With Trouble
Valuable, Precious, Rare
adverb, noun
When there's nothing but folds and angles, you have quite a mess. This word means with trouble because you certainly aren't traversing along a nice, flat piece of space-time, are you? Nah, it's all angled and folded.
折角 is one of those tricky Japanese words that doesn’t have one neat translation in English. The nuance is that something has come about with trouble, either through someone’s efforts, or a stroke of luck. It often implies regret, and is used in situations where you want to express that valuable opportunities, advice, or hard work were in vain for some reason. It’s also used to underline a rare chance that shouldn’t be missed.
This is a jukugo word, which usually means on'yomi readings from the kanji. If you know the readings of your kanji you'll know how to read this as well. Watch out for the せつ changing to せっ, though. Another thing you have to go through with trouble, I'm afraid.
折角の休日
a precious day off
折角の休み
precious time off
折角のチャンス
a precious opportunity
俺の折角のアドバイスをムダにするつもりなのか？
Are you going to throw away my valuable advice?
折角来たのに、お店やってなくて残念だったね。でも折角だし、近くの他のお店に行ってみようか。
It's a shame that the shop isn't open despite coming all this way. But since we're here anyway, shall we try going to another nearby shop?
折角苦労して手に入れた宝石を、彼女は気に入ってくれなかった。
She didn't like the jewelry I went through so much trouble to get.
うーん。折角イメチェンするいい機会だし、後ろ髪を三十センチくらい切ってもらおうかな。
Hmm. It's a rare opportunity to get a makeover, so I think I'll have my hair cut about thirty centimeters at the back.