孤掌鳴らし難し こしょうならしがたし Meanings Expression one cannot live solely by oneself; one cannot accomplish anything solely by oneself (literally: clapping with one hand is hard) Kanji 孤 solitary. Read as コ. 掌 palm. Read as ショウ. 鳴 ring. Read as ならす. 難 difficult. Read as かたい. Word lists Proverbs Jinuma: Japanese Dictionary · Word lists