JSLL #43 - Yuki Onna, part 8

The woman in the white kimono left us in suspence. What will she do?

Sentence 1:

その女が茂作の顔へ白い息を吹きかけると、茂作の顔も手もどんどん白くなっていきました。

そのおんながもさくのかおへしろいいきをふきかけると、もさくのかおもてもどんどんしろくなっていきました。

Grammar

The new construction in this sentence is at the end: a ～く adverb followed by なっていく. We learned before that ～ていく after a verb referring to movement refers to the movement going away from the speaker, or just away in general. But if the verb is なる like here, it translates to "growing ever more X" where X is the adverb that ends in く.

Vocabulary

There are four new words in this sentence:

• The noun 顔 (かお), which means "face."
• The noun 息 (いき), which means "breath."
• The verb 吹きかける (ふきかける), which means "to blow (on), to breathe (on), to spray (on)."
• The adverb どんどん, an onomatopeia which means "rapidly, quickly, steadily."

Kanji

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
顔	N3	22
息	N3	21

Translation

When that woman breathed a white breath into Mosaku's face, both Mosaku's face and his hands quickly turned whiter and whiter.

Sentence 2:

巳之吉は驚いて声を出そうとしました。

みのきちはおどろいてこえをだそうとしました。

Grammar

This sentence ends in a volitional 出そう followed by と and then a form of する. We've seen previously that a volitional + と translates to "in an attempt to X." But when the verb after と is する, then the whole thing means "to attempt to X," "to try to X."

We've previously learned that a te-form followed by みる also means "to try to X." But the meaning of these two constructions is different. 食べてみる, for example, means that a person eats something in order to see what it's like. It's like "try" in the English sentence: "Try the pizza, you're gonna love it." It means "try" in the sense of "try out" or "try and see." By contrast, 食べようとする means that you make an attempt to eat (say, if you're sick and have no appetite). You may not succeed in your attempt.

Vocabulary

驚く(おどろく), of which 驚いて is the te-form, means "to be surprised, shocked, amazed."

声を出す is an idiom meaning "to speak, to say, to vocalize." The verb 出す on its own means things like "to get out, to take out, to reveal, to show," whereas 声, the object of the verb, means "voice."

Kanji

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
声	N3	22
驚	N1	7

Translation

Minokichi was amazed and tried to speak.

Sentence 3:

すると、女は今度は巳之吉の方へ来ました。

すると、おんなはこんどはみのきちのほうへきました。

Grammar

The only unusual thing about this sentence is that it has two items in succession that both have the は topic marker, first 女 and then 今度.

Vocabulary

今度 means "this time, now, next time."

Kanji

Both kanji in the new word are new:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
今	N5	36
度	N4	73

The word 今 is pronounced いま and means "now." 度 is frequently used as a suffix meaning "time(s)" in the sense of "once," "twice," "three times." One of the first phrases to memorize when learning Japanese in a class setting is もう一度ください, which is Japanese for "one more time please." Essential if you want to understand what your sensei is saying.

Translation

And then, the woman came toward Minokichi next.

JSLL #42 - Yuki Onna, part 7

 Let's tackle some more sentences.

Sentence 1:

小屋の戸が開けっ放しになっていて雪が小屋の中に舞い込んでいたのです。

こやのとがあけっぱなしになっていてゆきがこやのなかにまいこんでいたのです。

Grammar

The sentence connects a te-clause with a second clause ending in a past tense + のです.

The te-clause is a form a なる preceded by に, which we know to mean "to become" whatever precedes the に.

In the second clause, adding のです or んです to the end of a plain-verb clause gives the clause an explanatory feel, a bit like adding "you see" to the end of English equivalent. In this case, this sentence explains the previous sentence (which said that Minokichi had woken up).

Both the te-form なっていて and the plain verb in the second clause 舞い込んでいた are in the progressive form ending in ～ている, suggesting that something is either in progress right now, or completed.

Vocabulary

• 戸 means "door."
• 開けっ放し is a na-adjective or noun meaning "leaving open, leaving ajar." In the previous story, we encountered the verb 開ける meaning "to open" (transitive verb).
• 舞い込む is a verb that means "to come fluttering in."

Kanji

Here are the new kanji introduced in this sentence:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
戸	N2	26
放	N3	32
舞	N3	18
込	N3	69

Translation

The translation of the sentence is:

The door to the hut had been left open, and snow was fluttering into the hut, you see.

Sentence 2:

巳之吉はとっさに茂作の方を見ました。

みのきちはとっさにもさくのほうをみました。

Grammar

There's no new grammar in this simple sentence. It's a single clause.

Vocabulary

とっさに means "at once, immediately, suddenly."

Kanji

There are no new kanji in this sentence.

Translation

Minokichi immediately looked in Mosaku's direction.

Sentence 3:

そこには真っ白い着物を着た女がいました。

そこにはまっしろいきものをきたおんながいました。

Grammar

Nothing new here

Vocabulary

真っ白い means "pure white." Compare 真っ黒い, which means "pitch black."

Kanji

The kanji 真 is an N4 kanji occurring in 50 common words.

Translation

There, there was a woman dressed in a pure white kimono.

Cultural note

It's important to realize that the color white is commonly associated with mourning and funerals in Japan. More specifically, a white kimono is placed with the deceased.

JSLL #41 - Yuki Onna, part 6

Hiding in the hut.

Sentence 1:

二人はその板の上に横になり、いつの間にか眠ってしまいました。

ふたりはそのいたのうえによこになり、いつのまにかねむってしまいました。

Grammar

The first clause is a masu-stem, the second is a ～てしまう-construction, which we've discussed before.

The sentence also contains these idiomatic expressions:

• の上に literally means "on (に) top (上) of (の)"
• 横になる means "to lie down and rest" (literally "to become horizontal").
• いつの間にか means "before one knows, before one realizes"

Words

• 上 means "top, above." We've seen the kanji before, but only as part of a two-kanji word. Here, we see it in maybe it's most common use: の上に = on top of.
• 横 means "horizontal, sideways, side."
• 眠る means "to sleep"

Kanji

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
横	N3	25
眠	N3	10, all related to sleep

Translation

The two of them lay down on the board, and ended up falling asleep before they knew it.

Sentence 2:

しばらくすると巳之吉はあまりに寒いので目を覚ましました。

しばらくするとみのきちはあまりにさむいのでめをさましました。

Grammar

A と-clause (when-clause) followed by a ので-clause and finally the main clause.

The と-clause, しばらくすると, is familiar from Urashima Tarou: "After a short while."

The ので-clause contains the idiom あまりに, "too (much), overly, excessively." ので itself is a particle after an adjective or verb that means "because."

The main clause is the past tense of the idiom 目を覚ます, "to wake up", literally "to awaken the eyes."

Vocabulary

• あまり as a noun means "remainder, remnant" but is much more often used as an adverb with a negative verb, meaning "not very," "not much."
• 寒い is an i-adjective that means "cold" --but only when referring to the weather or to yourself, not when referring to, say, water.
• 覚ます means "to awaken" (transitive verb)

Kanji

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
寒	N3	7
覚	N3	25

Translation

After a little while, Minokichi woke up because it was very cold.

JSLL #40 - Yuki Onna, part 5

What will the two men do without a ferry?

Sentence 1:

二人は仕方なく河原の船頭小屋へ入り、吹雪がやむのを待つことにしました。

ふたりはしかたなくかわらのせんどうごやへはいり、ふぶきがやむのをまつことにしました。

Grammar

This sentence is once again a masu-stem clause (before the comma) and a polite past clause (after the comma). The first clause is straightforward; the second clause contains two verbs that are nominalized, one with の and the other with こと. It also ends with the polite past of する, connected to a verb with ことに. This construction (verb + ことにする) means "to decide to verb."

Vocabulary

河原 (かわら) is a new word meaning "dry riverbed" or "river beach."

船頭小屋 is a new word. We encountered the first half 船頭 (せんどう, "ferryman") earlier. The new part is 小屋 (こや, but it becomes ごや in this compound, and it means"hut"). So it means "ferryman's hut."

やむ is also a new word. It's normally not written in kana, and for good reason: there's 病む, "to fall ill" and 止む, "to stop, to cease" (an intransitive verb). We'll see that the second verb is the one used here.

Kanji

Here are our new kanji in this sentence:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
河	N2	14
原	N3	54
屋	N4	42

Translation

The translation of the sentence is:

二人は仕方なく河原の船頭小屋へ入り、吹雪がやむのを待つことにしました。

The two had no choice but to enter the ferryman's hut on the dry riverbed, and decided to wait for the blizzard to stop.

Sentence 2:

船頭小屋には火もなく、畳二枚ほどの板が敷いてあっただけでした。

せんどうごやにはひもなく、たたみにまいほどのいたがしいてあっただけでした。

Grammar

The part before the comma is an adverbial phrase ending in もなく, which means "Without even..."

Vocabulary

火 (か) means "fire."

畳 (たたみ) means "tatami," the straw mats used as floor coverings in traditional Japanese rooms (which are also measured in tatami). Tatami have a size of about 90 by 180 cm (or 3 by 6 foot)

枚 (~まい) is a counter for flat objects.

ほど has multiple meanings, one of which is "about, around, approximately."

板 (いた) means "board, plank"

敷いてあった is a te+aru-form (described in the previous post) of 敷く, "to spread out"

だけ means "only"

Kanji

Most of the kanji in this sentence are pretty high-level.

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
火	N5	42
畳	N2	5
枚	N2	7
板	N2	17
敷	N1	14

Translation

There wasn't even a fire in the ferryman's hut, only a board that had been spread out, about two tatami in size.

JSLL #39 - Yuki Onna, part 4

 Will our hero lumberjacks make it home? Find out next.

Let's chew on our sentence, which has some new words and kanji.

しかし、川へ来ると、渡し舟の船頭はもう帰ってしまい、舟は向こう岸へつないでありました。

しかし、かわへくると、わたしぶねのせんどうはもうかえってしまい、ふねはむこうぎしへつないでありました。

Parsing the sentence, it has a と- (or when-) clause at the start, a clause ending in masu-stem next, and a polite past tense next.

The when-clause is straightforward: However, when they came to the river,...

The masu-stem clause has some new words: 船頭 means "boatman, ferryman" and もう means "already."　Armed with this knowledge, you should be able to figure out that this clause translates to:

..., the boatman of the ferry had regrettably already gone home, and... 

The new word 船頭 has a familiar kanji 船 on its left, which is an alternative way to write 舟, "boat," a word occurring multiple times in this sentence. The second kanji is 頭 which means "head" as a standalone word. 頭 is an N3 kanji occurring in 37 common words.

Turning now the last clause, let's first check the ending: it's a te-form つないで followed by ありました。The use of a te-form + ある signifies that someone did something for a purpose, and that purpose has been achieved. The te-form つないで comes from つなぐ, which means "to connect, to link; to tie, to fasten, to restrain." My translation of this part would be:

..., and the boat had been fastened to the bank across.

(I don't exactly know why the へ particle is being used here.)

Together, we get:

However, when they came to the river,  the boatman of the ferry had regrettably already gone home, and the boat had been fastened to the bank across.

JSLL #39 - Yuki Onna, part 3

 What does the snow from the previous post portend? Maybe we'll find out next.

そして、あっという間にひどい吹雪になりました。二人は仕方なく仕事をやめて帰ろうと歩き出しました。

そして、あっというまにひどいふぶきになりまた。ふたりはしかたなくしごとをやめてかろうとあるきだしました。

In the first sentence, we learn an idiomatic expression: あっという間に. The translation for this "in a flash" or "in the blink of an eye." If we look at the literal meaning though, we first look at the word 間. There are actually three words, all written 間, with distinct pronunciations and different (but similar) meanings. In this case, it's the word pronounced ま, and it means "time, pause; space; room." Preceding this word is a qualifying clause consisting of いう ("to say"), と (the particle following the quote) and あっ, which represents an "Ah-" stopped mid-word. So the phrase means "in the time it takes to say 'Ah!'"

The verb is なる, which combines with に to mean "become." What it becomes is ひどい吹雪, the i-adjective ひどい, which here means "severe" or "extreme," followed by 吹雪 (ふぶき) of which we recognize the last kanji 雪 ("snow" on its own).  The first kanji 吹 is an N3 kanji occurring in 7 common words that means "to blow" (typically the wind). Together, it means "blizzard."

Translation: 

Then, in the time it takes to say "Ah," a terrible snowstorm started.

The second sentence is 二人は仕方なく仕事をやめて帰ろうと歩き出しました:two clauses joined by a te-form. The first half contains a new kanji 仕, occurring in two words, and a new kanji 事, which combines with the 仕. 

The phrase 仕方なく is in the dictionary as "helplessly, reluctantly, as a last resort" but it has an inner structure. 仕方 means "way, method, means, resource, course" and なく signifies a negative. So it suggests "there's no (other) way/means." The second occurrence of 仕 is in 仕事, "work" or "task."

• 仕 is an N4 kanji occurring in 37 common words
• 事 is an N4 kanji occurring in 115 common words. On its own, it's pronounced こと, and means "thing, matter, fact." Written in hiragana, it's very commonly used as a nominalizer, much like の as explained in previous posts. For example, we saw it in the previous post in the sentence ある冬の日のことです。

The verb in the te-form is やめる, "to stop" (transitive verb). So the first half of the sentence reads:

Seeing no other way, they stopped their work and...

The second half ends with the verb 歩き出しました, "[the two of them] started walking" or "[the two of them] walked out [of the forest]." Just before this is 帰ろうと, which is a new verb form of the verb 帰る ("to return, to go home") followed by the particle と. The verb form is called the volitional, and in most contexts, it's translated as "let's X" or "why don't we X." For example, 行きましょう！ is a typical exclamation, meaning "let's go!" The plain version of this would be 行こう！ 帰ろう is also a plain form. But when it's followed by と, it means something else "trying to X" or "in an effort to X."

So the entire sentence reads:

Seeing no other way, they stopped their work and walked out of the forest in an attempt to go home.

JSLL #38 - Yuki Onna, part 2

 Let's do a few more sentences from the story Yuki Onna ("Snow Woman").

ある冬の日のことです。巳之吉と茂作はいつものように二人で森の中へ行って木を切っていました。すると、にわかに黒い雲が出て来て、雪が降り出しました。

あるふゆのひのことです。みのきちともさくはいつものようにふたりでもりのなかへいってきをきっていました。すると、にわかにくろいくもがでてきて、ゆきがふりだしました。

The first sentence is like a similar sentence in Urashima Tarou. The only new thing here is the word 冬, which means "winter." 冬 is an N4 kanji found in just 10 common words. The whole sentence, then, translates to:

It was a winter's day.

In the second sentence, the new grammar point is the phrase のように. In the previous story, we've encounter のような meaning "resembling" or "like" when applied to nouns: 木のような漢字 = "a tree-like kanji, a kanji that resembles a tree." のように means "in the manner of" or "like" when applied other types of words. In this case, it follows  いつも "always" --so いつものように means "like always" or "as usual." Armed with this knowledge, you can translate the entire sentence as:

Minokichi and Mosaku has gone into the wood with the two of them, like always, and were cutting trees.

The third sentence has quite some new words and kanji, so I'll reproduce it:

すると、にわかに黒い雲が出て来て、雪が降り出しました。

• すると has its own dictionary entry: "and then, then, thereupon"
• にわかに also has its own dictionary entry: "suddenly, unexpectedly"
• 黒い is an i-adjective that means "black." (When "black" is used as a noun, it's 黒 without the i.)
• 雲 means "cloud." Note how it resembles 雪, "snow," another weather phenomenon. The top half of both kanji are simplified versions of 雨, the kanji that on its own means "rain."
• 降り is the masu-stem of 降る, "to fall" or "to precipitate": this verb is always used in combination with some kind of precipitation, like rain, snow or hail. So 雪が降る means "it snows" (literally "snow falls").

The kanji that are new in this sentence are:

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
黒	N4	22
雲	N2	5
降	N3	24

The third sentence has this translated:

Then, suddenly a black cloud appeared, and it started snowing.