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「猿も木から落ちる」 |
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Literally
'Even a monkey falls from a tree', this means that even an expert
sometimes makes mistakes.Another expression which
has the same meaning in Japanese is
「弘法も筆の誤り」,
even Kobo (a famous Buddhist priest known also as an excellent
calligrapher) makes mistakes in calligraphy. |
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「猿まね」
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Monkey
imitation. This is used to express a shallow imitation.
e.g. 「この映画は日本のアニメの猿まねだね。」
'
This movie is just
an imitation of a Japanese animation.' |
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「犬猿の仲」 |
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Literally
'relationship between a dog and a monkey ', this refers to two
people who hate each other and always 'fight like cats & dogs.' |
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「猿でもわかる〜」 |
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This
is a recently coined colloquial expression.It is often used
to refer to explanations which are 'so easy that even monkeys
can understand'
e.g. 「猿でもわかる日本語」 'Japanese
for Dum- mies' |
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古い日本の家の中
Inside
old Japanese houses
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| いろり |
Square-shaped
fireplace in the middle of the floor used for cooking
and heating. People eat dinner sitting around it. |
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| 水がめ |
Because there
was no city water system,people had to bring water from
the river or 井戸 (well),
and keep it in 水がめ
(jug). |
| 臼 |
A
wooden mortar used for making rice cakes (mochi).
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Japanese
is rich in onomatopoeic expressions.Here are some which appear
in さるかにがっせん. |
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| 「パチン」 |
the
sound of something bursting, like the popping of popcorn,
a bubble, and so on. |
| 「ブーン」 |
the
buzzing of a bee or fly. |
| 「ブンブン」 |
expresses
the buzzing of many flying insects. |
| 「チクリ」 |
to
feel a prick, variant form 「チクッ」
eg. (before an injection) 「ちょっとチクリと／チクッとします」
'You might feel a slight pricking pain.' |
| 「ドスン」 |
thump
or thud, used for a sound of something heavy falling on
the ground. |
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 There
are two words in Japanese for rice ball; おむすび
and おにぎり.
Some say that おむすび is
mainly used in eastern Japan and おにぎりin
western Japan. Some say that おむすび
is big and triangle-shaped,
whereas おにぎり
is small and round.But in modern Japanese, there is no distinction
between these two words.
The prefix お originally
expressed politeness as in おべんとう,
but it has now become an inseparable part of the word. (むすび
can be used only
as part of a compound like 天むすび
'tempura
rice ball', and にぎり
means a kind of sushi, not rice ball). Other examples of words
with an inseparable お are
おなか
(stomach),お巡りさん
(policeman),
おむつ
(nappy), おなら (gas,
wind) and so on. |
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 The
basic kanji 木(tree),
drived from the shape of a tree, is learned by Japanese children
at a very early stage. You probably also
know the compounds林(wood)
and 森(forest).
In the kanji for persimmon,柿,
木becomes the
radical 「木偏
(tree radical)」.
There are many kanji which belong to this tree radical group,
all of them with a meaning related to trees. |
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| 1. |
Kanji
for a kind of tree:
柿(persimmon),
桜 (cherry
blossom), 松
(pine tree)桃(peach),
梅(plum) |
| 2. |
Kanji
for things made of wood:
机(desk),
棚
(shelf), 板(board),
柱(pole),
橋(bridge). |
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Section
co-ordinated by Kazuhiro Isomura |
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