Ichi ka Bachi ka (One or Eight)

Today, I'd like to talk about the Japanese idiom "ichi ka bachi ka."

"Ichi" means "one," "ka" means "or," "bachi" means "eight," and "ichi ka bachi ka" means something like "I don't know what the result will be, but I'll take my chances."

(My dictionary says that "ichi ka bachi ka" means "all or nothing," "sink or swim," or "hit or miss.")

This is originally a gambling term, and it's said that "ichi" (一) and "hachi" (八) comes from the top parts of kanji of "cho" (丁) and "han" (半), respectively.

(In the past, we mainly bet on whether the sum of two dice would be even (cho) or odd (han) in gambling places.)

There is another theory that insists "ichi ka bachi ka" comes from "ichi ka batsu ka" (the dice shows one, or you will receive punishment.).

Anyway, the etymology is gambling using dice.

一か八か

今日は日本の慣用句「一か八か」を紹介します。

「一か八か」は、「結果がどうなるかはわからないけれど、運に任せて挑戦してみること」を意味します。

元々この言葉は賭博用語であり、「一」は「丁」（偶数）、「八」は「半」（奇数）の漢字の上部分をとったものだと言われています。

（かつての日本の賭博では、主に2つのサイコロの目の合計が偶数（丁）か奇数（半）かを賭けていました。）

もう一つの説として、「（サイコロの目が）一か罰か」が変化したというものもあります。

いずれにしても、サイコロによる賭博が由来です。