赤せき貧ひん洗あらうが如ごとし

expression

extremely poor; in dire poverty; as poor as a church mouse

A literary set phrase describing extreme poverty, often used in formal or written contexts. The image is of being so poor that one must wash away poverty itself.

• 彼かれの家いえは赤せき貧ひん洗あらうが如ごとしで、明日あすの食しょく事じにも困こまるほどだった。

  His household was in such dire poverty that they struggled even to eat the next day.

• 赤せき貧ひん洗あらうが如ごとしの生せい活かつから抜ぬけ出だすために、彼かれは必ひっ死しに働はたらいた。

  He worked desperately to escape a life of extreme poverty.