expression, nidan verb (lower class) with 'hu/fu' ending (archaic)
replace one tyranny with another; use violence against violence
Archaic expression from classical Chinese; used to describe a situation where a new regime or force is just as oppressive as the one it replaced. Rare in modern Japanese outside of literary or historical contexts.
「暴を以て暴に易う」という言葉は、革命が結局同じ圧政を生むことを戒めている。
The phrase 'replace one tyranny with another' warns that a revolution may end up producing the same oppression.
The original Chinese four-character idiom (chengyu) from which this Japanese expression is derived. More compact and used in both Chinese and Japanese classical contexts.
From the Chinese idiom 以暴易暴 (yǐ bào yì bào), meaning 'to replace one tyranny with another'. The Japanese reading is a kun'yomi-based rendering of the Chinese characters, preserving the classical structure.