In Japanese, there are many proverbs and expressions which are related to water. I wonder if there are as many expressions using ‘water’ as in foreign languages.
Here are some examples.
Yobi-mizu and Sasoi-mizu, or priming water: encouraging something to happen, or becoming a trigger of something.
Chikara-mizu, or strengthen water: water for purification given a sumo wrestler at the edge of the ring immediately prior to his bout.
Mizu wo mukeru, or to direct water: taking a stab at arousing someone's interest.
Mizu ni nagasu, or let the water carry it away, forgetting everything that happened which is somewhat inconvenient or to hurt feeling, or forgiving someone for what s/he has done which would hurt the other person’s feeling.
Those are common expressions that people use them in daily life. There are many expressions related to water because it is so close and familiar to people’s everyday life. People do not regard water as just an object, but rather take it as something they have at hand always. Therefore, they use water to compare something.
Nearly eighty percent of the land in Japan is forests, and that is where water is stored. A tree sucks up water about 200L every day. A willow, for example, needs 190L of water for a hot summer day. The water comes out to the atmosphere from the tip of the tree as a vapor. That is similar to a fire hose suck up water and spray all around.
Thinking in that way, entire country is drenched. This is why I think Japan is the land of water.
Well, talking about water on the land of water itself is something plausible, for which we use the expression “Mizu kusai”, or smells like water.
