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
I kept making mistakes at work and ended up in a real mess.
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
earthenware vessel; earthen urn
Rare literal meaning: a clay pot or urn. Almost never used in modern Japanese outside of historical or archaeological descriptions.
That team can't get out of their terrible situation this season.
In old farming villages, they used the night soil collected in the reservoir for the fields.
Earthenware vessels thought to have been used for storing grain were excavated from the ruins.
Katakana spelling is common in casual writing and matches the reading ドツボ.
Kanji spelling using 壺 (tsubo, pot/jar); rarely used in modern writing.
Variant kanji spelling using 壷 (a variant of 壺); very rare.
Mixed kana-kanji spelling; rare.
Mixed kana-kanji spelling; rare.
Originally referred to a pot or pit for night soil (human waste used as fertilizer). The figurative sense of a 'terrible situation' likely developed from the unpleasant image of falling into such a pit. The exact derivation is uncertain, but the connection to filth and being stuck is clear.