いたちごっこ

Japanese

For pronunciation and definitions of いたちごっこ – see the following entry.
鼬ごっこ
[noun] (historical) a children’s game [19th century]
[noun] (figuratively) doing the same thing again and again with no progress
(This term, いたちごっこ (itachigokko), is the hiragana spelling of the above term.)