Tanuki Neiri (Sham Sleep)

Today, I will talk about the Japanese phrase "tanuki neiri."

"Tanuki" means raccoon dogs, "neiri" means "to sleep," and "tanuki neiri" expresses that someone pretends to fall asleep.

Raccoon dogs are very timid, so if you surprise them, they'll faint for a while.

Also, it has been thought that raccoon dogs can deceive people in Japan.

Therefore, people thought that the faint of raccoon dogs is fake to deceive us, and we came to refer to "sham sleep" as "tanuki neiri" (raccoon dog sleep).

By the way, I heard that the English phrase "fox sleep" means "sham sleep."

Japanese people have thought that foxes can also deceive us like raccoon dogs, so the English phrase is very interesting.

狸寝入り

今日は日本の言葉「狸寝入り」を紹介します。

狸寝入りとは、寝たふりをすることを意味します。

狸という動物はとても臆病で、驚いたりすると一時的に気を失い、眠ったように倒れます。

また、昔から狸は人を騙すと思われてきました。

そのため、人々は狸の気絶を人を騙す嘘だと考え、寝たふりのことを狸寝入りと呼ぶうようになりました。

ちなみに英語では "fox sleep" （狐寝入り）と書いて寝たふりを表すことがあるそうです。

日本では狐も人を騙すと考えられているので、とても興味深い事実です。