Do you like stairs? Do you like shrines? Do you like foxes? Do you like nature? If you answer yes to these questions, I would suggest a visit to Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. You can reach it easily by bus, though it takes a bit of a ride.
2010-03-16
Fushimi Inari
Do you like stairs? Do you like shrines? Do you like foxes? Do you like nature? If you answer yes to these questions, I would suggest a visit to Fushimi Inari in Kyoto. You can reach it easily by bus, though it takes a bit of a ride.
伏見稲荷大社
この文章は、kyokoさん、Miyokoさん、izmiさん、yinamotoさん、
hilobayさん、tsyさん、Masamuneさんのおかげで、
もっといい文章になりました！添削はこちらへ！
あなたは、階段はお好きですか？では、神社は？ きつねは？自然は？もしお好きなら、京都の伏見稲荷大社を見に行かれるのは、いかがでしょうか？
山頂まで行くために、長い間歩かなければならないんですけど、神社は数え切れぬほどありますし、自然できれいな景色が見えますから、ずっと歩きっぱなしでも疲れませんよ。
伏見稲荷大社の入り口の辺り
ここからもう少し歩けば山頂ですよ！
この美しい赤い門でいっぱいです。
きつねの像もたくさんあります。ですから、伏見稲荷というんですね。
お稲荷さまは、食物、農業、商業の神様で、白いきつねを使いとして使うんです。きつねはお稲荷様の使者なわけですから、神社にきつねの像がたくさんあることは、当たり前なことですね。ところで、最初私はお稲荷様自身もきつねだと思い込んでしまいましたが、そうではないのだそうです。
長くて、曲がりくねった道、美しくて静かな自然、堂々たる赤い門。伏見稲荷大社の雰囲気を味わって、友達のドロと私は穏やかで清浄粋な朝をすごしました。自然に元気にしてもらって、おびただしい数のきつねの像のすばらしさに魅せられました。京都に住むなら、伏見稲荷大社の近くがいいと思います。週末の散歩に良さそう場所ですね。
京都に行ったら、伏見稲荷大社は絶対に行かなければならない場所だと思います。そして、ぜひ飲み物を持っていってください。なぜなら、山を登れば登るほど自動販売機の飲み物は高くなるんです！
Some terms...
2010-03-13
Grammar Point of the Week: ～ぬ Another Negative Form
An antiquated way of saying ないis to use ぬ. If you know how to form the plain negative form of Japanese verbs, simply take of that ないand replace it with ぬ. You can hear this in many enka songs, for example, one of my favourites here. One part of his lyrics are 届かぬなら (if it doesn't arrive). If we take this apart you can see how it's been formed is just like the ないform you are so used to. (The plain form of 届かぬ is 届く.)
とどか -ぬ
とどか -ない
Using ぬ instead of ない can also make your words sound more polite, the way speaking with old-fashioned words does in English. Here is a line from ひとつのタブー by Hoshi Shinichi, using the Xないようにお願いする form which you will often hear in trains, etc (Please don't leave anything on the train = お忘れ物のないよう、お願いします). In this case, the line says ｢あわてたりなさらぬよう、お願いします」. I would translate it as something like "Please remain calm", or "We ask that you please remain calm". I guess you can break it down as "We ask that you conduct yourself so as not to panic and the like." Notice that the sentence is made more polite by the use of the keigo form of suru, which is nasaru.
とどか -ぬ
とどか -ない
Using ぬ instead of ない can also make your words sound more polite, the way speaking with old-fashioned words does in English. Here is a line from ひとつのタブー by Hoshi Shinichi, using the Xないようにお願いする form which you will often hear in trains, etc (Please don't leave anything on the train = お忘れ物のないよう、お願いします). In this case, the line says ｢あわてたりなさらぬよう、お願いします」. I would translate it as something like "Please remain calm", or "We ask that you please remain calm". I guess you can break it down as "We ask that you conduct yourself so as not to panic and the like." Notice that the sentence is made more polite by the use of the keigo form of suru, which is nasaru.
2010-03-11
Vocabulary of the Week: to Pester・とねだる
I wish I could remember where I heard this word. Unfortunately, I just have the word written down and the definition (and under that, a game of まるばつ aka Tic Tac To, which I played with my host sister. Not sure if they have any connection...)
This will come in handy if you want to relate a story about being pestered. You can say something like:
お金を貸してとねだった・おかねをかしてとねだった He kept bugging me to lend him money.
部屋をそうじしてとねだる母・へやをそうじしてとねだるはは A mother who nags you to clean your room.
あのこっていつもこっちみてとねだっている That kid is always pestering me to look over at him.
This format is basically "Direct quote" quotative marker verb, so it's an easy one to use and remember! Being pestered isn't too fun, though, so hopefully you won't have too much occasion to use it.
This will come in handy if you want to relate a story about being pestered. You can say something like:
お金を貸してとねだった・おかねをかしてとねだった He kept bugging me to lend him money.
部屋をそうじしてとねだる母・へやをそうじしてとねだるはは A mother who nags you to clean your room.
あのこっていつもこっちみてとねだっている That kid is always pestering me to look over at him.
This format is basically "Direct quote" quotative marker verb, so it's an easy one to use and remember! Being pestered isn't too fun, though, so hopefully you won't have too much occasion to use it.
2010-03-06
Grammar of the Week: まったく. Completely/ Not at All
I was reading a short story by the Japanese sci fi writer Hoshi Shinichi and came across まったく。I think it's used quite often, so I thought I would write a bit about it here, and also put up the first lines of the story 知人たち, where I read the word, for some reading practice. To contrast with mattaku is hotondo, in the next sentence.
「その青年は、あるアパートの二階の小さな一室で、ひっそりと暮らしていた。となり近所とのつきあいは、まったくしなかった。外出もほとんどしない。」
まったく can be thought of as meaning "completely" when used with a positive, and "not in the least" or "not at all" when used with a negative. It's a very absolute word. If you have no idea whatsoever you can say まったく わからない. On the other hand, ほとんどleaves a bit of breathing room. It means rarely, or barely. I believe it's used only with negatives.
Hoshi Shinichi writes very simply. I recommend him if you want to start reading, but are unsure of where to start. He's most famous for his short stories, so you won't be discouraged by the slow reading that inevitably comes of having to look up words you don't know. To be honest, I recommend reading straight through for the first reading, without stopping to look up words or kanji. Context is very important in Japanese, so this is a good exercise for extracting that context; also, it's a confidence booster, because you understand much more than you think you do!
Here is my translation of the few lines. Try your own!
"This young man lived a quiet life in a small room on the second floor of an apartment building. He didn't socialize with the neighbors at all. He rarely even went out."
「その青年は、あるアパートの二階の小さな一室で、ひっそりと暮らしていた。となり近所とのつきあいは、まったくしなかった。外出もほとんどしない。」
まったく can be thought of as meaning "completely" when used with a positive, and "not in the least" or "not at all" when used with a negative. It's a very absolute word. If you have no idea whatsoever you can say まったく わからない. On the other hand, ほとんどleaves a bit of breathing room. It means rarely, or barely. I believe it's used only with negatives.
Hoshi Shinichi writes very simply. I recommend him if you want to start reading, but are unsure of where to start. He's most famous for his short stories, so you won't be discouraged by the slow reading that inevitably comes of having to look up words you don't know. To be honest, I recommend reading straight through for the first reading, without stopping to look up words or kanji. Context is very important in Japanese, so this is a good exercise for extracting that context; also, it's a confidence booster, because you understand much more than you think you do!
Here is my translation of the few lines. Try your own!
"This young man lived a quiet life in a small room on the second floor of an apartment building. He didn't socialize with the neighbors at all. He rarely even went out."
2010-03-03
Gustatory Adventure Day 2: Kumsan Seoul 金山・ソウル
So for our second peregrination of gustatory glory Doro and I inflated our ranks and headed over to Kanayama Station, where a member of our group of gustatory adventurers had discovered the existence of a Korean restaurant called Kumsan Seoul. The kanji in its name is the same as that of the station, Kanayama 金山, but the romaji beside it displayed a Korean pronunciation, Kumsan.
Hinamatsuri Festival (The Doll Festival / Girl's Day)
Read in Japanese
The Doll Festival. I didn't go to a temple to see the festivities, but our very nice neighbors invited me over to make the rice cakes which are traditionally made for this event. (There is a square shaped variety that is more widespread; the kind I helped make is called okoshimono, which is apparently traditional in the Nagoya area.)
We took rice powder and mixed it with water, then pressed the sticky paste/dough into hand carved molds, decorating it with dough that had been died pink, yellow, or green. Apparently the molds are very expensive; our neighbors` must have been passed down through the years. There were bird, prayer card, and flower shapes, among others.We put plastic wrap down first, to keep the sticky rice from caking over them.
After you've molded your rice, you steam it. When it`s done, you can wrap it in some seaweed and eat it with soy sauce, or some soy sauce and sugar. (Or, you can skip the seaweed and soy sauce and just dip it in sugar, like a friend did).
These rice cakes are apparently rather expensive if you don`t make them on your own. I`m grateful to have had the opportunity to make them (and eat them)!
The Doll Festival. I didn't go to a temple to see the festivities, but our very nice neighbors invited me over to make the rice cakes which are traditionally made for this event. (There is a square shaped variety that is more widespread; the kind I helped make is called okoshimono, which is apparently traditional in the Nagoya area.)
We took rice powder and mixed it with water, then pressed the sticky paste/dough into hand carved molds, decorating it with dough that had been died pink, yellow, or green. Apparently the molds are very expensive; our neighbors` must have been passed down through the years. There were bird, prayer card, and flower shapes, among others.We put plastic wrap down first, to keep the sticky rice from caking over them.
After you've molded your rice, you steam it. When it`s done, you can wrap it in some seaweed and eat it with soy sauce, or some soy sauce and sugar. (Or, you can skip the seaweed and soy sauce and just dip it in sugar, like a friend did).
These rice cakes are apparently rather expensive if you don`t make them on your own. I`m grateful to have had the opportunity to make them (and eat them)!
Very unskillfully coloured... But still tasty.
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