刻舟求剑

lit. a notch on the side of a boat to locate a sword dropped overboard (idiom); fig. an action made pointless by changed circumstances

quarter (hour) / moment / to carve / to engrave / to cut / oppressive / classifier for short time intervals

boat

to seek / to look for / to request / to demand / to beseech

double-edged sword / CL:口[kou3],把[ba3] / classifier for blows of a sword

variant of 劍|剑[jian4]