Who sleeps safe in Japan?

[FireEater]

In English we let sleeping dogs lie. Frenchmen take care to let their cats sleep on, and in Swedish, perhaps more useful, you are admonished not to wake up an asleep bear (should be very sound advice that!). So my question is this: is there an animal that Japanese people proverbially strive NOT to wake up?

[Naikou]

Hehe, nice way to ask in a round about way, what's the japanese saying (proverb) for 'Let sleeping dogs lie' :p.

I don't know it though :p

[TrilinguisT]

huh?

oh well not all dogs are the same, they do have individual personalities.. for instance, my dog "chippie" will be okay if we try to wake him up.. he'll go back to sleep-- but my other dog "snoopy" would be so pissed if we wake him up.. he'll be very angry and try to sleep elswhere --

btw, japan has limited space for living.. i dont think they have pet, maybe they do, but it must be rare.. ??

[Txkun]

I don't know about japanese but I can add italian: "Non svegliare il can che dorme" (don't wake the sleeping dog).
Maybe because you should "Cave canem" (latin)?

[coco]

Though I assume you will be surprised maybe， We say
「触らぬ神に祟りなし」。 Not an animal, but 神。
Others, 「寝た子を起こすな」．

[Oracle]

In English you "sleep like a log" but in Japanese it's　「泥のように寝る」 - "sleep like mud"

[coco]

I have a question,
How long do dogs sleep who/which(?) are able to understand native's English ?
（冗談です):D
http://zatugaku.jp/proverb.htm
it is a very interesting site.

[AJBryant]

And Admiral Yamamoto made a comment about awakening a sleeping dragon...


Tony

[FireEater]

For sheer stupidity, going for the sleeping dragon, must be the very summit!

[Oyaji]

The one I hear most often is the one coco mentioned. 「寝た子を起こすな」"Don't wake a sleeping child." It basically means the same thing as "Let sleeping dogs lie."

[TrilinguisT]

OMG00dness!! i feel so stupid now.. i didnt know what you were asking at first. until i saw other replies, it just go to me.. i need to read stuff more carefully next time..

[two_heads_talking]

AJBryant wrote:
And Admiral Yamamoto made a comment about awakening a sleeping dragon...


Tony

that is true, but wasn't it speaking of a different conotation? i think he was offering it as a challenge.. hehe..

(back on topic, i think there are 5 or 6 kotowaza that refer to don't do something stupid (which is what all these sayings ellude to)

[AJBryant]

i think he was offering it as a challenge.. hehe..

Hardly. "I think all we have done is awaken a sleeping dragon and fill him with a terrible resolve."

But as I think about it, I believe it was "giant" rather than "dragon."

Tony