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What is the original Japanese saying meaning, "It's always the darkest under the lighthouse"? (reference)

Kaji
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missingfaktor
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    Note that lighthouse is not an appropriate translation for 灯台 here. – Dono Jun 12 '12 at 14:12
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    You omitted the most important part of the question from the title! Please include the sentence itself in the title. – Tsuyoshi Ito Jun 12 '12 at 14:17
  • @TsuyoshiIto, edited the title. – missingfaktor Jun 12 '12 at 14:27
  • @Dono, then what would it be? – missingfaktor Jun 12 '12 at 14:27
  • @Sawa, please do not make absurd edits. And deleting comments is a questionable netiquette. – missingfaktor Jun 12 '12 at 14:27
  • @sawa: Please see [this post on meta](http://meta.japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/836/what-is-a-better-name-for-the-tag-typo) about the tag [typo]. – Tsuyoshi Ito Jun 12 '12 at 14:30
  • @missingfaktor (1) Why is my edit absurd? Please explain. (2) Why did you remove the "typo" tag? You accepted the answer that has 灯台下暗し, which indicates that you indeed had a typo. Your action is totally un-understandable. (3) Please explain what you mean by "deleting comments", and what particular "comment" you are mentioning. Blaming someone for an incomprehensible reason is a questionable netiquette. Boomerang! –  Jun 12 '12 at 14:43
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    @missingfaktor 灯台 in this case refers a type of old-style room lighting that is made of wood and resembles a candlestick. They were primarily in use from Heian through Edo period. You place a rod in the stand, dampen it with oils, and let it burn. Depending on the design, there are several prominent types: 菊灯台, 切灯台, 糞層灯台, 長檠, and 短檠. – Dono Jun 12 '12 at 14:43
  • @sawa: As I wrote in the meta post, “typo” is not what you think it means. For example, the error in content in a book like translating this 灯台 as lighthouse is not a typo but a factual error. – Tsuyoshi Ito Jun 12 '12 at 14:52
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    @missingfaktor: Unfortunately, the tag [typo] has been used to refer to something different from typos, despite its name. Please see the [meta post](http://meta.japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/836/what-is-a-better-name-for-the-tag-typo) which I linked to in my previous comment. If you have a suggestion for a better name, please post it in the meta thread! – Tsuyoshi Ito Jun 12 '12 at 14:54
  • @TsuyoshiIto I acknowledge that the "typo" tag is not the best name in some other cases that I have used, but in this case, it indeed is a typo **unless it is a factual error**. There is either possibility. –  Jun 12 '12 at 14:54
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    @Dono: Can you post it as an answer? Although it does not answer the original question being asked, I think that it deserves to be an answer because it explains an important supplemental information about the answer. – Tsuyoshi Ito Jun 12 '12 at 14:58
  • @sawa, (1) As Tsuyoshi said above, "typo" does not mean what you think it does. There are no typoes in my question, and if there were any, someone or myself would remove them, making a note in edit summary. (2) See 1. I am rolling back the edit again. (3) I made a comment saying what I said in 1. After I revisited this thread, the comment was gone. A moderator might have deleted it, or maybe it was an interface error which showed the comment to be committed when it wasn't. In any case, apologies for that one. For everything else, I stand by what I said. – missingfaktor Jun 12 '12 at 15:18
  • By the way, I had no idea if the Japanese equivalent of the saying had the word 灯台. As you can see in the "reference" link, I came across it while reading a translated manga, and asked this question out of curiosity. – missingfaktor Jun 12 '12 at 15:20
  • @missingfaktor If you insist that it is not a typo, then are you accepting that it was a factual error as Tsuyoshi Ito writes? If so, there is a discussion going on in the meta site that Tsuyoshi Ito links, so when a consensus is reached, you should tag your question with the new tag by yourself. –  Jun 12 '12 at 15:22
  • @sawa, see my last comment. As I said, I came across the saying when reading a translated manga. The translation is not by _me_. If it's a factual error, it's someone else's. So imo the tag is unwarranted. However if community reaches a consensus that such a tag is necessary, I don't mind having it put up on this thread. – missingfaktor Jun 12 '12 at 15:30
  • @missingfaktor It does not matter whose (original) mistake it is. If the question has a mistake, then it has a mistake. It does not mean that the tag is unwarranted. The one who cites it is responsible for what is cited, including the error. Citing a sentence that has (a possibility of) mistakes is your decision, and is your responsibility. –  Jun 12 '12 at 15:41
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    @missingfaktor Since this is a reference site, what about changing your question to suit one of the answers below? For example, you could ask "what is the meaning of 灯台 in the phrase 灯台下暗し?" Alternatively, you could omit the word "meaning" from your question and focus on the translation. e.g., "It is dark at the foot of the candle" is a literal translation of what Japanese phrase? (Then, in the body of your question, you could list other translations, apocryphal or otherwise. For example, [here](http://www.geocities.jp/sonny_l_lab/english/proverbs/i/it_is_dark_at.htm) are a few more.) – con5013d Jun 12 '12 at 16:53
  • @con5013d, but that was not the question I had. – missingfaktor Jun 12 '12 at 17:38
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    If you find this question unsuitable for the site, feel free to delete it. I am not okay with rephrasing question to mean something completely different. – missingfaktor Jun 12 '12 at 17:39

1 Answers1

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It's probably 灯{とう}台{だい}下{もと}暗{くら}し, meaning we tend to overlook what is right under our nose.

http://kotowaza-allguide.com/to/toudaimotokurashi.html

con5013d
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