どつぼ

noun

terrible situation; awful state; deep trouble

Strongly associated with the phrase どつぼにはまる (to fall into a terrible situation). Used for being in a mess, a predicament, or a hopeless state. Colloquial and expressive.

See also: ドツボにはまる

• 仕し事ごとでミスが続つづいて、完かん全ぜんにどつぼにはまった。

  I kept making mistakes at work and ended up in a real mess.

• あのチームは今こんシーズン、どつぼから抜ぬけ出だせない。

  That team can't get out of their terrible situation this season.

noun

night-soil reservoir; night-soil pot

Historical term for a pit or pot used to collect human waste as fertilizer. Sense 2 is a reservoir dug in a field; sense 3 is the original meaning of a pot. Both are now rare and mainly encountered in historical or rural contexts.

See also: 野壺

• 昔むかしの農のう村そんでは、どつぼに溜ためた肥こやしを田た畑はたに使つかった。

  In old farming villages, they used the night soil collected in the reservoir for the fields.

noun

earthenware vessel; earthen urn

Rare literal meaning: a clay pot or urn. Almost never used in modern Japanese outside of historical or archaeological descriptions.

• 遺い跡せきからは、穀こく物もつを貯ちょ蔵ぞうしていたとみられるどつぼが出しゅつ土どした。

  Earthenware vessels thought to have been used for storing grain were excavated from the ruins.