因縁

いんねん
fate
connection
origin
pretext

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いんねん【因縁】

fatality

〖U〗《正式》［or a ～］ (運命によって定められた)必然， 因縁， 不可避性；宿命性

by a mysterious fatality 不思議な因縁で.

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いんねん【因縁】

1 〔宿命〕 fate; destiny.

●宿世(_すくせ)の因縁 destiny from a previous existence; karma.

●因縁とあきらめる resign oneself to [accept] one's fate; accept sth as fate

・俺たちがこんな苦労をするのも何かの因縁とあきらめよう. We have to accept these hardships of ours as part of some sort of fate.

●あんたみたいな男と一緒になったのも前世からの因縁てものかしらね. I wonder if my getting married with a guy like you is part of my fate from a previous existence.

2 〔古くからの関係･縁〕 a previous tie [bond, connection, relation]; 〔いきさつ〕 an origin; the history 《of a thing》.

●因縁めく smack of retributive justice [the mysterious workings of fate]

・親父の捨てた女性の娘と恋に落ちるというのも因縁めいた話だ. For me to fall in love with the daughter of the woman my father abandoned shows the mysterious workings of fate.

・因縁浅からぬ関係 a long, close relationship

・何もかも因縁ずくとあきらめるしかない. We just have to accept it all as fate.

●ここは祖母の代からわが一族との因縁が深い土地だ. This land has deep connections with our family since my grandmother's generation.

●因縁の対決 a confrontation [showdown] predestined to happen

・革命前に投獄されていた因縁の場所に刑務官として勤めることになった. He was given the job of warden in a place with fateful ties: the prison where he had been incarcerated before the revolution.

●自分が父の会社を訴える側に回っていることに不思議な因縁を感じる. I feel a strange irony in the fact that I am now on the side suing my own father's company.

・合併前からの因縁を引きずった労使対決 a labor-management confrontation that has dragged along its whole premerger past.

●そのいわれ因縁はこうだ. I will tell you how it has come [came] about. | This is how it all began, way back when.

3 〔因と縁〕 a casual relation; 【仏教】 karma (relation).

4 〔言いがかり〕 a pretext.

因縁をつける make up a pretext for a quarrel 《with sb》.

●あんなやつにそんな因縁をつけられる覚えはない. I don't remember doing anything that would give that guy a pretext to pick such a quarrel with me.

・チンピラになんだかんだと因縁をつけられ金を巻き上げられた. This hoodlum picked a quarrel with me on this pretext and that, and forced me to hand over some money.

・ただ歩いていたら向こうが因縁をつけてきたんです. I was just walking along (minding my own business) when the guy came and tried to pick a fight with me.

因縁話 〔因果応報的な昔話〕 a tale of retributive justice; 〔複雑ないきさつのある話〕 an account of how sth began.