sleep four hours and pass, sleep five hours and fail
A set phrase from the era of intense university entrance exam cramming, meaning that sleeping only four hours leads to success while five hours of sleep leads to failure. Used to emphasize the extreme study ethic expected of exam candidates.
Among exam candidates, the phrase 'four-pass, five-fail' was often used.
With the 'four-pass, five-fail' mindset, he cut down on sleep to study.
Standard kanji form of the set phrase.
Numerical variant using Arabic numerals.
A coined phrase from the post-war period of intense university entrance exam competition in Japan, combining the numbers 四 (four) and 五 (five) with 当 (hit, success) and 落 (fall, failure).