JSLL #17 - Urashima Tarou - Sixteenth and seventeenth sentences

 Just because the 16th and 17th sentences of the Urashima Tarou story are both fairly short and contain familiar words and grammar constructions, I'm making this post a double whammy.

そして、またしばらく行くと、向こうに立派な門が見えました。魚たちは浦島太郎を竜宮城の中に案内しました。

そして、またしばらくいくと、むこうにりっぱなもんがみえました。さかなたちはうらしまたろうをりゅうぐうじょうのなかにあんないしました。

Soshite, mata shibaraku iku to, mukou ni rippana mon ga miemashita. Sakanatachi ha Urashima Tarou wo ryuuguujou no naka ni annai shimashita.

The first sentence has a relative と-clause ("when...") followed by a main clause.

Starting the sentence is そして, which means "And then."

また we know from before: "again"

しばらく is also familiar: "a little while"

行く is "to go"

So the whole clause translates as, "And then, when they'd gone again for a little while,..."

The main verb of the main clause is 見えました。This is the polite past tense of 見える, "to be visible, to be seen." Compare 見る, which means "to see, to look."

The subject (marked by the が particle) is 立派な門. 立派 (りっぱ, rippa) is a na-adjective that means "splendid, fine, handsome, elegant" etc, and 門 (もん, mon), as the kanji betrays somewhat, means "gate."

The kanji in this noun phrase are:

• 立, a very common N4 kanji, which occurs in 103 common words. Most of these words are related to standing up.
• 派, a fairly uncommon N1 kanji, which occurs in 24 common words. It often means something like group or clique.
• 門, an N2 kanji, occurs in 27 common words. Many have something to do with doors or gates, but also with specialization or schools.

向こうに is 向こう ("the other side, the opposite side" followed by the locative particle に).

Sentence 1 means: "And then, when they'd gone again for a little while, a splendid gate became visible on the other side."

Sentence 2 is is very simple and consists entirely of words, grammatical rules and kanji we've seen before. See if you can figure out by yourself that the meaning of:

魚たちは浦島太郎を竜宮城の中に案内しました。

is

The fish showed Urashima Tarou around the inside of the Palace of the Dragon King.