呉 越 同 舟(ごえつどうしゅう)

ごえつどうしゅう

four-character idiom

enemies in the same boat

1. enemies in the same boat; rivals cooperating

Bitter enemies or rivals who are forced to work together toward a common goal; adversaries who must cooperate due to circumstances.

政治(せいじ)の世界(せかい)では呉越同舟(ごえつどうしゅう)はよくあることだ。

In politics, enemies working together is common.

利害(りがい)が一致(いっち)したため、呉越同舟(ごえつどうしゅう)で協力(きょうりょく)することになった。

Because our interests aligned, we ended up cooperating despite being rivals.

競合(きょうごう)会社(がいしゃ)と呉越同舟(ごえつどうしゅう)でプロジェクトを進(すす)めることになった。

We ended up working on the project with our rival company.

ORIGIN: This idiom comes from the ancient Chinese military text 『孫子(そんし)』 (The Art of War). The states of 呉(ご) (Wu) and 越(えつ) (Yue) were bitter enemies, but if people from both states were on the same boat during a storm, they would have to cooperate to survive.

STRUCTURE: 呉(ご) (Wu state) + 越(えつ) (Yue state) + 同(どう) (same) + 舟(しゅう) (boat)

USAGE: Used to describe situations where rivals or enemies must set aside their differences and work together. Common in business, politics, and sports contexts.

COMMON PATTERNS:

呉越同舟(ごえつどうしゅう)で協力(きょうりょく)する (to cooperate despite being rivals)
呉越同舟(ごえつどうしゅう)の関係(かんけい) (a relationship of rivals forced to cooperate)

RELATED EXPRESSIONS:

敵(てき)も味方(みかた)もなく (setting aside friend or foe)
大同団結(だいどうだんけつ) (uniting for a common cause)

general

Added 2026.1.17 14:25 · Revised 2026.6.21 12:22

06000/06219_goetsudoushuu