四面楚歌 (Shimensoka)

Literally: Four sides all singing Chu songs

Example: “その提案をしたら、会議で四面楚歌になった。” — When I made that proposal, I had my back to the wall in the meeting.

English equivalent: To have one's back to the wall

Origin: Comes from Sima Qian's Records of the Grand Historian, in the account of Xiang Yu, describing the year 202 BC when Xiang Yu's forces, fighting Liu Bang for control over China, found themselves cornered at Gaixia — troops dwindling, food running short, and enemy forces closing in on every side. At night, Liu Bang's army began singing folk songs from Chu, Xiang Yu's own home region, and hearing those unmistakably familiar songs rise up from the surrounding enemy camp convinced Xiang Yu, in despair, that his own countrymen must have already surrendered and joined the other side. The psychological tactic, credited to Liu Bang's strategist Zhang Liang, worked precisely as intended: worn down and suddenly homesick, Xiang Yu's own exhausted soldiers lost what remained of their will to keep fighting. The idiom preserves that exact image of total, demoralizing encirclement — surrounded on every side, with no path left open for retreat or rescue.