📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2023 ☃❄

:raccoon: :books: The Tanuki Kotatsu Reading Den :snowflake: :raccoon:

February 12th
新書太閣記 progress: 08.73% // Volume II: 1.05% :ring:

Not much time today, so short read!

Words found under the kotatsu

薄化粧「うすげしょう」ー Light/subtle make-up; light dusting of snow

Character Name List

Probably some spoilers, but this is a historic novel, so can spoilers really exist for things that have (for the most part) actually happened :thinking:

Volume I: 1535 - 1555

日吉「ひよし」- Hideyoshi (as child)
Nicknames: 猿「さる」/ 針売り「はりうり」
Name serving Nobunaga: 木下 藤吉郎「きのした とうきちろう」

Family
木下弥右衛門「きのした やえもん」- Father
– – 乙若「おとわか」- Old friend (serves under 織田)
筑阿弥「ちくあみ」ー Step-father
大政所「おおまんどころ」// also お奈加「おなか」ー Mother
おつみ - Older sister
小竹「こちく」- Baby brother
加藤清正「かとう きよまさ」// also 弾正「だんじょう」- Ojisan (only distantly related (before marriage))
– Married to: おえつ (sister of お奈加)

Friends & Acquaintances
仁王「におう」- Big kid friend
於福「おふく」(Nickname - full name: 福太郎「ふくたろ」) // 楊景福「ようけいふく」(Chinese name/birth name) - Timid kid friend (older than Hideyoshi)
– 五郎大夫 「ごろ だゆう」// 祥瑞「しょうずい」(Chinese name) - Father
– 梨琴「りきん」- Mother
捨次郎「すてじろう」- Previous servant to 五郎, later the adoptive father of 於福, and owner of a tea ware shop - and employer of, and master to, Hideyoshi

Hachisuka Clan
蜂須賀小六「はちすか ころく」(also 正勝 「まさかつ」) - Head of the Hachisuka clan
– 七内「なない」- Younger brother
– Married to 松波「まつなみ」
– – 亀一「かめいち」- Son

Retainers:
稲田大炊助「いなだ おおいのすけ]
青山新七「あおやま しんしち」
長井半之丞「ながい はんのじょう」
松原内匠「まつばら たくみ」

Others:
国吉「くによし」- Gunsmith/blacksmith
渡辺天蔵「わたなべ てんぞう」- Deserter - Nobushi (Nephew to Koroku)
難波内記「なんば ないき」- Spy disguised as a Komuso
仁田彦十「にった ひこじゅう」- Subordinate

(蜂須賀正利「はちすか まさとし」- previous head of the Hachisuka clan)

Saito Clan
((questionable) Alliance with the Hachisuka clan)
斎藤 道三「さいとう どうさん」- Head of the Saito clan
– 斎藤義龍「さいとう よしたつ」(also: 高政「たかまさ」) - Son

明智 光秀「あけち みつひで」(common name: 十兵衛「じゅうべい」) - serves under Dosan
– 又市「またいち」- Underling / foot soldier

堀田 道空「ほった どうくう」- Chief retainer
弥平治光春「やへいじ みつはら」- Retainer (cousin to Jyubei)
– 明智光安「あけち みつやす」- Father
春日丹後「かすが たんご」- Military commander

Oda Clan
織田 信長「おだ のぶなが」- Leader of the Oda clan (Married to the daughter of Saito Dosan)
– 卯月「うづき」- Nobunaga’s faithful, old horse :horse:
– 織田信秀「おだ のぶひで」- Father and previous leader of the Oda clan
– – 織田与三郎「おだ よさぶろう」- Younger brother
– – 織田信行「おだ のぶかつ」(Other name: 信成「のぶなり」) - Son (half-brother to Nobunaga (different mother))

Retainers (Under Nobuhide rule):
平手 政秀「ひらて まさひで」
– 五郎左衛門「ごろうざえもん」(nickname: 五郎左「ごろうざ」) - First son
– 監物「けんもつ」- Second son
– 甚左衛門「じんざえもん」- Third son
– 雨宮勘解由「あめみや かげゆ」- Servant
林 秀貞「はやし ひでさだ」(common name: 新五郎「しんごろ」/ nickname: 佐渡「さどう」) (served under Nobunaga too)
– 美作守「みまさかのかみ」- Younger brother
青山 信昌「あおやま のぶまさ」(common name: 与三右衛門「よそうえもん」)
内藤 勝介「ないとう しょうすけ / かつすけ」

Retainers (Under Nobunaga rule):
柴田勝家「しばた かついえ」(Nickname: 権六「ごんろく」)

Others:
市川大介「いちかわ だいすけ」- Archery master/instructor
平田三位「ひらた さんみ」- Master of military strategy
浅野又右衛門「あさの またえもん」- Military commander
– 寧子「ねね」- Daughter
がんまく - Former worker/servant, friend of Hideyoshi

Shiba Clan
斯波義統「しば よしむね」- Head of the Shiba clan, at Kiyosu castle
– 斯波義銀「しば よしかね」- Son

Imagawa Clan
今川義元「いまがわ よしもと」- Daimyo

Retainers:
松下之綱「まつした ゆきつな」(common name: 加兵衛「かへい」)
飯尾豊前「いのお ぶぜん」
多賀能八郎「たがのう はしろう」(nickname: 能八「のうはち」)

Takeda Clan
太郎義信「たけだ よしのぶ」- Commander
(Married to the daughter of Imagawa Yoshimoto to tie the clans)

Non-affiliated
上泉 信綱「かみいずみ のぶつな」(also: 上泉 伊勢守「かみいずみ いせのかみ」) - Founder of the 新陰流「しんかげりゅう」school of Kenjutsu
– 疋田小伯「ひきた しょうはく」- Disciple
– 神後五六郎「かんご ごろくろう」- Disciple

塚原 卜伝「つかはら ぼくでん」- Kensei; legendary swordsman

Historical People
  • 阿倍仲麻呂「あべ の なかまろ」ー Japanese scholar & poet (700s)

  • 白楽天「はく きょい」ー Chinese poet (Bai Juyi / Bo Juyi) also known as: 白楽天「はく らくてん」in Japan. (Late 700s)

  • 道元「どうげん」(or 道元禅師「どうげん ぜんじ」ー Japanese Buddhist Priest, writer & poet (also known as 栄西禅師「えいさい ぜんじ」) (Early / mid 1200s)

  • 空海「くうかい」ー The one and only Kukai or Kobo Daishi - a Buddhist monk. Posthumously given the title of: 弘法大師「こうぼう だいし」born as: 佐伯 眞魚「さえき の まお」(late 700s / early 800s)

  • 源頼政「みなもと の よりまさ」ー Prominent poet and warrior (1100s)

  • 平 重盛「たいら の しげもり」ー Military commander and court noble, claimed to be an ancestor of Oda Nobunaga (Mid-1100s)

  • 桓武(天皇)「かんむ(てんのう)」ー 50th Emperor of Japan, claimed to be an ancestor of Taira no Shigemori, thus ancestor to Oda Nobunaga (Mid-Late 700s)

Volume II: 1555 - 15??
(currently 1555/6)

Oda Clan
木下 藤吉郎「きのした とうきちろう」- Hideyoshi

浅野 又右衛門「あさの またえもん」- Military commander
– 寧子「ねね」- Daughter

Maeda Clan
前田 利家「まえだ としいえ」- Military commander


Replies

Thank you!

This is so great! I bet she was super happy that you managed to help out (and relieved that someone could speak Japanese)

You now have the official nihongojyouzu seal of approval :grin:

21 Likes

Feb 12, Sun of Week 7 of Winter Q1 2023 :snowman::snowflake:

  • ふしぎの国のバード Vol.3 Ch.10 - 会津(あいづ)(どう) (start volume)

Beautiful scenery cannot relieve hunger.

  • おいしいごはんが食べられますように 0-12%

A little straining, but I want to read as far as audiobook Track 1 (28 min). About half (6%) is manageable at a time. Almost no look-up.

  • うたわれるもの
Words of the day
  • コースター = small mat for putting drinking cups on
  • ドタキャン = last minute cancellation. From 土壇場(どたんば)でキャンセル.
  • カツアゲ = extortion for money = 喝上(かつあ)
  • ()()す = to recruit (conscripting for war) = ()()す. First half takes me by surprise.
  • 徴発(ちょうはつ) = conscription; requisition to service
  • (なえ) = seedling; young plant
  • 農繁期(のうはんき) = busy farming season. Opposite is 農閑期(のうかんき).
  • 去勢(きょせい) = castration; neutering
  • 直情(ちょくじょう) = frankly
  • 雑居(ざっきょ)ビル = building containing a mixture of businesses, shops and residential apartments
  • 間延(まの)びした = dull; sluggish
  • 鎮守(ちんじゅ) = local Shinto deity
  • 壮麗(そうれい) = splendor; glorious
  • 負傷(ふしょう) = an injury
  • 山野(さんや) = mountain and fields; countryside
  • 酔狂(すいきょう) = a whim
  • 成就(じょうじゅ) = accomplishing; fulfilling. First Kanji with this reading also in 成仏(じょうぶつ).
  • 一族郎党(いちぞくろうとう) = one’s whole clan; family and followers
  • 路頭(ろとう)(まよ)う = to be rendered homeless; to be reduced to beggary
  • 寄席(よせ)()る = to appear in a theatre hall

Names

  • 戊辰戦争(ぼしんせんそう) = Boshin War (Japanese civil war between Imperial and shogunate forces, 1868-1869)
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:snowman_with_snow: :snowflake: February 12 :snowflake: :snowman_with_snow:
Home Post

BU$TAFELLOWS :moneybag:

Spent a good couple of hours reading today. Sometimes I can cruise and I’m so happy, and then I’ll get a three sentence textbox and feel like someone tripped me. :joy:

I am definitely getting better at not looking up words I’m fairly sure of, and then I forget and look up stuff anyway.

For example, 秘密保持契約 showed up today, and due to context and a glance over the kanji I guessed it meant NDA. But because I wanted to look up other things in the same comment I somehow ended up looking it up and proving myself right. >_< Tripped myself for no reason. :roll_eyes:


Reply

Oooh, what a cool thing to happen. I’m so glad you could help her out.

And yeah, getting 日本語上手 is a bit of a mixed blessing. :joy:

But considering the situation, I don’t think it was that “oooh you can say ABC” kinda impressed thingy. :joy:

She was probably both impressed and so grateful. :heart_eyes:

23 Likes

:snowflake: Day 43, 12th of February :snowflake:

:open_book: Back to my Home Post

Okay let’s try another page. Feeling like I’m getting out of shape because I haven’t read much in a while.

Today we take in the atmosphere in the inn the two are staying at. To remind myself: that’s 大気(たいき) not だいき!!! terrible leech Anyway, the bar inside the inn is rather quiet, and there’s only one person working the counter. Some stock phrases common for sales people are said; those are always really hard to remember…

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February 11-12 :heavy_check_mark: :cityscape: :

ユートロニカのこちら側, start-21%

Yesterday and today I read the first chapter of ユートロニカのこちら側 with the informal book club. I’m finding it well written and easy to read for the most part. The characters are well rounded and relatable, but the world (our world sometime in the future) still lacks detail in my eyes. I suppose it’s still early though.

That’s so cool! 日本語が上手ですね!

Of course I had to go look them up, and I found that they’re not actually caterpillars, but caterpillar-shaped fungi that grow out of dead caterpillars :scream: Pretty awesome actually. I guess the book took some liberties because as far as I could tell it’s only insects that these fungi grow out of (entomopathogenic is the word, apparently). Today I learnt! :grin:

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February 12th!

Today I read chapter 8 of God Bless the Mistaken.

I could do with the world having a bug that made me not sleep, so I had more time to get things done :grin:

(Home Post)

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:bookmark: Home post // Feb 12 :snowman_with_snow: :snowflake:

・薬屋のひとりごと3 (45% → 46%)

Today was super busy, read only a couple of phone pages.


(I didn’t expect so many people replying to me after random train incident, you guys are so nice :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:)

Thank you for taking one for the team and sharing your newfound knowledge! :bowing_woman: :durtle_hello: In that case, I most likely misinterpreted some parts of that story. When I see words and stuff that are related to bugs I just mentally nope out :joy:

23 Likes

Day 42
I started volume three of the Kindaichi Shounen manga. Miyuki is sick and won’t show up in this volume it seems. I’m already missing her, she and Kindaichi make such a nice couple. In addition to that I read some more of Tsugumomo vol.4.

3181 pages read

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Home Post

image

This week was very colourful :grin: and pretty inconsistent - had to do a lot of business-related stuff which left me with not so much time for reading.
Anyways, what I read:

  • Read (and finished) one of the Flesh&Blood extra stories - it was really nice to go back to that universe for a bit!
  • Continued reading the ABC pick この本を盗む者は. This book is clearly for teenagers with some fantastic elements. The story is written ok though. Let’s see…
  • Continued 1Q84 - now in the middle of chapter 16
  • Started the new Compulsive Readers book ユートロニカのこちら側 which is quite interesting, but I have no idea yet where this will lead to.
  • Finally, today was sauna day, and I read some 世界から猫が消えたなら. I’m really starting to like that book a lot. It starts out with a bit of a silly setup (a Death God wearing a hawaii shirt :joy_cat:) but it has gotten pretty deep contents-wise while being super-easy to read. I hardly encounter any words that I don’t know, and as such I can read pretty fast. Gives me a glimpse of what it might feel like to be able to read the majority of books at that pace :joy_cat:

Regarding ユートロニカのこちら側:

I… share the doctor’s assessment though :flushed: :rofl:
(For those who don’t read the book: he said that one of the persons is not the brightest candle on the cake…)

Word of the day: 配偶者 - person distributed by chance spouse
I learned this recently courtesy of the SKM N1 Vocab book, and at the time I figured that I will probably never see that in the wild, and bam! :grin: :woman_shrugging:
(Now I just need to see my other currently favourite N1 vocab 着色料 - colour arrived in the food food colouring agent :sweat_smile:)

25 Likes

Summary post

Day 43: February 12th
What did I read?: ペンギン・ハイウェイ :penguin:
How much did I read?: 9 pages
How long did it take me?: 36 minutes

Oh boy, now we not only have penguins, but bats too? The mystery deepens :eyes:
Also learned that there’s a word for resting one’s chin in one’s hands​ - 頬杖 (ほおづえ) (used as 頬杖をつく)

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I finished my second book of the challenge, かくりよの宿飯三! It was very fun. I also read the last 200 pages of it in 2 days (~8 hours of reading), which is a new record for me. It’s nice to know that I can do that if I want to (and if I have the free time, of course)!

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Finished chapter 7 魔女の旅々. Not much to say. It was short chapter without things happening.

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:chocolate_bar: :love_letter: 2月12日 :love_letter: :chocolate_bar: (Home Post Link)

I actually ended up getting bored and reading another chapter of 夜カフェ yesterday, which I guess is a good sign, right? I’ll count it for today though since it was pretty late last night and my sleep is super messed up

Read:

  • 夜カフェ chapter 7 (pg78 → 89) - mmmm this chapter made me want to cook…
  • 三ツ星カラーズ ch 10 - some more wordplay
  • prolly will do a bit more reading after i get settled for the night, but don’t want to forget to update

Word of the Day:
紛らわしい「まぎらわしい」ー easily mixed up, confusingly similar

21 Likes

February 11th
Unfortunately, no Japanese of any sort :upside_down_face: Unless Japanese music videos count? :sweat_smile: I won’t count that, though. And more unfortunately, there really wasn’t any good reason for it. But oh well.

February 12th
What did I read?: 魔女と猫の話
How much did I read?: 8 pages
(Started 4th Story )
How long did it take me?: 1 h

And the new kitty of the chapter is Ginger! Or Gin for short. As seems to be the norm, the meeting between witch (Nina) and cat does not go well in the least… :sweat_smile: Ginger’s first comment to Nina is his disappointment in her appearance. (While her first thought was that he was beautiful! D: The injustice!).

Kitty Pictures

He is beauty, he is grace…

…he will insult you to your face.

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:performing_arts: Home :it:

February 12th

ジョジョの奇妙な冒険9
77 - 85

Work from home went so-so but I wasn’t able to complete my work goals, so I ended up with very little reading time. Actually, I really should’ve gone to sleep lol. Doesn’t seem to be hitting bad today though.

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February 12 :snowflake: Home Post

Today was a classic “paying for my procrastination” Sunday, so today’s reading is just my Japanese homework :joy: here’s to tomorrow!

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I read the first chapter of Yotsuba in 20 minutes. Now, of course, I didn’t know all the words but my first full read-through is just about understanding the story. I remember last year going through 2 pages for 20 minutes and feeling so frustrated because I couldn’t understand. So while I feel sometimes that all the hours I input are amounting to nought, they actually add up to some progress. YATTA

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:house:
Feb 13

世界から猫が消えたなら pg21 → pg23

Am sleepy and have to wake up super early tomorrow so this is all my reading for today :sleeping:

24 Likes

Home post

Life happened and I couldn’t update and missed three days of reading this weekend. :frowning: I read on February 9 though but forgot to post so here are the notes from then and today.

2 月 9 日

コナの大冒険 第 40 話 :black_cat:

  • 疑う 「うたがう」 to distrust, to doubt
  • 立派 「りっぱ」 praiseworthy
  • 救う「すくう」 to rescue from, to help out
  • 優雅 「ゆうが」elegance
  • 風に乗り「かぜにのり」 riding the wind
  • 飛ぶ 「とぶ」to fly
  • 覗き込む「のぞきこむ」 to look into, to peer in
2 月 13 日

コナの大冒険 第 41 話 :black_cat:

  • 井戸 「いど」water well
  • まく to scatter, to sprinkle
  • 町中 「まちじゅう」the whole town
  • 夢中 「むちゅう」daze, trance, ecstasy
  • 見張り 「みはり」watch-keeping
  • 張り切る 「はりきり」 to be in high spirits, to be enthusiastic, to be eager, to stretch to breaking point

On another note, so close to finishing this series!! Four more episodes left! Just in time for the start of the next ABBC!

24 Likes

12/2 1 page おばちゃんたちのいるところ, 18 pages Orange (finished ch 24)
13/2 25 pages Spy Family (whole mission), 18 pages Orange

Work has been ok last couple of days (work last night ok, off today). Catching up.

I’m up to date with Spy Family, behind but progressing with Orange, and behind with おばちゃんたちのいるところ, but making slow progress. May read more tonight before bed, but should probably just sleep.

21 Likes