I teach Japanese for a living and my husband is French. Naturally, he comes to me with all of his linguistic questions. The other day, he asked me about the term 二刀流 (nitōryū).
The kanji for 二刀流 can be read literally as “two sword flow,” but Japanese use it to describe someone who is talented at handling two things at the same time. At first, I had no idea where my husband’s question came from. I assumed he was talking about Shohei Ohtani, who is known as a 二刀流, or “two-way player,” thanks to his abilities as both a batter and pitcher.
大谷翔平はベーブ・ルース以来の二刀流なんだって (Ōtani Shohei wa Bēbu Rūsu irai no nitōryū nandatte, Shohei Ohtani is the first true two-way talent [in the majors] since Babe Ruth).