78547
A beautiful thought by 小林先生 in 窓ぎわのトットちゃん is conveyed as follows:

> 世に恐るべきものは、目 **あれど** 美を知らず、耳 **あれども** 楽を聴かず、心 **あれども** 真を解せず。。。の類である。

I haven't seen this usage of ども much. How natural is it to use this form in
written/spoken text today? In what sort of situations would one normally see
this form being used?
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2020-07-11T13:51:33.703
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question
grammar conditionals classical-japanese
Is it considered natural to use ども (in the context of 'even if') in written or spoken Japanese today?
This grammar item purely belongs to Classical Japanese, that nobody would
spontaneously say it any more.

[ども/ど](https://kobun.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%A9%E3%82%82) is a Classical verb
particle which means "although V" that roughly equals to ～ても today. Classical
Japanese was used in formal writing until around WWII, but only survives now
in the text of older laws, haiku, or proverbs that are compared to excerpts
from King James' Bible.

> 冬木空を刺せども洩るる日はあらず（木下夕爾）  
>  [千里の馬は常に有れども、伯楽は常には有らず](https://dictionary.sanseido-
> publ.co.jp/column/kotowaza40)  
>
> [分離すれども平等](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%88%86%E9%9B%A2%E3%81%99%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A9%E3%82%82%E5%B9%B3%E7%AD%89)

Some expressions still exist in fossilized forms, such as
[～といえども](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/31066/7810) or
[待てど暮らせど](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E5%BE%85%E3%81%A6%E3%81%A9%E6%9A%AE%E3%82%89%E3%81%9B%E3%81%A9/).

> 世に恐るべきものは、目あれど美を知らず、耳あれども楽を聴かず、心あれども真を解せず

This sentence is apparently meant to be a kind of maxim, either passed down or
imitation of that.
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2020-07-12T09:02:12.003
78547
2020-07-12T09:32:37.630
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answer