Week 12 - Stories of the Japanese Prefectures (Absolute Beginner Book Club)

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

Week 12 - Pages 50-53

Week 11: Link
Week 13: Link

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Ehime prefecture

Orange Kingdom

In Ehime prefecture where it’s warm throughout the year with plenty of sunny days, orange cultivation thrives.
Especially in places where stone walls are built along the sloped coast, many terraced orange fields can be seen.
With plenty of light from 3 sources, light reflected by the stone walls, light reflected by the sea, and also sunlight, delicious orange are grown.
The harvested oranges could be made into jam, juice, and jelly.

Kouchi prefecture

Skipjack Tuna’s “ipponzuri”

Do you know of fish called skipjack tuna? Its body length could reach around 90 cm and it swims in shoals.
In Kouchi prefecture, instead of using nets to fish skipjack tuna all at once, a method called “ipponzuri” where they use fishing rods to fish one at a time flourishes.
Harvested skipjack tuna are mainly eaten as sashimi or tataki where only the skin is seared. Tuna skipjack fished with “ipponzuri” method is famous for its freshness and delicious taste.

Fukuoka prefecture

God of Study

Around 1100 years ago, there was a person named Sugawarano Michizane. Michizane was a very smart person. He was dilligent in his studies since we was a child, becoming a Doctor which is considered most admirable among scholars.
Even though he worked hard for the betterment of the country, he was convicted with a crime he has no memory of and was exiled to Dazaifu, present-day Fukuoka prefecture.
Michizane passed away in exile and became celebrated as the God of Study. Shrines worshipping Michizane is called Tenmanguu and is present all over the country. Of all those shrines, the one in Dazaifu is the main one and is visited by many people.

Saga prefecture

Seaweed and Mudskipper of Ariake Sea

Crispy seaweed rolled into onigiri is delicious, right?
In Ariake Sea surrounded by the 4 prefectures Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, and Kumamoto, seaweed cultivation flourishes.
Fragrant and sweet delicious seaweed can be harvested.
Also, Ariake Sea in Saga prefecture has shallow waters and a rare fish called Mudskipper lives in Higata. The view of mudskippers jumping “pyon pyon” is very unique.

Questions

石がき: I assume this is this thing.
ゆたかない: Fragrant?
How would you usually go about translating onomatopoeia like ぴょんぴょん?

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I think this is a slightly different way around. Especially at the slopes facing the coast, where many mandarin terraced fields, constructed from stonewalls, can be seen.

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The Fukuoka page is hard! Sugawara’s wikipedia page helps understand it better.

Summary

I think 文章はかせ is 文章博士 and refers to a senior teaching position at the Imperial University in the Heian period. Link

The 大宰府 (Dazaifu) was the regional government in Kyushu from the 8th to the 12th centuries. It’s also the name of a city in modern Fukuoka prefecture although that is spelt with different kanji - 太宰府.

The Wikipedia article is interesting - after dying in exile lots of bad stuff happened and the imperial powers thought this was being caused by the angry spirit of Sugawara - ending up in his deification trying to appease him.

I think this is rather - that he had nothing to do with

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Page 53 was another tough page.

Summary

I don’t think it’s ゆたかない, I think it’s ゆたか (na-adjective meaning abundant) followed by いそのかおり meaning smell of the sea.

I’d probably just leave ぴょんぴょん out in an English translation. It’s not uncommon in Japanese to have a verb preceded by an onomatopoeia adjective that means the same thing as the verb. So you end up with translations like hoppingly hopping!

ひがた is not a place, it means tidal flat. The definition for a tidal flat in the text is: the muddy ground that appears when the tide goes out.

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My pace has slowed the last few weeks, but I’m determined to get at least a couple passages translated every week!

Ehime translation

Ehime Prefecture

Orange Kingdom

In Ehime prefecture, where it’s warm throughout the year and there are many sunny days, orange cultivation is flourishing.

Especially on the seaside slopes, many terraced fields of oranges made out of stone walls can be seen.
The light reflected from these stone walls, the light reflected from the ocean, the light of the sun - delicious oranges are raised by fully basking in these three lights.

Things like jam, juice, and jelly are made from harvested oranges.

Kochi translation

Kochi Prefecture

Fishing with a pole for skipjack tuna

Do you know the fish called skipjack tuna?
The fish, whose body length becomes up to about 90 centimeters, swims in schools.

In Kochi prefecture, skipjack tuna are not caught all at once by net, but “ippondzuri”, which is using a fishing rod and catching one at a time, is widespread.

Caught skipjack tuna are mainly made into sashimi or tataki, where only the surface is roasted, and then eaten.
Skipjack tuna caught by fishing pole are famous for being fresh and delicious.

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Week 13 thread:

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Accidentally missed a week, so time to do some catch up

Ehime-prefecture translation

Ehime-prefecture
The mandarin kingdom

Warm throughout the year, Ehime-prefecture with its many sunny days has its mandarin production flourishing.
Particularly, on the slopes of the sea sides, a lot of terraced mandarin fields can be seen, made using stone walls. The light reflecting from these stone walls, the light reflecting from the ocean and the sunlight combined bathes the mandarins in enough light, to allow them to grow very tasty.
Out of the grown mandarins, jam and juice is made. (this feels like the author needed a sentence to fill the page)

Questions:
:black_circle: For the mandarin’s to grow, what three lights are they bathed in? Fill in the blanks!

Kouchi-prefecture translation

Kouchi-prefecture
Fishing for skipjack tuna

Do you know the fish called skipjack tuna? The fish, that can grow to about 90 centimeters in length swims in schools.
In the Kouchi-prefecture, instead of catching skipjack tuna all at once with a net, “ipponzuri”, where a couple of people catch fish one at a time flourishes.
The caught skipjack tuna is mainly eaten in stuff like sashimi and lightly toasted chopped fish. The skipjack tuna caught using ipponzuri is famous for its freshness and deliciousness.

Questions:
❶ What tool is used when catchin skipjack tuna with the “ipponzuri” method?
❷ Which sentence fits the article? Circle the correct one.
ア Skipjack tuna are fish swimming in schools
イ In the Kouchi-prefecture, skipjack tuna is caught using nets
ウ Skipjack tuna is mainly eaten steamed

Fukuoka-prefecture translation

Fukuoka-prefecture
The god of study

Around 1100 years ago, there was a person called Sugawara no MIchizane. Michizane was a very wise person. Interested in knowledge since his childhood, he became a scholar, celebrated as an “expert of writing”. He spent all his power on making the country better, but he was sentenced for a crime he didn’t commit, and was banished to Dazaifu, todays Fukuoka-prefecture.
Michizane then disappeared, but he was then deified as the god of study. The shrine where Michizane is worshipped is called Tenmanguu. There is a lot of it all accross the country. Out of these, the Tenmanguu shrine is the most visited.

Questions:
❶ Why was Sugawara no Michizane exiled to Dazaifu? Circle the correct answer!
ア Because he spent all his power on bettering the country
イ He didn’t do anything wrong, but he was sentenced

Saga-prefecture translation

Saga-prefecture
Ariake seaweed and mudskipper

Onigiri with dried seaweed sprinkled on top is very tasty, huh?
In the Ariake sea next to the Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki and Kumamoto prefectures area, seaweed cultivation flourishes.
Also, the depth of the Ariake sea at the Saga-prefecture is very low, on the tidal flat*, rare fish called mudskippers live. The shape of the fishes hopping around is very unique.

*Tidal flat, a muddy area appearing when the tide recedes

Questions:
❶ How many prefectures does the Ariake sea border?
❷ Circle the correct word about the Ariake sea at the Saga-prefecture
ア Shallow
イ Deep
❸ What fish lives on the tidal flats and hops around?

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Thanks for sharing more translations. I don’t think Michizane 無くなりました. I think he 亡くなりました.

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Ah, that makes much more sense. Way too little kanji, what a problem

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In the Saga translation, what does the した mean in パリパリしたのり? Does it come from する or is it some kind of suffix that connects adjectives like パリパリ to nouns like のり?

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バリバリ is crunchy バリバリする is to be crunchy, and it’s used as an “adjective” for nori, crunchy nori.
This is a case of a sentence modifying a noun, and for that you put the sentence into past form

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