Year of Fire Horse

Happy New Year!

2026 is the Year of the Fire Horse. The Chinese Zodiac indicates high energy and many movements this year.

This post is about the horse.

Horses came to Japan around the 4th century. They became a critical resource for the country, serving as essential military and civilian assets. You might imagine a samurai riding a horse from movies, but those are Thoroughbreds. Japanese horses, until the arrival of Thoroughbreds, were fat and small. A purebred of such a horse is rare today, almost extinct.

“Fat horse.” The symbol is Da 【駄】. You might notice this symbol because it is used as Muda 【無駄】. Da 【駄】 means load, luggage, or the horse that carries them. In Japan, horses that were not capable of carrying humans were used as luggage carriers, so Da 【駄】 came to mean worthless or of no value. For example, in the game of Go, worthless spots are called Dame 【駄目】, and today we use this term to mean 'useless' or 'no good'. This raises the question of why it is used as Muda 【無駄】, since the symbols would mean “not worthless.” This is because the symbols were chosen for their sound rather than their meaning. Toyota writes Muda in Hiragana or Katakana, avoiding Kanji. Their use is linguistically correct.

Several horse-related proverbs mean Muda.

“You can’t force the horse to drink the water, even if you take them to the waterside.”

Meaning, when someone is unwilling to do something, others can’t force them. For example, even if you take someone to the Genba, if that person is reluctant to see, they won’t see.

“Buddhist prayer to a horse’s ear.”

Meaning, even if you provide sound advice, if the recipient doesn’t understand, it's valueless. For example, even if I say that translating the 5S by focusing on the initials will lead to a wrong translation, a bad translation is still more popular.

There are more positive sayings.

“It is difficult to string a good bow; it is difficult to ride a good horse.”

Meaning, good items are hard to use, but when you use them, the results are excellent. This proverb is used for many things.

A typical use is with talent. Someone talented might not be obedient. But when you learn to work with that individual, the results are excellent. So don’t give up on someone just because they're not obedient. Instead, that might be a sign of a strong will. It's better to work with someone who has a will than with those who don’t. Often, we hear comments like ‘they don’t want to do TPS.” Of course, that's normal. We understand why they are saying that. There are always reasons and fears that concern them.

Note that ‘rebels’ and resistance helped develop the Toyota Production System. Today, acceptance of the system might be widespread, but in the past, resistance to it was aggressive. In some cases, it involved political parties.

Again, “it is difficult to ride a good horse.” Enjoy the challenge of the energetic horse this year!