Page 14 Translation: 茨城県, Ibaraki Prefecture
茨城県
Ibaraki Prefecture
なっとうで、元気
Healthy Natto
茨城県の水戸市は、なっとう作りがさかんなことで有名です。
The city of Mito in Ibaraki is famous for widespread natto production.
むかし、源義家という人が、水戸にとまったときのことです。
Long ago, something happened when a person called Minamoto no Yoshiie stopped in Mito.
馬のえさの「にまめ」ののこりをわらにつつんでいたところ、糸を引くようになりました。
When he wrapped the leftovers of his horse’s food of “nimame” in straw, it became sticky and stringy.
それを家来が食べてみたらおいしかったので、義家にさし上げました。
A servant tried eating some of it, and it was delicious, so he offered some to Yoshiie.
それが、水戸でなっとうが作られたはじまりだと言われています。
It is said that this began the production of natto in Mito.
なっとうのねばねばは、人間の体にながれるけつえきを、さらさらにしてくれます。
Natto’s stickiness gives a smooth flow to the blood coursing through the body.
なっとうは、とても体によい食べ物です。
Natto is a very healthy food for the body.
Page 14 Notes
A couple of things gave me trouble here. こと popped up a lot, and although I (thought I) understood its general function as a nominalizer, I was less familiar with what to do with it when it came after adjectives or nouns (and other intricacies of its usage).
For example, in sentence 1, this resource suggests that ことで is not only nominalizing but offering a reason (famous for…), which was a new construction for me.
Then in sentence 2, 水戸にとまったときのことです had me stumped for a long time. I think I would have gotten it faster if とき had been 時. But eventually I found some resources that helped me understand that ときのことです tells us we’re not just talking about the time Minamoto no Yoshiie stopped in Mito, but about things that happened when he stopped.
Page 15 Translation: 栃木県, Tochigi Prefecture
栃木県
Tochigi Prefecture
日光のおさるさん
The Monkeys of Nikko
両手で目をかくしている「見ざる」、口をふさいでいる「言わざる」、耳をふさいでいる「聞かざる」。
One covering his eyes with both of his hands: “Mizaru [See no evil].” One covering his mouth: “Iwazaru [Speak no evil].” One covering his ears: “Kikazaru [Hear no evil].”
ユニークな三びきのおさるさんのちょうこくは、栃木県の日光東照宮で見るごとができます。
People come to see the carvings of three unique monkeys at Toshogu Shrine in Nikko, Tochigi Prefecture.
日光東照宮は、江戸ばくふをひらいた徳川家康をまつるためにたてられた、大きな神社です。
Toshogu Shrine in Nikko is a huge temple built for the deified Tokugawa Ieyasu, who founded the Edo Shogunate.
「見ざる、言わざる、聞かざる」とは、「人間はわるいことを見たり、言ったり、聞いたりしがちだが、それらはしないほうがよい」と言う教えです。
The phrase “See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil” teaches us that “People are prone to see bad things, say bad things, and hear bad things, but not doing any of that is the better way.”
Page 15 Notes
This one didn’t have any huge challenges, I think. The cascading descriptions in sentence 3 were tricky to understand when I was just reading, but translating them wasn’t too bad. In terms of translating, the biggest issue was figuring out how to handle the names/roles of the monkeys in the first sentence!
Page 16 Translation: 群馬県, Gunma Prefecture
群馬県
Gunma Prefecture
こんにゃくで、おなかすっきり
Konnyaku, The Stomach Refresher
おでんなどでおなじみの、こんにゃく。
Konnyaku is well-known for its use in foods like oden.
「こんにゃくは、おなかのすなおろし」という言葉があります。
As the saying goes, “Konnyaku will clear out your gut.”
こんにゃくには食物せんいが多くふくまれているので、食べると体の中のいらないものが外に出され、おなかの中がきれいになる、といういみです。
This means that konnyaku has a lot of dietary fiber, and if it is eaten, unnecessary things inside of the body are flushed out and the inside of the stomach becomes clean.
ところで、こんにゃくは何から作られるか知っていますか。
Incidentally, do you know where konnyaku comes from?
答えは、こんにゃくいもです。
The answer is, the konnyaku tuber.
群馬県では、はたけでこんにゃくいものさいばいがさかんで、こんにゃくの生さんりょうも、日本一です。
In Gunma Prefecture, fields for konnyaku tuber cultivation are widespread, and it is Japan’s number one konnyaku producer.
Page 16 Notes
I think these are getting easier for me because I don’t have much to say about this one, either. The two grammar notes I have are that I spent too long trying to puzzle out という言葉があります in sentence 3, when I could have just googled it to find out it’s an expression.
The other place I tripped up was a small thing, the 食べると体の中のいらないものが外に出され part in sentence 4. I forgot と could be used to set up if/then statements.
I notice this passage is all about konnyaku’s digestive benefits but doesn’t mention how it tastes…
Page 17 Translation: 埼玉県, Saitama Prefecture
埼玉県
Saitama Prefecture
人気のおやつ、草加せんべい
Popular Snacks, Souka Senbei
おやつに人気のせんべい。
Senbei is a popular snack.
せんべいは、お米から作られます。
Senbei is made from rice.
埼玉県の草加市は、むかしから米どころと言われ、おいしいお米がとれることから、しょうゆうあじのかたやきせんべいが、古くから作られてきました。
Souka of Saitama Prefecture has been called a rice-producing region for a long time, and its delicious rice cultivation led to the production of hard-baked, soy sauce flavored senbei starting in ancient times.
むかしは、おいしいおやつがあまりありませんでした。
Long ago, there weren’t that many delicious snacks.
せんべいは、おいしいうえに、長もらするので、おやつとして人々にあいされてきたのです。
Senbei, more than just being delicious, was long-lasting, and it was a snack loved by everybody.
いまでも草加市には、せんべいやさんがたくさんあります。
Even now in Souka, there are lots of senbei sellers.
Page 17 Notes
Sentence 3 was SUCH a bear and was really hard for me. Despite my earlier misadventures in Ibaraki, I’m still stumbling over こと and how to understand/translate it, this time compounded by ことから being a specific grammar point I didn’t know about. Like I could guess what was going on based on what から typically does, but I still really labored over that sentence for a long time and didn’t get it at all when I was doing my first read-through. I had to go through word-by-word and diagram it.
PHEW! Almost caught up!