[Yojijukugo] Carefully selected phrases recommended as slogans for sports days and athletic festivals!

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Graduated from Kunitachi College of Music, Faculty of Music (now: Department of Music Culture and Education, Early Childhood Music Education major). In elementary school, my homeroom teacher was Jun Kusaba, a game researcher. After graduating from university, I worked as a kindergarten teacher for 10 years and as an after-school childcare instructor for 7 years, then took a position as a music teacher at an international school in Singapore. In addition to music education, I engaged in activities that introduced Japanese culture, traditional games, and recreational activities, working with many children. Later, through freelance writing, planning, and editing at Shogakukan, I met many delightful adults and experienced the joy of communicating and sharing. Drawing on the perspective cultivated in the field of education and my experience as an editor, I provide practical information with an emphasis on both input and output, mainly in areas related to music and children. My hobbies include instruments, singing, handicrafts, toys, drawing, traditional games, the outdoors, and books. My special skill is spinning-top tricks.
Accompanist / Piano Instructoryuri
Accompanist pianist × piano instructor × web writer. I began piano lessons at age four and, inspired by my piano teacher, decided to pursue music. I went on to specialized music programs in high school and university, where I discovered the appeal of accompanying instrumentalists and singers. Currently, alongside teaching piano, I work mainly in my home region of Aichi as an accompanist for flute, voice, choir, and more. Through lessons, my students often introduce me to trending songs, and my hobby is trying anything on the piano—Japanese and Western pop, commercial jingles, and beyond. Since 2021, I’ve also been active as a web writer, covering music and a variety of other genres.

Yojijukugo, four-character idioms that everyone inevitably learns in Japanese class.

They’re also commonly used in catchphrases for companies, commercials, and sports teams.

Even if you don’t fully grasp their exact meanings, the combination of kanji often conveys a general nuance—that’s part of the fun of yojijukugo.

In this article, we introduce yojijukugo that are perfect as slogans for sports days and athletic festivals.

We’ll also share their readings, meanings, and why they’re suitable as sports day slogans, so please use this as a reference!

[Four-character idioms] Carefully selected phrases recommended for sports day and athletic festival slogans! (11–20)

Indomitable; unyielding (literally: ‘unbent by a hundred setbacks’)

The phrase “hyakusetsu-futō” (literally, “bent a hundred times, never broken”) means the importance of keeping on trying without losing heart, no matter how many times you fail.

How about using this phrase as a slogan for your sports day or athletic festival? Everyone has times when things don’t go as hoped, even after doing their best.

Still, if you give up there, you can’t move forward.

By challenging yourself again and again and learning from failure, you develop real strength.

Join forces, give it your all, and enjoy the event with the spirit of hyakusetsu-futō—make your sports day or athletic festival a wonderful memory!

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A single resolve can reach the heavens.

Ichinen tsūten expresses the idea that if you keep believing and focusing with unwavering determination, you can surely achieve your goal.

It’s a four-character idiom that amps up the excitement of a blazing-hot sports festival scene, embodying the will to charge in with burning passion.

It carries a powerful message that evokes the days spent practicing with classmates for the festival.

From competitive events to dance performances, it’s a phrase that supports all kinds of moments.

Why not raise a slogan themed around always believing and never giving up?

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mutō

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a serious match

A great slogan for a sports day or athletics festival is “Shinken Shobu” (a true, all-out contest).

“Shinken Shobu” means striving with everything you’ve got and competing with your full effort.

It expresses coming together as one, challenging each other, and working hard to win.

The phrase also emphasizes not only the day of the event, but the importance of practice leading up to it and helping one another.

Beyond winning or losing, the daily efforts you share in taking on challenges together will surely make for a wonderful sports day or festival.

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with all one’s might

It’s a slogan that conveys a sense of charging straight toward the goal and the enthusiasm for the sports festival.

You can feel the determination to move toward a single objective, which will likely strengthen the feeling of “Let’s come together as a team and give it our all!” These words alone can communicate momentum and strength, but adding a subtitle will make it even more persuasive, so it’s recommended.

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to lie on firewood and taste gall (an idiom meaning to endure hardship and persevere for future revenge or success)

Gashin-shotan means enduring frustration and hardship to achieve a goal.

How about adopting this four-character idiom as a slogan that calls to mind the days you practiced with your classmates for the sports festival? When taking on team events, there are times when results don’t come easily or things don’t go well.

In such moments, it can also carry the meaning of deepening the bonds with the precious teammates who have worked hard together.

It’s a four-character idiom that fires up students’ hearts as they step onto the stage of the sports festival, where everyone is the protagonist.

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reckless; desperate; frenzied (doing something with fierce, single-minded intensity)

These words convey the image of facing the limited time of the sports festival with full effort and the will to push forward toward victory.

They also evoke the idea that it’s okay to be awkward and suggest a head-on, all-out attitude, communicating a strong attachment to winning and a desperate determination.

The fact that the characters used have many strokes is also an important point, as it creates a sense of power when written.

By raising words that express giving one’s all as a team, it strongly suggests a scene where everyone elevates each other’s strength.

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[Four-character idioms] Carefully selected slogan phrases recommended for sports days and athletic festivals (21–30)

single-minded struggle

Ichi-i Funtō is a four-character idiom pronounced “ichii funtō,” which depicts focusing one’s mind on a single goal and mustering the spirit to face it head-on.

It perfectly suits situations like concentrating on victory and uniting a team to take on a challenge.

While it can mean sharpening one’s personal concentration, when used as a slogan it evokes a sense of unity and strong bonds.

Because it includes the character for “battle,” it strongly conveys an attitude aimed at victory and a heightened fighting spirit.

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kappamaki

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