木村：君の会社では、部長が権力をふり回しているそうですね。
佐藤：ええ、ふりまわされる方は、たまったものではありませんよ。
Furimawasu, Furimawasareru
Kimura: Kimi no feaisha de wa buchoo ga kenryokeu wo furimawashiteiru soo desu ne.
Sato: Ee. Furimawasareru hoo wa tamatta mono de wa arimasen yo.
Mr. Kimura: I hear the manager at your company is really throwing his weight around.
Mr. Sato: Yes and it's really unbearable for those of us at his mercy.
* * *
Though furimawasu can be used in reference to either "swinging" a golf club or "throwing" one's weight/authority around, the meaning of furimawasu clearly changes in each case. For people on the receiving end, of course, there isn't much difference.
Furimawasareru hoo wa taihen meiwaku suru (Those at the mercy of such actions are caused a lot of trouble).
"Sonna tokoro de yakyuu no batto wo furimawasu no wa yamenasai. Abunai desu yo" ("Stop swinging that baseball bat around there. It's dangerous"). This is an example of furimawasu used in its literal sense of "to wave or swing something." Furu alone is used in expressions such as te wo furu (to wave one's hand), hata wofuru (towave a flag), kubi wo yoko ni furu (to shake one's head from left to right) to mean "no" and kubi wo tate nifuru (to nod one's head up and down) to mean "yes."
Furimawasu is the active voice and furimawasareru the passive. With the passive voice, that one has caused trouble to the other person is usually assumed.
An expression used in the same way as kenryoku wo furimawasu is hito wo furimawasu-to order and ask other people to do things while sitting back and doing next to nothing oneself.
"Kyoo wa ichinichijuu Jeimuzu-shi ni furimawasaremashita" ("I was at the mercy of Mr. James all day long"). Mr. Kimura is a volunteer interpreter/guide assigned to take care of Mr. James who has just three days for his stay in Japan. Being a generous sort of person, Mr. Kimura does everything Mr. James asks; they visit the Imperial Palace, Akihabara for electrical goods, and Tokyo Disneyland. Indeed Mr. Kimura's carefully thought-out plans are always at the mercy of Mr. James' sudden desires to visit some place new like Kamakura's famous giant statue of Buddha for instance. "Jeimuzu-shi wa mikkakan kare wo furimawashita" ("For three days Mr. James shuffled him all over"). "Kimura-san wa mikkakan Jeimuzu-shi ni furimawasareta" ("For three days Mr. Kimura was at the mercy of Mr. James [and had to take him all over the place]").
There are three types of people in the world: those like Mr. James - hito wo furimawosu taipu (the type always throwing their weight around), those like Mr. Kimura - hito ni furimawasareru taipu (the type always at the mercy of other people), and dochira demo nai taipu (people who are neither type). Which type are you? Your friends? Thinking about various people in this regard is quite fun.
I attended my first faculty meeting at Yamaguchi National University the other day and found that it was like watching a television drama. The discussion and exchanges between the older professors and younger (30-40 year-old) teachers was quite lively. Being a ''new face,'' of course, I was able to just sit silently and observe all the goings-on. There were professors who passionately paraded their own opinions (Hageshiku jibun no iken wo furimawasu sensei) and professors at the mercy of those same opinions (sono iken ni furimawasareru sensei). One was writing an air mail letter (perhaps he had an urgent matter to take care of or wasn't interested in the topic of discussion) and another dozed on and off (better to be absent in that case). In the end, I was most impressed, however, by the sight of those relatively quiet teachers not held at the mercy of anyone else's opinions (dare no ifeen nimo furimawasarenakatta).