noun, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'
inside a jar
Literally 'inside a jar/urn'; often used in set phrases like 壺中の天地 (a world inside a jar, a secluded paradise).
壺中の天地という言葉は、俗世から離れた別世界を表す。
The phrase 壺中の天地 refers to a separate world away from the mundane.
noun
Figurative use: a person who is as if hiding inside a jar, i.e., a coward. Rare and literary.
彼は壺中のような男で、いざというときに頼りにならない。
He is a cowardly man, unreliable when it really counts.
Common word for 'coward'; 壺中 is a rare, literary metaphor.
From 壺 (jar) + 中 (inside). The coward sense is a metaphorical extension of hiding inside a jar.