Nisoku Sanmon (二束三文 - Dirt Cheap)

Nisoku Sanmon

Previously, I went to a secondhand bookstore to sell my books, but they became 'nisoku sanmon' (二束三文).

'Nisoku sanmon' is a four-character idiom meaning that a selling price is very low even if it is large in number.

'Ni' (二) means "two," 'soku' (束) means "bundle," 'san' (三) means "three," and 'mon' (文) is an old Japanese currency unit, the value today of which is about 30 yen (about $0.28), so the literal meaning of 'nisoku sanmon' is "30 yen for two bundles."

Here, 'soku' (束) can be written as 足, which represents a unit of footwear, and 'sanmon' is also used to represent a cheap thing.

Because of this, some people think that this idiom comes from the fact that two pair of Japanese sandals were sold very cheaply in the Edo period.

二束三文

私は以前、古本屋に本を売りに行ったことがありますが、「二束三文」にしかなりませんでした。

「二束三文」は、数が多くても売値が非常に安いことを意味する四字熟語です。

「二」は "two"、「束」は "bundle"、「三」は "three"、「文」は通貨単位で現在の約30円（約0.28ドル）であるため、「二束三文」の文字どおりの意味は "30 yen for two bundles" となります。

「束」は履物の単位である「足」と書くこともでき、「三文」は安いもののたとえでもあります。

このことから、この四字熟語は二足の履物がとても安く売られていたことに由来するとも考えられてます。