Week 11 - Stories of the Japanese Prefectures (Absolute Beginner Book Club)

都道府県のおはなし 低学年 - Stories of the Japanese Prefectures :jp:

Week 11 - Pages 46-49

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Hiroshima-prefecture translation

Hiroshima-prefecture
Miyajima of Aki

If you travel from the pier in front of Miyajimaguchi JR station for 10 minutes by ferry, you’ll arrive at Itsukushima. The red shinto shrine archway towering over the sea is the symbol of Itsukushima.
Itsukushima is also called Miyajima of Aki. Aki is the old name of the area, and Miyajima is the name of the island the shrine (Itsukushima Shrine) is on.
The very island of Miyajima itself has been thought of as a sacred place for a long time. Also, the beauty of the scenery is famous.

Questions:
❶ What’s the symbol of Itsukushima? Fill in the blanks!
❷ What was the name of the area of Itsukushima long ago? Circle the correct answer!
ア Aki
イ Miyajima

Yamaguchi-prefecture translation

Yamaguchi-prefecture
Akiyoshidai and Akiyoshido (fun fact, this and the previous one both start with aki)

Akiyoshidai in the Yamaguchi-prefecture is a vast karst plateau. But what the heck is a karst plateau? Areas with lot of limestone, where the rain water dissolves away the stone over months and years are karst plateaus. On the karst plateaus, many lumps made from the leftover limestone emerge from the grasslands. These look quite like a flock of sheep.
Below karst plateaus, there can be cave systems. The cave system under Akiyoshidai is called Akiyoshido.
An incredible terrain formation, created by the forces of nature.

Questions:
❶ What are lands called, containing a lot of limestone, where over a long time, the rain water dissolved a lot of stone?
❷ What is below akiyoshidai? Fill in the blanks!

Flock of sheep?


They mean these, I see the resemblance :joy:

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Hiroshima prefecture

安芸の宮島
Aki’s Miyajima

JR宮島口駅前にあるさんばしかフェリーにのり十分ほどすすめと、厳島にとうちゃくします。
If you take a ferry from JR Miyajimaguchi Station for 10 minutes, you’ll reach Itsukushima.
海の上にぞびえ立つ大きな赤い鳥居が、厳島のシンボルです。
The big red gate towering over the sea is the symbol of Itsukushima.

厳島は、「安芸の宮島」ともよばれます。
Itsukushima is also often called Aki’s Miyajima.
安芸というのは、このあたりのむかしの地名、宮島というのは、お宮(厳島神社)のあるしまといういみです。
Aki is the name of this region in the olden times and Miyajima is the island where this Shrine (Itsukushima Shrine) is on.

安芸の宮島はむかしから、しまそのものが、しんせいな場所と考えられてきました。
Aki’s Miyajima has been thought of as a sacred place since the olden times.
また、けしきのうつくしいことで有名です。
Also, it’s famous for its beautiful scenery.

Yamaguchi prefecture

秋吉台と、秋芳洞
Akiyoshidai and Akiyoshidou

山口県の秋吉台は、広大なカルスト台地です。カルスト台地とはいったい何でしょうか。
Yamaguchi Prefecture’s Akiyoshidai is a vast karst plateau. What exactly is a karst plateau?
石灰岩がたくさんふくまれている土地が、長い年月のうちに、雨水にとけてでき上がったのがカルスト台地です。
Karst plateau is an area with lots of limestone shaped by rainwater dissolving it over a long period of time.
カルスト台地では、とけのこった石灰岩のかたまりが、草原からたくさん顔を出しています。
In Karst Plateau, the lumps remaining from limestone dissolution can be seen from the meadows.
これはまるで、ひつじのむれのように見えます。
These stones are round resembling a flock of sheep.

カルスト台地の地下には、どうくつができます。
Cave formed underneath the karst plateau.
秋吉台の下のどうくつは、秋芳洞とよばれています。
The cave underneath Akiyoshidai is called Akiyoshidou.

しぜんの力によってできた、ふしぎな地形です。
A strange land formation created by the power of nature.

Tokushima prefecture

あわおどりって、なに?
What is Awa dance festival?

「手を上げて、足をはこべば、あわおどり」といわれるように、あわおどりは、大人もこどもも楽しめるおどりです。
As the saying goes “If you raise your hand and bring(?) your feet, it’s Awa dance”, it’s a dance that can be enjoyed by both adults and kids.

あわおどりは、両手を上げたしせいで、右手と右足、左手と左足をそれぞれ同時に、こうごに前につき出しながらおどります。
Awa dance is a dance performed by raising both limbs, right hand with right feet, left hand with left feet, bringing them to the front at the same time.
三味線、たいこ、ふえなどの音楽が、二びょうしでかなでられます。
Shamisen, taiko drum, and bamboo flute music ???

四百年いじょうのれきしをもつ徳島県のあわおどりは、毎年八月にひらかれます。
Tokushima Prefecture’s Awa dance carries a history of over 400 years and is performed every year in August.
日本全国から、のべ百万人いじょうものかんこうきゃくがあつまります。
From all over Japan, it gathers a total of more than 1 million visitors.

Kagawa prefecture

おいしい、さぬきうどん
Delicious sanuki udon

太めでこしがある、さぬきうどん。みなさんは、すきですか。
Thick and chewy sanuki udon. Do you like it?
さぬきうどんは、香川県の名物です。
Sanuki udon is Kagawa Prefecture’s specialty
香川ではむかし、うどんのざいりょうになる、小麦のさいばいがさんでした。
A long time ago in Kagawa Prefecture, buckwheat, an ingredient for udon, cultivation thrived.
また、うみにめんしているので、しおや、だしをとるためのいりこの原料となる魚もとれます。
Since it’s overlooking the sea, salt and anchovy needed for the broth can be harvested.

新せんな、よいざいりょうをつかうので、おいしいうどんができるのです。
Fresh and good ingredients makes for delicious udon.
うどんやさんもたくさんできて、あじをきょうそうするうちに、さぬきうどんはますますおいしくなりました。
Many udon shops opened and while competing to be the best tasting, sanuki udon became more delicious.

Questions
  • こしがある: my teacher said that this kinda means that the udon is not too soft. I translated it to chewy but not sure if that’s correct.
  • 二びょうしでかなでられます: I really can’t guess the meaning of this whole sentence. DeepL translation yields “can be written in two strokes”. Does this have to do with the repetitive music?
3 Likes

What we saw of the Great Torii in 2019:

The word is ニ拍子, duple meter, so it’s talking about playing in duple meter

5 Likes

I think that’s right. Chewy is often coming up in English articles about the noodles. I think it’s the meaning below for こし - the phrase literally means “it has some body/resilience/springiness”, i.e. it’s not too soft.

What are we looking at here?

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I assume the Torii was being renovated and a facade was put up so you don’t see the actual construction

Edit: apparently that’s an illustration of how the torii looked while being renovated:

3 Likes

As @Gorbit99 pointed out we are looking at the shrine gate hidden behind the renovation wrapping.

I had a quick question on the アドバイス section for 香川県:

Question

Is いって in:

小さないって干したものが、「いりこ」です。

supposed to be the て-form for る?

I was a bit confused seeing the を particle, then finding no good match in ichi.moe (there a lot of different verbs that are written in kana as いる, let alone いく or いう, but that was the only likely one with that て-form).

2 Likes

I think you’re right with 炒る. Wanikani teaches 煎る which seems to be the same word with a different kanji. What’s in the brackets after 雑魚 in the text? I have a photo of that page on my phone but my finger is covering that bit!

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From p 66:

Chapter 38 [アドバイス]
小さな雑魚(いわしなど)をいって干したものが「いりこ」です。


雑魚(ざこ)(n) small fish, small fry
鰯(いわし)(n) pilchard (esp. the Japanese pilchard, Sardinops melanostictus); sardine (esp. the sardine of the Japanese pilchard)
炒る(いる)(vt) to parch, to fry, to fire, to broil, to roast, to boil down
干す(ほす)(vt) to air, to dry, to desiccate
炒り子(いりこ)(n) (Kansai-ben) small dried sardine

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D’oh! I should have made the connection between the verb and the word they were defining and looked that up first: いりこ = 炒り子, いり → 炒り → 炒る. :person_facepalming: Thanks for sending those details.

I’m finding it surprisingly challenging to read the stories in Hiragana with the ambiguous word boundaries and the number of homonyms there are in Japanese. Still, definitely a good exercise.

3 Likes
Hiroshima translation

Hiroshima Prefecture

Miyajima of Aki

If you travel 10 minutes by ferry from the pier in front of the JR Miyajima-guchi station, you will arrive in Itsukushima.
The large red Tori gate, which towers over the ocean’s surface, is the symbol of Itsukushima.

Itsukushima is also called “Miyajima of Aki”.
Aki is the name of this area long ago, while Miyajima means an island where there is a Shinto shrine (Itsukushima Jinja).

Since long ago Miyajima of Aki, the island itself, has come to be thought of as a sacred place.
Furthermore, it is famous for the beautiful scenery.

Yamaguchi translation

Yamaguchi Prefecture

Akiyoshidai and Akiyoshido

Yamaguchi prefecture’s Akiyoshidai is a vast karst plateau.
What in the world is a karst plateau?
A karst plateau is created by rain water dissolving a region that is comprised of a lot of limestone, in the course of long years.
At a karst plateau, the remaining limestone lumps turn up from the grasslands.
This looks entirely like a flock of sheep.

Caves are made under a karst plateau.
The caves under Akiyoshidai are called Akiyoshido.

They are incredible landforms which were created by nature’s power.

1 Like

I don’t even know what that means in English!

It means, that in a music sheet between every two bar there’s two notes

3 Likes

Not quite two notes, but two beats.
@Cathm2 : une mesure à 2 temps

3 Likes
Tokushima-prefecture translation

Tokushima-prefecture
What is the Awa Odori dance?

The Awa Odori dance, as they often say about it, “If you raise your hands and move your feet, that’s the Awa Odori dance”, is a dance enjoyed by both kids and adults.
In the Awa Odori dance, you raise both your hands, then you push out your right hand and left foot and your left hand and right simultaneously alternating them while dancing. There’s music consisting of Japanese flutes, drums and flutes and the like played in duple meter.
With it’s more than 400 years of history, the Tokushima Owa Odori is held every year in August. From all over Japan, there’s more than a million tourists visiting.

Questions:
❶ During the dance of the Awa Odori, what’s moves alongside your right hand at the same time? Circle the correct answer.
ア Left hand
イ Right foot
ウ Left foot
❷ What instrument is played in duple meter alongside the Japanese flute and flute during the Awa Odori?

Kagawa-prefecture translation

Kagawa-prefecture
Tasty Sanuki udon

Sanuki udon is thick and chewy. Do you like it? Sanuki udon is a specialty of Kagawa-prefecture. Since the olden times, wheat production for udon ingredients flourised (lol,
flourished, also, weekly flourished). Also, because of facing the sea, salt and fish used to make dried sardines for dashi is also present.
Out of these fresh and excellent ingredients, very tasty udon can be made. There’s many udon shops competing to make the udon inside tasier and tasier.

Questions:
❶ What characteristics does Kagawa-prefecture’s specialty, the Sanuki udon have? Fill in the blanks!
❷ What is the ingredient of the dashi used in udon, for which the fish in the sea of the Kagawa-prefecture is caught? Write in the three characters!

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Week 12 thread

1 Like