Let's Bloom Earlier Than the Cherry Blossoms#
I noticed an interesting advertisement on my way to work:
Let's bloom earlier than the cherry blossoms.
Making flowers bloom; flowers bloom
Keihin Tohoku Line CM Waseda Academy
2025-01-20
I found it interesting because the usage of "咲く" in this sentence seems to be one that is not yet included in dictionaries.
Just looking at the definition of "咲く，" it’s completely unclear what the advertisement is trying to convey:
咲く
- A flower bud opens. To bloom. "A large flower blooms"; "The peony blooms magnificently."
- Waves break and appear white. "In the bay of Aji-gama, waves break and appear white, leaving behind a sad tale." <Man'yōshū, 3551>
Digital Daijisen (Shogakukan)
However, checking related idiomatic expressions makes it easier to understand:
花が咲く
- The time comes and flourishes. "One day, the day will come when it blooms."
- It continues lively from one to another. "In a folktale, it blooms."
Digital Daijisen (Shogakukan)
花を咲かせる
- To succeed. To be active and gain fame. "Years of effort finally made it bloom."
Digital Daijisen (Shogakukan)
Seeing "花を咲かせる，" I initially thought there was a word "咲かせる，" but only the "Shinmeikai Kokugo Jiten 8th Edition" and "NEW Saito Kazu Eigo Daijiten" include it.
However, neither of these dictionaries provides a definition of "咲かせる" that relates to "to succeed. To be active and gain fame," so the "咲く" in "桜より先に、咲いてやろう" should be considered a usage not yet included in dictionaries.
さか・せる⓪【咲かせる】
(Transitive)
[Causative form of "咲く"] To make it bloom.
"One flower blooms again in that field."
'Shinmeikai Kokugo Jiten 8th Edition'
さかせる〔咲かせる〕
To make (a flower) bloom; to make (a tree) blossom
'NEW Saito Kazu Eigo Daijiten'
Expansion#
How can we use [[idiomatic expression recognition algorithm]] to identify that "桜より先に、咲いてやろう" actually uses the idiomatic expression "花を咲かせる"?
First, I personally believe that the dictionary form corresponding to "咲いてやろう" is either "咲かせる" or "咲く." Although the explanation of "花が咲く" in [[Daijisen]] does not include "to succeed. To be active and gain fame," since Mecab does not parse "花を咲かせる" as "咲かせる，" it suffices to allow both "花を咲かせる" and "花が咲く" to be searchable as "花" + "咲く." Additionally, interestingly, although these two idiomatic expressions are highly similar in meaning and form, the search suggestions in the "MOJi Dictionary" do not show the connection between these two idiomatic expressions, indicating that they are not using keyword extraction and recognition but rather other methods.
Secondly, this example is quite different from "摘み取って残した ここでいつか 華咲かせる" in [[運命の華]]—"華" can indeed be read as "はな，" and Mecab will not parse it incorrectly. However, "桜" cannot be parsed as "はな，" requiring Mecab to correctly parse even "当て字，" which seems a bit excessive.