河童かっぱの川かわ流ながれ

Meanings

expression

anyone can make a mistake; even experts slip up

proverb

Proverb literally meaning 'a kappa swept away by a river'; used to say that even an expert can fail in their own field.

彼かれはベテランのプログラマーなのに、簡かん単たんなバグを見み逃のがした。まさに河童かっぱの川かわ流ながれだね。
He's a veteran programmer, but he missed a simple bug. It's a perfect example of 'even a kappa can be swept away by a river.'

Written forms

河童かっぱの川かわ流ながれ
Standard kanji spelling for the proverb.
かっぱの川かわ流ながれ
Mixed kana-kanji spelling; the first part is written in kana.

Kanji

河river
童juvenile, child
川stream, river, river or three-stroke river radical (no. 47)
流current, a sink, flow

Similar words

猿さるも木きから落おちる
Similar proverb meaning 'even monkeys fall from trees'; both express that even experts make mistakes, but 河童の川流れ specifically uses the image of a water creature failing in water.
弘こう法ぼうにも筆ふでの誤あやまり
Another proverb with the same meaning, literally 'even Kobo Daishi makes brush mistakes'; more formal and literary.

Etymology

From the folkloric creature kappa (河童), a water imp said to be an expert swimmer, being swept away in a river—its own domain—illustrating that even masters can fail.