JSLL #68 - The Spider's Thread, part 16

 Sentence:

This might be the longest sentence in the book so far (disregarding sentences with quoted sentences inside them).

何気なく犍陀多が頭を挙げて、血の池の空を眺めますと、そのひっそりとした暗の中を、遠い遠い天上から、銀色の蜘蛛の糸が、まるで人目にかかるのを恐れるように、一すじ細く光りながら、するすると自分の上へ垂れて参るのではございませんか。

なにげなくかんだたがあたまをあげて、ちのいけのそらをながめますと、そのひっそりとしたやみのなかを、とおいとおいてんじょうから、ぎんいろのくものいとが、まるでひとめにかかるのをおそれるように、ひとすじほそくひかりながら、するするとじぶんのうえへたれてまいるのではございませんか。

Vocabulary

• 何気なくmeans "unintentionally, calmly, inadvertently, innocently"
• 頭 means "head"
• 挙げる means many things: "to give (an example), to list, to enumerate, to show, to display, to cite; to summon up, to gather; to arrest, to capture; to nominate; to conduct; to raise (an army)" and so on and so forth. But it's also a kanji variant of the more common word 上げる, which means "to raise, to elevate," which is also a sense given for 挙げる.
• 空 means "sky"
• 眺める means "to look at, to gaze at; to look out over, to get a view of; to look on, to stand by and watch, to observe"
• ひっそり means "quiet, still, place, silent, deserted; inconspicuously, modestly, quietly"
• 暗 means "darkness, dark"
• 天上 means "the heavens, the skies"
• 人目 means "(public) notice, attention, public eye, public gaze"
• 恐れる means "to fear, to be afraid of"
• 一すじ, more commonly written 一筋, means "one line, one stretch, one strand (of hair), one beam (of light), one length (of rope etc)"
• 細い means "thin"
• するする means "smoothly, swiftly"
• 垂れる means "to hand, to droop, to dangle"
• 参る means "to go, to come, to call"

Kanji

Kanji	N-level	Occurs in how many common words?
空	N4	55
眺	N1	2
遠	N3	17
垂	N1	6
参	N3	29

Grammar

For a sentence this long, we'll want to at least point out the basic structure of the sentence.

何気なく犍陀多が頭を挙げて、血の池の空を眺めますと、そのひっそりとした暗の中を、遠い遠い天上から、銀色の蜘蛛の糸が、まるで人目にかかるのを恐れるように、一すじ細く光りながら、するすると自分の上へ垂れて参るのではございませんか。

Each part that ends in a comma is a clause or phrase:

• 何気なく犍陀多が頭を挙げて、is a te-form (which I think belongs with the next part)
• 血の池の空を眺めますと、is a when-clause
• そのひっそりとした暗の中を、is a direct object
• 遠い遠い天上から、is a from-phrase
• まるで人目にかかるのを恐れるように、is an adverbial clause starting with "as if"
• 一すじ細く光りながら、is a while-clause

Translation

When Kandata inadvertently raised his head and gazed at the sky of the pool of blood, from the heavens far, far above that quiet center of darkness, the silver spider's thread, as if afraid of catching the public's eye, with a thin ray of light, swiftly came dangling above him.