Four-Character Idiom · People & Bonds · Kyojuro Rengoku
抑強扶弱
Meaning
To restrain the violence of the powerful and to support those without power — a direct articulation of noblesse oblige in the Confucian register.
強者の横暴を抑え、弱者を助けること。ノブレス・オブリージュの直接的な体現。
The Kyojuro Rengoku moment
A line Rengoku speaks to Akaza, justifying why a Hashira fights for ordinary humans on a train.
Why it fits Kyojuro Rengoku
Rengoku's response to Akaza's contempt for the weak is yokukyō-fujaku as a sentence. The "ought" is not negotiable — it is framed as 世の理 (the way of the world), the Confucian appeal to natural order rather than personal preference.
Sources
- Weblio 中日辞典 — 抑強扶弱 (dictionary)