Syntax of くびきを共にする In the book , the phrase , which I would infer means something like "to yoke together", appears repeatedly as a metaphor for phenomena where a number of elements are related. Some google hits for the phrase can be found in a religious context (e.g. "Be joined to Jesus (as with a yoke)"). But why is the object in this phrase? I would expect to be the instrument or means of yoking (the yoke itself) rather than an object.

Are you confused because you think is the same as ?

is [to share] [meal], not [to eat] [together].

This is more obvious in phrases like , where and are clearly not verbs. (You don't say or )

So is [to share] [a yoke].

![Sharing a yoke](