Done Obscure expression.

[Gottheim]

I'd like to have a small portion of text translated. The character who says this is supposed to be a righteous man stating his resolve to protect the weak. The part I'm interested in is in bold:

牙を持たぬ人のため
地下百尺の捨石となる
The way I understand it, it means something along the lines of "the invisible, anonymous but indispensable helper." Maybe there's a nuance about bringing harmony and justice, too.

What I'm asking for is confirmation, or in case I got it wrong, an explanation as to what it means.

Here's the text where that specific phrase has been showing up (different from manga context). A soldier's farewell letter to his wife, during WW2, apparently.

Spoiler

佐藤章

菊水隊 イ３６潜、イ３７潜、イ４７潜

昭和１９年１１月８日出撃

妻への手紙

まりゑ殿

かねて覚悟し念願していた「海い征かば」の名誉の出発の日が来た。
日本男子として皇国の運命を背負って立つは当然のことではあるが然し
これで「俺も日本男子」だぞと、自覚の念を強うして非常にうれしい。
短い間ではあったが、心からのお世話になった。俺にとっては日本一の妻であった。
小生は何処に居らうとも、君の身辺を守っている。正しい道を正しく直く生き抜いてくれ。
子供も、唯堂々と育て上げてくれ。所謂偉くすることもいらぬ。金持ちにする必要もない。
日本の運命を負って地下百尺の捨石となる男子を育て上げよ、小生も立派に死んでくる。
充分体に気をつけて栄へ行く日本の姿を小生の姿と思いつつ強く正しく生き抜いてくれ。

大東亜戦争に出陣するに際して

昭和十八年九月二十一日

回天搭乗員・佐藤少尉（左）

Thanks in advance.

PS: On an unrelated note, if you're familiar with Okinawan Japanese and how it works, please share our knowledge. I'd be grateful.

 

[Nomad Soul]

捨石となる means to sacrifice yourself for something (lit. to become a sacrificed stone). 地下百尺 literally means 100 feet (shaku) underground. I'm not sure what the whole expression means, but I guess the gist of the phrase is "For the sake of those without fangs, don't throw your life away." or something like that.

HTH

 

[serizawa]

牙を持たぬ人のため
地下百尺の捨石となる

"地下百尺の捨石となる" isn't an easy thing to translate. I will try to explain its meaning and then I will leave the actual translation up to you

"地下百尺" comes from "地下百尺底の心" and points to an extreme mental condition, in which your petty ego is completely annihilated in order to take the right actions without hesitation.

It's an analogy: imagine that you are in a nailed coffin and buried in the deepest (hence 百尺) pit in the world. Most probably, you will be dead in such situation. So, you won't be affected by gains and losses anymore.

The idea is to have this frame of mind while you are alive. Never to be driven by petty emotions like fear, greed or anger, doing whatever you have to do without expecting anything, undisturbed by threats or profits and living above of lust for life and fear of death.

This is more or less the general meaning of "地下百尺".

And the person above already explained the meaning of "捨石となる", so with these two explanations, I think it's possible to have a glimpse on the meaning of "地下百尺の捨石となる".

Hope this helps!

 

[Gottheim]

Thanks. As a translation, the whole concept is too complex to render accurately in English, so I'll roll with "Supreme abnegation for the sake of the defenseless."
Unless someone has a better idea.

Thanks again!