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苦肉の策 (kunikunosaku) Japanese meaning: last resort | Kotomora
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策さく
だっ
た
が
、
売う
り
上あ
げ
は
伸の
び
なかっ
た
。
The price cut was a desperate measure, but sales didn't increase.
His offer to resign was a last resort to protect the company.
Related words 最後の手段 is a neutral term for the final option when nothing else works, while 苦肉の策 stresses the pain or self-sacrifice behind the desperate choice.
窮余の策 describes a makeshift plan hastily devised when cornered, whereas 苦肉の策 highlights the personal sacrifice or suffering involved in the plan.
苦し紛れ describes an act done in a moment of desperation without much thought, while 苦肉の策 refers specifically to a deliberate, calculated last-resort strategy.
Etymology Literally 'a plan born of bitter flesh', from the Chinese idiom 苦肉之計. The idea is that one must first hurt oneself (or one's own side) to make a stratagem believable, hence a desperate, self-sacrificing measure.
