蜥蜴の尻尾切り

• トカゲの尻尾切り
• トカゲのしっぽ切り
• 蜥蝪の尻尾切り

• IPA^(key): [to̞ka̠ɡe̞ no̞ ɕip̚po̞ kʲiɾʲi]
• IPA^(key): [to̞ka̠ɡe̞ no̞ ɕip̚po̞ ɡʲiɾʲi]

Literally "cutting lizard's tail", 蜥蜴 (トカゲ) (tokage, “lizard”) + の (no, possessive particle) + 尻尾 (しっぽ) (shippo, “tail”) + 切 (き)り (kiri, “cut”). In the alternative pronunciation, きり becomes ぎり due to rendaku (連濁).

蜥蜴の尻尾切り (hiragana とかげのしっぽきり, rōmaji tokage no shippo kiri, alternative reading とかげのしっぽぎり, rōmaji tokage no shippo giri)

1. (literally) the behavior of some lizards to drop their tail in order to escape a predator
2. (idiomatic) passing the buck to a subordinate; making a underling carry the can
   • 2014, Yasuo Takeuchi, ‘Nihonjin rashisa’ to nani ka [What is ‘Japanese-seeming’?], page 21:

     組織 (そしき)のトップは、組織 (そしき)を防衛 (ぼうえい)するために辞任 (じにん)することが多 (おお)い。 […] 「トカゲの尻尾 (しっぽ)切 (ぎ)り」ではなく、「トカゲの頭 (あたま)切 (き)り」「首 (くび)のすげ替 (か)え」によって組織 (そしき)防衛 (ぼうえい)である。

     Soshiki no toppu wa, soshiki o bōei suru tame ni jinin suru koto ga ōi. […] “Tokage no shippo giri” de wa naku, “tokage no atama kiri” “kubi no sugekae” ni yotte soshiki bōei dearu.

     Often the head of an organization will resign to protect the organization. […] Rather than “cutting the lizard’s tail”, this is defending the organization by “cutting the lizard’s head”, “swapping necks”.

   • 2015, Satoshi Tomisaka, Xi Jinping no tatakai: Chūgoku Kyōsantō no tenkanki [Xi Jinping’s fight: Turning point for the Communist Party of China], page 13:

     こうした取 (と)り締 (し)まりによって黒幕 (くろまく)ともいえる大物 (おおもの)官僚 (かんりょう)が捕 (つか)まることはなく、たいていはトカゲのしっぽ切 (ぎ)りで終 (お)わっていた。

     Kō shita torishimari ni yotte kuromaku to mo ieru ōmono kanryō ga tsukamaru koto wa naku, taitei wa tokage no shippo giri de owatte-ita.

     In this type of crackdown, major bureaucrats who can be called fixers are never caught; someone usually ends up carrying the can.

• Martin Collick, David P. Dutcher, Souichi Tanabe, and Minori Kaneko (2004) Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary 5th edition, Tokyo: Kenkyūsha.