[Japanese Idioms by Flashcards]
足を洗う
“to wash one’s feet”
(to start over (after discarding a bad situation), to go straight)
Menial, less prestigious jobs often require working outdoors and sometimes even working barefooted. So to wash one’s feet figuratively means to give up a lowly job or to rise up from a morally wrong way of life (crime).
Sample text:
(Style: written/informal)
Ichido furyoo nakama ni haittara, nakanaka nuke dasenai mono da. Yakuza no sekai to onaji de, aru shuudan ni nakamairi shite shimau to ningen wa kantanni wa ashi o araenai mono dearu.
一度
When a man becomes a member of a gang, it’s very difficult to break away from it. As in the case of the world of yakuza (Japanese organized crime), once you’re a part of it, it is not an easy thing to go straight.
Japanese Idioms
