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Meaning

a short-lived reign

Gaining power or a position only to lose it after a very short time.

Example

首位に立ったのもつかの間、翌週には抜かれて三日天下に終わった。

We had barely taken first place when we were overtaken the following week, so our reign at the top was short-lived.

Origin

In Tenshō 10 (1582), Akechi Mitsuhide killed Oda Nobunaga at Honnōji and seized power, but was defeated by Hashiba Hideyoshi at the Battle of Yamazaki. The shortness of that period is expressed as "three days." According to dictionaries, the actual period was about 13 days.

Sources