤り【ろぎょのあやまり】

noun:

• all of creation following their original natures, living and enjoying themselves freely; the kites fly and the fish leap [literal] - four character idiom - obscure term
• Heaven's will that all of creation shall follow their original natures and live freely - four character idiom - obscure term
• as a ruler's benevolence spreads, the people will find their places in the land based on their abilities - four character idiom - obscure term

noun:

• woman so glamorous as to bring ruin to a country (castle) as its king (lord) is captivated by her beauty; femme fatale - four character idiom ➜ 傾城傾国【けいせいけいこく】

expression:

• scholarship and swordsmanship are one and the same; the literary and the military are the same path - four character idiom

noun:

• losing weight and becoming bony because of grief - four character idiom

noun:

• trying to reach above one's station and failing; trying to accomplish something beyond one's abilities and failing; monkey trying to catch the moon (and drowning) [literal] - four character idiom

expression:

• only a hero can understand a hero; swallows and sparrows can't understand the aspirations of phoenixes and swans [literal] - proverb - four character idiom

expression:

• killing three birds with one stone - four character idiom ➜ いっせきにちょう