【英文】
The phrase “棚からぼたもち” (tana kara botamochi) is a Japanese proverb that describes unexpected good fortune or receiving something valuable without effort. Its origin comes from an old tale where a botamochi (a type of sweet rice cake) fell from a shelf and landed directly in an open mouth. Essentially, it signifies luck coming your way even when you haven’t actively sought it out. It’s like waking up to find 500 trillion yen in your bank account without any effort—though, of course, such occurrences are quite rare!
If only we could experience “棚からぼたもち” more often, right? 😄
The word “windfall” indeed has a similar meaning to the Japanese expression “タナボタ” (tana bota), which refers to unexpected good fortune or receiving something valuable without effort.
Having a stroke of unexpected good luck（予期しない幸運の一撃を受ける）
In this sentence, the "a stroke of" part has the nuance of "took a strike from".
This reminds me of the word "(ぎっくり腰) sudden back pain".
a rumor,which is not true, has it that In English, the sudden back pain is called "魔女の一撃" (witch's shot, witch's strike)!
*That's what they call it in German and Italian, not English.
残りの二つは
・Pennies from heaven（空からのpennyコイン）
・roasted larks will fall into his mouth（ヒバリのロースト肉を期待している）
という意味で、どちらもタナボタと同じニュアンスの、思いがけない幸運を期待している言葉ですね。
