Giving Your All

A curious idiom this:

粉骨砕身 - ふんこつさいしん

粉 FUN ko/kona = powder

骨 KOTSU hone = bone

砕 SAI kuda・ku/kuda・keru - smash, crush, shatter, break into pieces

身 SHIN mi = one's body, one's person

So what we have here is an image of one's bones being ground down into powder and one's body being smashed to pieces. It's a very graphic way of expressing the idea of giving one's all and it means to do one's best or exert oneself to the limit. I suppose a similar (American) expression would be to bust one's ass. You can read a poetic variant of 粉骨砕身 here.