針はりの穴あなから天てんを覗のぞく

expression, godan verb (-ku)

have a narrow view of things; peek at the sky through the eye of a needle

Idiomatic expression meaning to have a very limited perspective or to judge the world from a tiny viewpoint. The literal image is of looking at the vast sky through a needle's eye.

• 彼かれの意い見けんは針はりの穴あなから天てんを覗のぞくようなものだ。

  His opinion is like looking at the sky through the eye of a needle.

• 針はりの穴あなから天てんを覗のぞくような考かんがえ方かたでは、世せ界かいの広ひろさはわからない。

  With a way of thinking that's like peeking at the sky through a needle's eye, you can't understand the vastness of the world.