Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Previous senryu
- 答案に「お願い」とだけ書いてあり
とうあんにおねがいとだけかいてあり
written on the / test answer sheet is / just the word “please”
It was nice to have a fairly straightforward one for a change! Nothing particularly Japanese about this one (neither linguistically nor culturally!).
Current senryu challenge
Volume: Salaryman
- 「いつ買った」？ 前からあったと シラを切る
Oh man. What is it the kids say? “I feel seen”?
Something similar takes place every few months when my wife steps into my shop for some reason.
(I had to look up シラを切る — that’s the key to this senryu.)
Remember to please use the spoiler tag with your translation attempts! Also, please include the reading in kana with your submission.
Everyone is encouraged to participate, no matter your level! Questions and comments are as valued as translation submissions.
Please try not to be disappointed if your translation isn’t selected or if you disagree with the daily choice: the judge isn’t terribly consistent with his grading (and has awful taste!).
Online tools like dictionaries, sentence databases, and even AI translation engines are fair game and can be extremely helpful. Yomichan is particularly handy if you use the Chrome or Firefox browser. The 語源由来辞典 is also an excellent resource for researching the etymology of various words and expressions.
Here are the links to the 356 Japanese originals (spoiler free) and to the the spreadsheet with all the upcoming senryu as well as the translations to date.