The popular phrase "地震/jishin 雷/kaminari 火事/kaji 親父/oyaji (earthquakes, thunder, fires, fathers)"

A few days ago, when I was sitting at my computer, there was a huge bang like an explosion. I reflexively stood up from my chair in order to prepare myself for a massive earthquake because people in earthquake-stricken areas say that they heard the earth rumbling right before a massive earthquake hit. Fortunately, I was wrong. I looked outside the window, but I didn't see anything unusual. Several minutes later, I realized that the huge bang had been a loud clap of thunder. Since both before and after the bang, there was neither thunder nor lighting, it seemed weird.

Perhaps about thirty minutes later, an earthquake notification popped up on my computer (This is an advanced function of Google Chrome. Every time an earthquake stronger than a certain level happens in Japan, an earthquake notification pops up). Immediately afterwards, I felt a small quake. Since the notification showed that the epicenter was at the coast of Fukushima, I checked the detailed information. Although there was a relatively strong shake (If the 3/11 earthquake hadn't happened, I would write "strong" instead of " relatively strong") in an area near the crippled Fukushima plant, it was announced that the plant was in the same situation as before the earthquake happened. I was relieved. Hearing news that there has been a quake above level 5 in Fukushima is always bad for my heart.

After that, I noticed that there was snow covering the ground outside. I live in the Tokyo area, so my area has snow cover only a few times a year. Since these three things happened all within the course of an hour, I felt a sense of foreboding, but so far, nothing has happened since then.

Anyway, when I noticed that it was snowing, the popular Japanese phrase, 地震/jishin 雷/kaminari 火事/kaji 親父/oyaji, came to mind (地震/jishin means earthquakes, 雷/kaminari means thunder, 火事/kaji means fires, 親父/oyaji means fathers). This phrase was very popular until a few decades ago. Since people were very afraid of these four things at the time, the phrase would be used as a symbol of scary things. I think you may be wondering why fathers are on the list. This is because in the past, fathers traditionally had the right to make the final decisions on family matters and their decisions were always respected. Partly because the current father stereotype is from a few decades ago, the phrase is not so popular anymore. It's been said that fathers have become less dignified and they don't scold their children as often as they used to, so they are no longer something to be afraid of. I've heard that instead of 親父/oyaji, 大山風/ooyamaji was originally on the list. 大山風/ooyamaji is an old expression that is no longer used. The word means typhoons. I think that the phrase "earthquakes, thunder, fires, typhoons" makes more sense, but the phrase "earthquakes, thunder, fires, fathers" is more popular. I don't know why.