Your 'WAY' is so valuable.「道(みち)」'WAY' in Calligraphy Japanese Brush Pen

「道」は日本人にとってとても深い言葉です。生活の中で自分のビジョンをしっかりと見つめるために使うことが多いですね。簡単に3つの意味に分けられます。

‘Way’ means something deep in Japanese. I think this phrase is often used in order to express your vision in your life. I would like to introduce 3 main usages of ‘way’ in Japanese.

1つ目は町などにある道です。道路や歩道などですね。

The basic use is ‘street and road’ in a town, such as a main road and pedestrian road.

2つ目は専門的な分野での道です。例えば「○○道」書道、華道、茶道、武士道、柔道、合気道などです。そして、「○○としての道」私は日本語教師としての道を歩んでいます。日本語学習者としての道は大変ですが、頑張ってください。この道で生きていきたい。のように使います。

Another common usage is the way of doing a special field, for example, XX-do such as shodo, kado, sado,bushido, judo and aikido. You can also say ‘your job title+ no michi’. In my case, ‘nihongo kyoshi no michi’ means the way as a Japanese language teacher. You can also say ‘nihongo gakushusha no michi’ , the way of Japanese language learner, is tough but good luck! And I want to live on this way, ‘kono michi’

3つ目は人生のゴールへの道です。「○○への道」例えば、幸福への道、結婚への道、就職への道、私の道とよく言います。長い道ですが、それを一歩一歩進んでいくことが大切だと考えます。私は今まで歩いてきた道を大切に思っています。そして、これから進む道もきっと素晴らしい道だと信じています。みなさんも自分の道を着実に歩んで行ってください。

And we often say michi as the long way to achieve the goal of your life. For example, we often say the way to happiness, the way to marriage, the way to getting a job, and my own way. We think it’s a long way and it is important to walk step by step. Personally, the way I walked in the past was very important in my life now. And the way I am going through in the future will be an amazing walk. Please walk your own way steadily.

ちなみに、英語のウェイはちょっとニュアンスが違うことがあります。例えばthe way of thinkingは日本語では「考え方」、in that way, 「そのやり方」ですので、Methodやhow toなどの意味ですから、「道」じゃないですね。

By the way, ‘way’ in English sometimes used differently. For example, ‘the way of thinking’ can be translated like ‘ how to think’, and ‘in that way’ can be ‘by doing that’ in Japanese. So, it means methods and how to do things. It does not mean ‘way’ you walk through in Japanese.