Please blur/hide any major events in the current week’s pages (however early they occur), like so:
(that’s [spoiler]text here[/spoiler]).
If you have a question about grammar, vocab, the story, cultural things or anything else related to the book — ask! There’s no need to be shy. If it’s something you are wondering about, chances are someone else will be thankful you asked first, lots of people enjoy answering questions, you learn something new, and the thread gets more lively. It’s a win-win on all fronts!
Welcome to week 1! If you’re a new reader, feel free to comment on whether the pace is working for you. I tried to include a ramp-up pace, so these first few weeks will be close to 1 page per day of reading. Note also that there are a lot of illustrations, so many ‘pages’ are really just half a page of text.
Moomin papa one day, when crossing the bridge, took a road unbeknownst to him. That day he also discovered a new creature (動物）called スニフ. This was told to Moomindroll later one as he wasn’t with his pa. But sniff was not hard to find as here whereabouts was marked. (Correction: A small creature called Sniff made a discovery, separately from Papa Moomin)
Following that the book goes on two described the lush valley where the Moomin and many other creatures are living happily (this is where I am stopping for now)
Some new words I’ve learned
This text will be hidden
橋を渡し終えた (to ferry across, but here probably to traverse the bridge?)
吸い込む (すいこむ): to inhale, to swallow up (the darkness)
I believe that in the first sentence, 渡す is being used in the sense of “to lay across, to build across” so the first sentence can be translated as:
The same morning that Moominpappa built the bridge over the river, a little animal named Sniff made a remarkable discovery: He discovered a new, previously unknown path.
Moominpapa’s activity is separate from Sniff’s discovery. The significance of Moominpapa’s action won’t be clarified until later in the chapter.
Seems that I misread it. That changes what comes after that.
So the day that Moomin Papa was laying the bridge, Sniff made the great discovery of a path previously unknown. He gazed into the darkness that covered the road. He later said that this was frightening (he was scared). He then marked the entrance with sticks and a X (?) and he quickly returned home.
Ooh first proper book in Japanese, exciting!! Glad we get to be a part of that!
Page 10
This one actually took me a second too haha, it was kind of split up weird. Its おおいそぎ meaning “great hurry”.
おお = big/great いそぎ = hurry
Yup! Before this part it is 「小さないきものたちが」, so its these “small creatures” being talked about. And the たくさん means there are a lot of them, and they are living happily.
That probably didn’t add much extra context, but let us know if there’s still a part about that that’s confusing :))
You got it!!
It’s hard when all of the hiragana blend together. One of the vocab here is やしき! Meaning “residence/grounds”.
This string here is a little long, so here are some spaces to split it up:
「ムーミン やしき の そば で ぐるっと カーブ して」
So the first two words are “the Moomin residence (house)”. And this long sentence is describing the river, so the river is next (そば) to the Moomin house. And it curves at the house (ぐるっとカーブして)
Correct! Yes, with the part in parenthesis, before Sniff marks the spot with an X, he thinks to himself that he needs to talk to Moomintroll about this, and that they need to go together since it’s scary alone. Which is why he marks the spot and then runs home to get Moomintroll.
I really enjoyed this section and didn’t want to stop reading! The writing is charming and the illustrations are so lovely and evocative.
Reading things with lots of words spelled in hiragana kind of strikes me as being similar to listening practice- it’s easier to parse if you already know the words but as soon as you don’t know stuff it becomes kind of a meaningless jumble of syllables
Yay, you got this!! The most important thing is to just keep going and your second book will be easier, third book even easier, and so on until you’re a super reader!!
Absolutely loving this as well and wanted to see what was going to happen in the water. Especially with that illustration staring me in the face on the next page
Linguistic things I found interesting
pg 8 大きな緑の木々がしげっていました: foliage is usually described as 青い (and sometimes 蒼い, but I really don’t know the significance between those two kanji). They also say later that the 森 got darker and more 緑. I thought it was interesting that they used 緑 here and I wonder if it’s because it’s a book in translation? I might even ask my tutor this week bc now I want to know
pg 10 Describing ムーミンママ’s actions… 持ってきてくれました. The narration is in 3rd person so I didn’t expect くれる there.
My favorite part from this week was when Moomintroll was like “Oh it’s scary? Really scary? Really really really really scary? …Better bring a sandwich then.”
Haha agreed this was great. I think I will enjoy ムーミントロル’s blasé attitude to adventure more then スニフ’s worries. Look forward to seeing what mischief they get themselves into…
Yes very much agree here. I switched books from something with more kanji which I was finding a bit of a slog anyway, so this is easier in general but those strings of unknown hiragana are tricky. If you don’t know it, zero ability to guess what it might be. Quick electronic lookups are wonderful!
This is becoming a feast truly (they even ソーセージが四つありますよ)
ちょっと遅くなるかもしれないけど - you don’t say. I feel like this is already foreshadowing the adventures lurking ahead haha. I also love how ムーミントロール’s mum is so nonchalant about all of that.
Some more questions
どこまで行のかなって、ついていきなくなるんだ。。。（p10)
スニフはあちこちううろうろして、クンクンおいをかいだり、太陽の位置を見さだめたりしていましたが、ようやく大声を上げました。 (I don’t really understand that part: something about Sniff wondering around, sniffing around, until the sun was not visible anymore, then suddenly loudly crying out.) p.14-15
四万八万に気をつけてくれよ。 (What does this mean?) p.15
僕一人で、そんなに全部見られるもんか。後ろは無理だから、スニフが見張れよ。 (and the passage after that. Is ムーミントロール saying that while he goes ahead, Sniff should watch their back? To which Sniff reaction is to panic, saying that he cannot do it and that something is coming after them? ) p.15
I stopped at p16 (illustration). I’ll try to finish the rest tonight.
Also the one thing that wasn’t clear to me: あの中へ入ったらずぶぬれになるし、上に乗っかったら、げろが出ちゃうね。
Something along the line ( that if he rides the wave, he will puke, but I am really not sure).
I’ve spent more time reading it that I care to admit, but it was a fun read! I look forward next week!
It’s 四方八方, which I interpreted as four o’clock and eight o’clock, so basically “Watch our backs.” I just looked it up and it’s an actual word that means “in all directions.” Close enough
I think so. But I don’t think something was actually chasing them, just that Sniff is a big baby and was worrying.
I think this was Sniff explaining why he himself doesn’t like water. “If I go in (the water) I get soaking wet, and if I ride (e.g. on a boat) I get sick.”
I can’t find this part in my copy, what was the question?
Sniff is looking for the path he found earlier. He does things like (たり、たり、する）sniffing the scent においをかいだり、 and ascertaining the position of the sun 太陽の位置を見さだめたりしていました and が、finally shouted out やっと大きな声をあげました。
“Here it is, I found it!” 「ここだ、みつけたぞ。」
It looks like you missed the verb 見定める, that’s to ascertain/confirm.
Sniff asks Moomin to go ahead because he’s scared. Moomin says he can’t see behind them, so Sniff should keep a lookout behind them. Sniff says he doesn’t want to, because
なにかが追いかけてきたら、
if something comes chasing them from behind
こわいもの。
that would be scary.
So all you missed here is the conditional (たら), which is signalling that they’re just hypothesizing.
Yeah, this is a yojijukugo or four character compound. These are fun to look out for and generally easy to spot as they’re always four characters together.
Yeah it’s like moss and ferns and stuff. I don’t pay that much attention to plant words but I guess what it’s telling us here is that the forest is thinning out because they’re nearing the sea.
No need to apologize, that’s what the club is for!
I appreciate the character intro at the start because I have never seen Sniff before in my life
So moominpapa is crossing a bridge, and Sniff found a new road into the woods (edit: apparently he laid the bridge)
He tells moomintroll about it who decides they need a sandwich and juice
He yells to moominmama through the kitchen window they’ll take a packed lunch
Moominmama prepares a basket of food
They head to the forest that they’ve never been to before
Sniff shows him the road and he heads in
They get lost
They hear something! (and smell something?)
Its the sea! Moomintroll is very happy about it
Sniff doesn’t like going underwater
This is cute so far! I was worried I wouldn’t understand it very well and I’m definitely not picking up on everything but the plot is ok which is what’s important
Welcome to week 1 of ムーミン谷の彗星！
Home thread 
but as soon as you don’t know stuff it becomes kind of a meaningless jumble of syllables 
and your second book will be easier, third book even easier, and so on until you’re a super reader!! 
