瓦が全ぜん

noun

meaningless existence; living in disgrace

Literary and rare. Contrasts with 玉砕 (ぎょくさい, 'honorable death') in the classical pair 玉砕瓦全: to die honorably rather than live on in shame. In modern Japanese, the word is almost never used outside this fixed contrast.

• 「玉ぎょく砕さい瓦が全ぜん」という言こと葉ばは、武ぶ士しの倫りん理り観かんを表あらわす故こ事じ成せい語ごとして知しられている。

  The phrase 玉砕瓦全 is known as a classical idiom expressing samurai ethics.