株くいを守まもる

expression, godan verb (-ru)

stick stubbornly to old ways; be overly conservative; refuse to adapt

Idiomatic expression from a Chinese fable in the Han Feizi about a farmer who guarded a tree stump waiting for another hare to run into it. Used to criticize someone who clings to outdated methods or refuses to change with the times. The literal meaning 'guard the tree stub' is not used in modern Japanese outside of explaining the idiom's origin.

• 古ふるいやり方かたにこだわって株くいを守まもるようなことをしていては、進しん歩ぽはない。

  If you cling to old methods like guarding a tree stump, there will be no progress.

• 時じ代だいが変かわったのに、彼かれはまだ株くいを守まもっている。

  Even though times have changed, he still stubbornly sticks to his old ways.