2/13/2016

A nice Japanese children's story

Since I had a headache and a slight stomach ache due to persistent diarrhea, my husband took a day off and he took our 5-year-old daughter to the music school yesterday morning.

Since I took a pain-killer, my headache had mostly gone away after about one hour.

While they were going to the music school, I vacuumed the rooms, cleaned the toilet, and did the laundry.

After that, I read with my 7-year-old son books which we borrowed at the library two weeks ago.

He can already read books by himself, but I think this is a precious time with my children.

I like listening to their impressions of books.

In particular, my son often can't understand the story deeply even though he can read it.

One of the books I read with him yesterday was called "Hanasakiyama (花さき山)".

The story was like this:

A ten-year-old girl named Aya who went into the mountain to harvest mountain vegetables  for treat of the festival bumped into Yamanba which is Japanese Yokai who is like an old woman, lives in the deep mountain and is said that she eats human.

They saw beautiful flowers bloomed all around.

Yamanba told Aya:

"These flowers bloom when people who live at the foot of the mountain do a good thing. The red flower bloomed because of you.

You gave up your hope for new Sunday best cloth for the festival because your younger sister Soyo also wanted it but you knew your family was poor and you understood well that your mother would be at a loss if you also wanted it.

These flowers bloom when people give priority not to themselves but for others and they give up with their hopes with tears.

That's why they are so beautiful."

"What do you think about the story? I read it when I was a child. It left a great impression on me."

"Well, the Yamanba looks scary!"

"Was that your point? Anything else?"

"Well, it was interesting!"

It will take a long time for him to understand the story.

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にほんブログ村 英語ブログ 英語の日記(英語のみ)へ

3 comments:

  1. Hello Kumi-san,

    Ghost stories with a message are always fun to read. I always liked stories by Roald Dahl. There were fun stories but they often had dark serious undertones, even though they were children's books

    Here is a list of some of the issues found in the post:

    Note: I am capitalizing Yamanba because I am assuming it is the name of a specific ghost/person. If this is not the case then it would only be capitalized if it is at the start of a sentence. Otherwise it would not be capitalized.

    This line:
    After that, I read my 7-year-old son books which we borrowed at the library two weeks ago.

    Should be:
    After that, I read with my 7-year-old son books which we borrowed at the library two weeks ago.

    This line:
    He already can read books by himself, but I think this is a precious time with my children.

    Should be:
    He can already read books by himself, but I think this is a precious time with my children.

    This line:
    One of the books I read him yesterday was called "Hanasakiyama (花さき山)".

    Should be:
    One of the books I read with him yesterday was called "Hanasakiyama (花さき山)".

    This line:
    A ten-year-old girl named Aya who went to the mountain to take mountain vegetables for treat of the festival bumped into Yamanba which is Japanese Yokai who is like an old woman, lives in the deep mountain and is called that she eats human.

    Should be:
    A ten-year-old girl named Aya who went to the (base of/foot of) the mountain to (harvest/pick) mountain vegetables as a treat for a festival bumped into Yamanba which is Japanese Yokai (Ghost) who is like an old woman, it lives in the deep mountain and is said that she eats human.

    This line:
    The yamanba told Aya:

    Should be:
    Yamanba told Aya:

    This line:
    "These flowers bloom when people who live at the foot of the mountain do a good thing. The red flower was bloomed by you.

    Should be:
    "These flowers bloom when people who live at the foot of the mountain do a good thing. The red flower bloomed because of you.

    This line:
    You put up with your hope which you want a new Sunday best cloth for the festival because your younger sister Soyo also wanted it but you knew your family was poor and you understood well that your mother would be at a loss if you also wanted it.

    Should be:
    You gave up your hope for new Sunday best clothes for the festival because your younger sister Soyo also wanted it because you knew your family was poor and you understood well that your mother would be at a loss if you also wanted it.

    This line:
    These flowers bloom when people give priority not for themselves but for others and they put up with their hopes with tears.

    Should be:
    These flowers bloom when people give priority not to themselves but for others and they give up with their hopes with tears.

    This line:
    "What do you think about the story? I read it when I was a child. It was really impressive for me."

    Should be:
    "What do you think about the story? I read it when I was a child. It left a great impression on me."

    This line:
    "Well, the yamanba looks scary!"

    Should be:
    "Well, the Yamanba looks scary!"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Terry!
      I corrected them.

      I didn't know about Roald Dahl so I serched about him on the internet.
      Wikipedia said the interesting thing about him.
      Maybe you know the famous Japanese anime film director Hayao Miyazaki is his fan, and he used some episodes of his works in his film like "Porco Rosso" and "The Wind Rises" as a homage.

      Delete
    2. Hi Kumi-san,

      Yes I know of Hayao Miyazaki I have seen a lot of his animated movies. My favorites are:

      My Neighbour Mr Totoro
      Princess Mononoke
      Kiki's Delivery Service
      Howl's Moving Castle
      The Cat Returns
      Spirited Away
      Nausicaa

      Even though they were the Japanese versions and I still had to read subtitles they are excellent. The English audio translations are not as good as the Japanese ones, so I always stick with the subtitles.

      It is a shame he no longer makes animations anymore. Still he has many so he can be proud.

      Delete