History
破竹之勢
Like Splitting Bamboo
Korean: 파죽지세Japanese: 破竹の勢い（はちくのいきおい）Pinyin: pò zhú zhī shì
Meaning
Like bamboo that splits all the way down once the first joints crack — unstoppable momentum, victory after victory.
Origin story
In the closing act of the Three Kingdoms, Jin marched on Wu, the last kingdom standing. As commander Du Yu won battle after battle, some staff urged him to pause: the rivers would soon flood, better to withdraw and strike again later. Du Yu shook his head: "Our momentum is like splitting bamboo — crack the first few joints and the rest falls open at the touch of the blade." The army pressed on, took the Wu capital Jianye in a rush, and a century of division ended. From his words comes "the force that splits bamboo."
Source: Book of Jin — Du Yu (the war that ended the Three Kingdoms)
People
Modern examples
- Ten straight wins to open the season — the team tore through the league like splitting bamboo.
- A month after launch, the product surged unstoppably to the top market share.