Interesting! The Japanese definition is apparently 正式な結婚前に、嫁が婿の家に入って暮らすこと. I’ve never heard of 足入れ婚 custom before. Apparently it’s common in the Izu islands: the bride lives in the family’s house temporarily before the formal marriage ceremony. If I understand correctly, 婿の家 means the home of the future-husband and his parents, not modern “living together” with just the two of them alone before getting hitched.
In this case, I think it’s just the simple verb 入れる and nothing to do with the 足入れ custom. Heaven knows I’ve been wrong before, though.
If I heard someone say 足を入れてみたい I’d understand it as wanting to try putting their feet in. I’m unsure, but doesn’t changing it to みたくなり just mean that they are starting to feel the desire to do so?
As you say, it’s poignant for sure. I can’t imagine anything more painful than parting with a late spouse’s (or child’s) personal items.
But I think the poem simply means that when she chances upon his shoes she wants to put her feet in (perhaps to somehow feel close to him again).
Just my opinion, of course, but I’m afraid I don’t quite buy みたくなり・なくなり as an intentional rhyme/inference. That seems a bit of a stretch. (Again: see all my prior wrongness in this thread!)
Similarly, “let me think he will return” also seems to read more into the original than is actually there. It’s an understandable sentiment with a late husband, but I’m leery of adding anything not actually in the original.
This sudden urge
to slip in to my
dead husband’s shoes
4-5-4 Certainly heartfelt. Although, after I posted it in the morning, I started asking myself, “Why the shoes? Why not the shirt?” Perhaps she returns home and and finds the husband’s shoes/boots, still sitting in the 玄関?
Doesn’t みたい mean “to try/see” as in 読んでみたい (“would like to read it and see”)?
After reading your take on it, and rereading the original, I’m wondering what the へ is doing there.
亡夫の靴へ…
To my dead husband’s shoes? Shouldn’t it be an を if she wants to try it on (as I had translated it)?
Hmmm… Nothing is as it seems at first sight in Senryu-land.
Your mom keeping the voicemail of your dad for 15 years is quite touching. They must have shared a strong, lifelong connection…
Fascinating custom and an imaginative kanji combo to describe it. I guess it’s the traditional way of testing out the to-be bride’s housekeeping skills?
Per Genki II, てみる is “to do something tentatively” or “trying something” and みたいです expresses an idea of resemblance between people or things, specifically a physical resemblance. Jisho defines みたい and みたく as slang for similar to or resembling.
on further consideration, I’m now wondering if the meaning is more along the lines of, the shoes look as though a foot is inside them - ie, these are leather shoes he wore a lot, so you can see the imprint where his toes were.
I also agree that it’s definitely 〜てみる “to try something” here.
足を入れてみる
足を入れてみたい
足を入れてみたくなる
I also don’t think it’s related to 足入れ all that much, although it’s a very interesting side note. Simply because here it’s in verb form. The verb phrase 足を入れる doesn’t seem to have that connotation (although there is of course the figurative nuance of “dipping your toes into something”, same as in English).
The を in 足を入れる is missing because of syllable constraints, and because it’s not strictly needed in casual writing/conversation.
I think you (actually @weaverZ — sorry, I’m pre-coffee and on my phone) are distinguishing between something like 猫みたい (it resembles a cat) and やってみたい (I want to try [to do]). The “resembles” usage always attaches to 名詞, no?
The latter construction can be used with any verb, as with 入れる in the senryu.
I’m unsure whether it’s always or usually written in kana when used this way, but I assumed it was still the 見 kanji. Am I mistaken? (More than possible)
Technically it’s a ナ形容詞 with the extra ability to attach to a 名詞 as a suffix with nothing in between. But it’s also a 名詞 so you can have a verb before it. It’s just the special case of 連用形 て-forms change the meaning. (Or I suppose you could also look at it as a different kind of みたい) Edit: See @pm215 ’s response below.
I would disagree. The thing with -te is an auxiliary verb ‘miru’ (which you can inflect in a bunch of ways including but not limited to ‘mitai’), whereas the other one is always ‘mitai’ and never inflects. So they’re grammatically distinct as well as meaning-wise.
No, it doesn’t – it’s a verb-phrase, and you can’t use it where a noun or noun phrase is needed. For example:
私の言っているが分かりますか？
isn’t grammatical, because が needs a noun but 私の言っている is a verb-phrase. To make it grammatical you need a “nominalizer”, which is a word whose job is to turn the verb-phrase into a noun-phrase. You could use こと or の here, for instance:
私の言っていることが分かりますか？
Some grammatical constructions will take all of nouns and verbs and adjectives, like みたい, but some are pickier and need nouns.
I think we are agreeing with each other. What you’ve (correctly I assume) called a “nominalizer” functions to my mind like a noun.
こと in this case, an “am-saying thing”.
I mean the completed forms require a nominalizer, and the whole thing functions like a noun (competed verb + nominalizer), and みたい in the resembles usage requires the whole thing even if the nominalizer is implied.
I think みたい is one of the picky ones.
I’m happy to be proven wrong if someone can create a sentence using みたい to mean “resembles” without a noun or verb-phrase + nominalizer.
I asked 先生 why 「へ」is used in the senryu. Here’s her detailed response, in 2 parts:
Part 1:
「ぼうふのくつへ・ふとあしいれて・みたくなり」の「へ」は本当だったら「に（足を入れる）」だと思いますが、「に」はもっと direct なので「へ」を使って “toward” という感じにしたのではないかと思われます。実際は作者さんに聞かないと本当のところはわかりませんが。。。
Part 2:
「ぼうふのくつへ」は６文字ですが、私の感覚で言うと「ぼうふのくつ」の５文字では「ぼうふのくつ」でしっかり切れて、言葉が強く響いてきます。「ぼうふのくつへ」と「へ」を使うことで、やわらかい響きになるような気がしています。これも作者さんに直接聞かないとわからないことですが。。。
Part 2 is interesting. It means that the senryu has to be “balanced” (for lack of a better word) when read aloud. When I read aloud「ぼうふのくつ」, it is pronounced mostly with a closed, rounded mouth feel and so adding the 「へ」opens it up a bit at the end.
I also asked her about the meaning and she confirmed that it is the straightforward interpretation.
先生、ありがとうございます。
My understanding is that てみる is always written in kana. And, yes, it is based on 見る.
bravo !!
I just understood what you posted earlier. It’s because it’s みたくなり that you said it had to be みる and not みたい.