怒ど髪はつ天てんを衝つく

ど

は

つ

て

ん

を

つ

く

Meanings

1

expression, godan verb (-ku)

boil with rage; be infuriated

Literary expression describing extreme anger, literally 'one's angry hair pierces the heavens'. Used in formal or dramatic contexts.

彼かれの不ふ正せいを知しり、怒ど髪はつ天てんを衝つく思おもいだった。
Learning of his injustice, I was boiling with rage.
その知しらせに、社しゃ長

ちょう

は

怒ど

髪はつ

天てん

を

衝つ

く

勢いきお

い

で

怒おこ

り

出だ

し

た

。

At the news, the president erupted in fury as if his hair were piercing the heavens.

Written forms

怒ど髪はつ天てんを衝つく
Standard kanji form using 衝く.
怒ど髪はつ天てんを突つく
Variant using 突く; less common but still encountered.

Kanji

怒angry, be offended
髪hair of the head
天heavens, sky, imperial
衝collide, brunt, highway
突stab, protruding, thrust

Similar words

怒おこる
怒る is the common verb for 'to get angry'; 怒髪天を衝く is a much stronger, literary idiom for extreme fury.
激げき怒どする
激怒する means 'to be enraged' and is more direct and less figurative than 怒髪天を衝く.

Etymology

From classical Chinese literature; the image of hair standing on end and piercing the sky is a metaphor for extreme anger. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the phrase is well-established in Japanese as a literary idiom.