modality N1 rare literaryarchaic
〜如し — like / as if ~
〜如し ・ ごとし
Meaning
- like ~ / just as ~ — a classical simile auxiliary equivalent to ようだ / みたいだ
Key sentence
光陰矢の如し。
Time flies like an arrow.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun + の (sentence-final 如し) | N + の + 如し | 矢 → 矢の如し |
| Adnominal form (modifies a noun) | N + の + 如き + Noun | 鬼の如き形相 'a demon-like expression' |
| Adverbial form (modifies a verb) | N + の + 如く + Verb | 風の如く走る 'run like the wind' |
When: Literary and archaic — proverbs, set phrases, formal/poetic prose. Not used in conversation.
Examples
彼の心は氷の如く冷たかった。
His heart was cold as ice.
歳月は流れる水の如し。
The years are like flowing water.
百聞は一見に如かず。
Seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. (a fixed proverb using 如かず)
Easily confused with
Notes
- Most often met in fixed proverbs (光陰矢の如し, 過ぎたるは猶及ばざるが如し). The forms 如き (before a noun) and 如く (before a verb) are far more common in modern writing than the sentence-final 如し.
See 〜如し in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜如し the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar.