始はじめは処しょ女じょの如ごとく後のちは脱だっ兎との如ごとし
Meanings
Expression
Proverb
1. hide your true strength, and then later swiftly attack the unprepared enemy; (lit.) first be like a (meek) virgin, later like a running hare
from Sun Tzu's Art of War
Kanji used
begin
dispose of
woman
comparable
after
detach
rabbit
Composed of
at first; in the beginning; originally
virgin (usu. female); maiden; virgin (e.g. forest); unspoiled by human activity; debut; maiden (e.g. voyage)
like; as
later; afterwards; future; after one's death; (arch.) descendant
(metaphor for) something unusually fast; (lit.) fleeing hare
like; as if; the same as