goi Back to the route map日本語

Use the left and right arrow keys, or swipe the sign, to move to the next word.

Meaning

repeating someone else's mistake

Making the same mistake as someone before. Used in the forms ninomai wo enjiru and ninomai wo fumu.

Example

前のプロジェクトの二の舞にならないよう、日程に余裕を持たせた。

We built slack into the schedule so as not to repeat what happened on the last project.

Origin

It comes from Ni no Mai, a bugaku court dance. Right after the dance Ama, an old man in a laughing mask and an old woman in a swollen-faced mask appear and dance comically in imitation of Ama. From this dance, an imitation that does not quite work, the word came to mean copying others and making the same mistake.

Sources