せきのやま

Japanese

Alternative spelling
関の山

Etymology

関 (Seki) +‎ の (no, possessive particle) +‎ 山 (yama, “festival float”, referring to 山車 (dashi)), literally “the Seki festival float”. Seki is a city in Gifu Prefecture, which was famous for having the most spectacular festival float. It came to be thought that no float could be made taller or better than that of Seki, hence it came to be used metonymically for the pinnacle or ultimate height of something.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) せきのやま​ [sèkínóyámáꜜ] (Odaka – [5])
• IPA^(key): [se̞kʲino̞ja̠ma̠]

Noun

せきのやま • (seki-no-yama) ^{←せきのやま (sekinoyama)?}

1. the most one can do