Wednesday, April 23, 2014

The National Flower


The National Flower  国花

The flower that is most beloved by the Japanese people and that symbolizes Japan is the cherry blossom.
日本人に最も愛好され、日本を象徴する花といえば桜です。


From the cherry blossom which falls only within a week or so, the Japanese sense beauty, as well as transience, melancholy, and perhaps honor of graceful resignation.
日本人は、1週間ほどで散ってしまう桜から、美しさとともに無常感や物悲しさ、あるいは潔さを読みとります。

The lyricism of the Japanese people has been closely connected with this flower from ancient times; since the Heian Period(794-1185), it has been often included in classical Japanese poems.
この花と日本人の叙情は昔から深く結び付いていて、平安時代(794-1185)以来、和歌にもよく詠まれています。

From the early years of the Showa Period (1926-1989) until the Second World War, the way that the cherry blossom quickly and gracefully falls was appropriated into militarism to beautify the deaths of the suicide units.
昭和時代(1926-1989)初期から第2次大戦までの間は、この桜の散りぎわの潔さが軍国主義に利用されて、特攻隊の死が美化されたりしたのです。

Today, Japan has sent cherry trees with their beauty overseas as the symbol of peace, and their light pink flowers bloom every spring, for example, beside the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., and on the remains of the Berlin Wall.
今ではその美しさが平和のシンボルとして、日本から海外に贈られ、アメリカのワシントンD.C.のポトマック河畔やベルリンの壁跡に、その薄桃色の花を春ごとに咲かせています。

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Word Order Practice S-V-O-C

This page makes simple Subject-Verb-Object-Complement sentences. For example:

1.I left the door open.

2. They elected him President.

3. We named her Jane.

Click on the <3 Sentences> <4 Sentences> or <5 Sentences> buttons to make new sentences.
Also, write your name in the box at the bottom center of the page to include your name in the sentences!

from www.manythings.org

Chopsticks 箸



Chopsticks are two sticks that hold food between them when one eats.
箸は、食事をするときに食物をはさむ2本の棒で。

They were brought from ancient China.
古代中国から伝わりました。

In Japan, chopsticks are almost always used when eating.
日本では、食事のときはほとんど箸を使います。

Most are made of wood or bamboo painted with lacquer or of plastic, but there are also high-class ones with the inside made of ivory.
 漆を塗った木や竹、またはプラスチック製のものが多いのですが、中には象牙製の高級品もあります。

Chopsticks put out for visitors or in restaurants are half-split chopsticks; made of unfinished wood, they are to be used and thrown away.
 来客用、あるいは飲食店で出される箸は、割り箸という使い捨ての白木の箸です。

Most Japanese are skillful at using chopsticks, because they learned how from their parents during childhood.
幼少時に両親から箸の使い方を習うため、大部分の日本人は箸を上手に使えるのです。