African Proverbs
Although this episode is labeled “African Proverbs,” the saying at its heart comes from Japan: 七転八起, often translated as “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” So if you arrived looking for african proverbs, this conversation takes a different route. Tansel, linguist Dr. Kenji Mori, and Yuki Tanaka of Osaka explore a Japanese proverb whose comfort lies in a simple promise: falling is expected, and getting back up is part of the count.
Kenji points out that the saying doesn’t just urge someone to try again. It counts the falls. In much of East Asian tradition, he explains, seven can mean “a lot,” while eight is one more. The message is that however many times life knocks you down, you rise once more. Yuki remembers her grandmother putting it simply: “The eight is the important number. The seven is just life.” Tansel finds reassurance in the idea that the proverb seems to make room for setbacks before they happen.
In Japan, the saying has a familiar, tangible companion: the Daruma doll. Yuki describes it as a bright red, egg-shaped figure with a fierce face and a weighted base. Push it over, and it wobbles upright again. When someone takes on a major goal—such as passing exams, starting a business, or recovering from illness—they may paint one eye on a Daruma. When the goal is reached, they paint in the other. The doll doesn’t avoid falling; as Kenji observes, it specializes in getting up.
Yuki says the doll is modeled on Bodhidharma, the monk associated with bringing Zen Buddhism to China, with the tradition later traveling to Japan. Red has long been a protective color in Japan, associated with warding off illness and bad luck. At New Year, temples hold Daruma markets where families choose dolls for the year’s wishes. The image is both playful and purposeful: a little guardian that can be knocked over, but not kept down.
For Yuki, the proverb became personal when she was nine. During a school relay race, she dropped the baton, and her team lost. Her grandmother found her crying and offered the saying without a lecture. The next year, Yuki ran the anchor leg and her team won; she remembers her grandmother’s voice more vividly than the race. Later, she saw the same words offer encouragement to students facing job rejections, athletes after difficult losses, and her father when his small company nearly went bankrupt.
Kenji compares the proverb with English expressions such as “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again,” but says the Japanese version gives the falls dignity by counting them. And, Yuki reminds us, it belongs in the middle of the struggle—not only after success. Eight is also considered fortunate in Japan; its written character widens toward the bottom, suggesting growth and prosperity spreading outward. The saying’s arithmetic, then, carries a little extra hope. Wherever you are in your own difficult stretch, notice one moment when you get back up. It counts.
