Where does “幽霊の正体見たり枯れ尾花” come from?

幽霊の正体見たり枯れ尾花 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 幽霊, from Middle Chinese 幽靈.

幽霊の正体見たり枯れ尾花 (Japanese): things are not as scary as they seem

Definitions

  1. things are not as scary as they seem

Ancestry of “幽霊の正体見たり枯れ尾花”, step by step

幽霊の正体見たり枯れ尾花 traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 幽霊

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese幽霊a ghost, a phantom
2Middle Chinese幽靈—

via Japanese 枯れ尾花

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese枯れ尾花withered silvergrass
2Japanese枯れdead, withered
Every word from Middle Chinese 幽靈 →Every word from Japanese 幽霊 →