The twenty-first syllable in the iroha hiragana sequence is na (な), represented in both of my two iroha karuta sets by the same proverb:
泣き面に蜂
Naki tsura ni hachi
or, in fuller form:
泣き面に蜂が刺す
Naki tsura ni hachi ga sasu
Literally:
“A bee stings a crying face.”
The proverb refers to a situation in which somebody already suffering receives yet another blow. In English we might say:
“When it rains, it pours.”
or
“Adding insult to injury.”
But the Japanese expression is far more vivid and memorable than its English equivalents. Rather than speaking abstractly about bad fortune, it gives us a concrete little scene of almost comic cruelty: somebody already in tears suddenly gets stung in the face by a bee.
Breaking Down the Expression
Okay, let's look at the proverb bit by bit.
なき= 泣き = naki
From the verb:
泣く (naku) — “to cry,” “to weep.”
Here, naki means “crying” or “tearful.”
This is not abstract sadness but visible distress.
つら = 面 = tsura
"Tsura" literally means “face,” but is rougher and more earthy than the more neutral Japanese word kao (顔). It can mean something closer to “mug” in English.
So naki tsura is more like:
“a blubbering mug.”
Some dictionaries and modern renderings write the expression as:
泣きっ面 (nakittsura)
with a small っ producing a stressed pronunciation of "tsu". Interestingly, however, neither of my card sets uses the small っ.
The higher-quality Angel™ iroha set writes the proverb in all hiragana without the contraction, while the Daiso version also avoids the small っ and abbreviates the proverb.
That difference is revealing. The contracted version, nakittsura, feels more colloquial and emotionally forceful, whereas naki tsura appears cleaner and more classical.
に = ni
The particle indicating direction or target.
The misfortune is happening to the crying face.
はち = 蜂 = hachi
Usually translated as “bee” though in Japanese it can also refer more broadly to stinging insects.
が = ga
This is the subject marker. The bee is the subject of the proverb, something to keep in mind when translating it into English.
さす 刺す = sasu
This sharp physical verb means “to sting” or “to pierce.”
Taken together, the full proverb paints a painfully vivid image of somebody already crying getting stung in the face by a bee.
Two Card Sets, Two Interpretations
My two iroha karuta sets interpret the proverb visually, but in completely different ways.
The Angel™ card, with its green border, takes a subtle, atmospheric yet literal approach.
The illustration shows a man — or perhaps an older boy — crying because his straw sandal has broken. Hovering ominously above him is a large insect which, to my eyes, looks more like a horsefly than a bee.
The image captures the moment before the second misfortune arrives. The blubbering boy is about to be stung.
The broken straw sandal already tells a story of hardship, inconvenience, or vulnerability. Straw sandals evoke travel, poverty, fatigue, and old roads. Then comes the hovering insect, a threat descending upon somebody already distressed.
The Daiso Cartoon Version
The cheap and cheerful Daiso card takes a completely different approach and embraces full cartoonish chaos.
Here, a young boy is already crying because a savage little dog is biting his leg, while at precisely the same moment a flowerpot is falling toward his head.
The bee has disappeared entirely. The artist has freed himself from a literal interpretation and allowed his imagination to run riot, and in doing so seems to capture the visceral impact of the proverb.
My Translation
Given all that, here's my considered translation of the proverb:
The bee stings the crybaby in the face.
As I mentioned, the subject of the sentence is "bee" so it makes sense to begin with the bee in English.
The ten hiragana characters of the original are represented by the ten syllables of my translation.
The phrase "tsura ni" means "in the face," and while the word "naki-tsura" can be literally translated as "crying face" I think "crybaby" better conveys the idea of someone who is apt to "cry over spilt milk" since the function of the proverb is to decry crying in favour of the good old Japanese spirit of "gamman" - enduring troubles without complaining.
I went with direct articles (The... the...) rather than indirect articles to give the proverb more immediacy in the spirit of English proverbs such as,
The early bird catches the worm.
and
The pen is mightier than the sword.
Chatgpt versus Google Translate
I gave Chatgpt the kotowaza and instructed it to give its best translation, just ONE translation without any notes or alternatives, and it gave me this dynamic equivalent:
“Trouble comes on top of trouble.”
When I put the hiragana version - なきつらにはちがさす - into Google translate it gave me gobbledigook, as it did when I put in the romaji version - naki tsura ni hachi ga sasu. It interprested "hachi" as "eight".
However, when I gave it the full Japanese version using kanji - Chinese characters - with hiragana, then it gave me a satisfactory literal translation:
A bee stings a tearful face.
Google translate went for the indirect article each time - a random bee stings a random tearful face - so a slightly slacker translation than mine, if I may say so, but a good literal translation, and better than Chatgpt's vague dynamic equivalent.
So Google Translate beats Chatgpt this time!
Cheers!
