Mr. A：何をしているの？
Mr. B：明日の彼女とのデートコースを研究しているんだ。
Mr. A：よせよせ。彼女、君になんか関心ないよ。一人相撲になるだけだよ。
Hitorizumoo
A-shi: Nani wo shite iru no?
B-shi: Ashita no kanojo to no deto kosu wo kenkyu shite iru'n da.
A-shi: Yose yose. Kanojo, kimi ni nanka kanshin nai yo. Hitorizumo ni naru dake da yo.
Mr. A: What are you doing?
Mr. B: Deciding where to go on my date tomorrow.
Mr. A: Forget it. That girl's not interested in you. It'll just be a waste of effort.
Where sumo wrestling normally requires two wrestlers, hitorizumo means wrestling alone, against no actual opponent. It refers to situations where people insist on trying their hardest despite the fact that others are completely unenthusiastic.
Late-night TV programs have increased in number recently and some stations even broadcast programs all night. Though I usually turn the TV off and go to sleep around 12:30, 1 did stay up to watch a program from 12:30 to 3:00 the other day. It featured separate groups of all-male and all-female college students discussing various topics. For insight into how students think it was extremely interesting. I was especially surprised to hear one boy talk of how he actually follows the advice magazines provide about where to go on dates-where to meet, where to drink tea, how far to walk, which museum to visit, where to eat, which hotel to go to-and how each "date course" is thus host to any number of couples. Many students, in fact, end up doing exactly what magazines advise, even though the information is presented as only an example course. Isn't it always precisely those boys who study about where to go that end up with an unhappy girl and the lament, "Itsumo boku no hitorizumo nan desu" ( "I always end up battling wind-mills)? In order to avoid "battling windmills" (hitori-zumo ni naranai yd ni), you'd think they'd at least be able to decide with their girl on where to go. What will happen to these students once they enter the working world? The thought makes one worry about Japan's future.
Another place where the expression hitorizumo is appropriate is in discussions of U.S.-Japan relations: America is asking Japan to open its markets, Japan is slow in responding. "It's more important that we protect our domestic meat and corn markets." And so America gets all worked up for nothing (Amerika no hitorizumo).
Imagine presenting a new idea in a meeting at work and finding out that you're the only one excited about it, that no one else wants to listen. Having thought, "Hitorizumo ni naranakereba yoi no desu ga" O'lt'U be fine if I just don't act tod enthusiastic about it,"), in the end: "Hitorizumo ni owatta" ("I was fighting against imaginary opponents" ).
Have you ever had such an experience? I have - many times. Even after my friends say to me, "Sonna koto wo shitemo, hitorizumo dakara yamenasai" ("Stop, because even if you try you'll just end up battling windmills"), I refuse to stop. I refuse, for example, to give up trying to do away with society's "rule that women must stop working once they get married.