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My sensei in class told us about 火の車 that means someone in a difficult
financial strait . I was wondering what does it have to do with fire 火 and a
car 車?
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2014-02-19T14:22:52.533
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2015-09-25T21:47:18.973
2015-09-25T21:47:18.973
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translation etymology religion
火の車 Where did it come from
As written on [gogen allguide](http://gogen-allguide.com/hi/hinokuruma.html):

Apparently it's from the Buddhist 火車{かしゃ} piece of mythology. The story goes
that those who were rotten in their lifetimes would be carried into the flames
of hell on a cart driven by a petty demon. This suffering was then later
metaphorically applied to financial difficulties.

A possible alternate explanation is that it's connected to another Buddhist
idea, 火宅{かたく}, which compares the pains of the world with a house on fire.
Supposedly this may have been applied to 車 to represent financial difficulties
specifically.
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2014-02-19T14:55:21.190
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2014-02-20T00:49:13.613
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answer