I finished going through for the srs and still have some open questions!
@Kyasurin and anyone else with a furigana edition, how is 金色 read on page 2 or 3?
At 2%, around kindle location 109, on probably the 3rd or 4th page or so, there’s a part ‘仲のよいお春にも話したことはない’.
I’m unsure what exactly お春 is here. My search led me to this weblio entry, which… basically means a prostitute, if I’m understanding it correctly? This does not match my expectations at all and I’m very confused.
Another one, a page or 2 further in, at 3 percent on kindle location 128, there’s a sentence that starts with とうとう. There’s at least 6 different possible words that could be, so I’m wondering what you all read it as. My best guess would be 滔々.
I had to read the beginning a few times until I made sense of what was happening. But that’s part of the fun I guess. “What I’m reading makes no sense but am I reading it wrong or it’s just the fantastic setting?”, a classic.
I initially misunderstood the end and thought that it was saying the warmth had disappeared as a poetic way to say it had died… but no, the whole thing had actually disappeared. Whew. Thanks, bookclub.
That’s my next best guess. I suppose to me it felt like he hounds were very close behind them and she didn’t stand around in front of the walls for very long, which makes 到頭 seem to fit less well to me. Or maybe I’m mistaking the nuance of the word because of the English equivalent…
Probably. If there wasn’t the (honorific?) お in front I wouldn’t have even begun doubting it, since it comes in a place perfectly suited to putting down a name (or occupation or other descriptor). I hope they appear in the story soon.
Whew, just barely finished the section for the week. I definitely need to go back and re-read some parts, but I’m pretty happy with how much I was able to pick up the first time around. Though I will admit to being in the camp who thought the fox died at the end there. Glad I was wrong!
That section is actually what triggered my question, haha. I just assume everyone’s male until told otherwise. I wasn’t very sure if the 女子 comment was supposed to be literal or not.
So, err, I’m really late obviously, but in case that was not answered yet, girl names in the Edo period (and in fiction going for that kind of setup) often follow the pattern お+single kanji.
I’m not sure. There are definitely cases where the お feels like it’s part of the official name, like お市.
I asked my spouse and they are also not sure, but feel that in the case of お春 it would be a mark of affection, like ちゃん. They also told me the rule is お+2 mora rather than one kanji (although there’s obviously a lot of overlap). That’s why we can have お小夜 for instance. That being said, they aren’t an expert on the topic, just a random native speaker, so take that with a grain of salt.
