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方たちの気持ち / えの者 / 手に手に / 見たこともないような

eeky

先輩
8 Jun 2010
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Hello,


1. This is from a version of 竹取物語. The princess, who has been receiving attentions from suitors, is speaking to her adoptive mother:

「わたくしには、あの方たちの気持ちをくらべることな どできません。わたくしの一番見たいものを見せてくだ さったお方のところへ参りましょう。どうか、そう伝え てください。」

My translation: "I cannot compare these men's feelings for me [i.e. cannot tell which one has the strongest feelings]. I will choose [?] the one who can bring me the thing that I most want (to see). Please tell them so."

a) In the first sentence, does に mark わたくし as the target of あの方たちの気持ち, or is part of a structure わたくしには・・・ことなどできません?

b) In cases like this, I tend to think of など as providing mild emphasis, but now I see in the dictionary that it can also "lessen the significance or value of the previous word". Are both possible, depending on context, or did I invent the "emphasis" meaning?

c) I am not exactly sure what ところへ参りましょう means. "go to the place of"?? In what sense? Going to live with as a wife, perhaps?

d) In the last sentence, does どうか mean "please"?


2. 十五夜には、月から迎えの者が参ります。

My translation: "On the night of the full moon, someone will be coming from the Moon to collect me."

Does 迎えの者 mean "person coming to collect"?


3. おじいさんのうちは、手に手に弓矢を持った侍たちに、 ぐるりと囲まれました。

My translation: "The old man's house was surrounded by samurai carrying bows and arrows."

Does 手に手に have any special meaning beyond "in (their) hands"? Why is 手に repeated? Could it be to emphasise lots of samurai?


4. やがて満月が高く昇ると、空から見たこともないような 美しい着物を着た天女たちがしずしずと下りて来ました 。

My translation: "Before long, when the full moon had risen high, a group of heavenly maidens, wearing beautiful clothes like none seen before, descended gently from the sky."

I assume 見たこともないような means "like no one has ever seen", but does this strictly modify 美しい着物 or 天女たち, or is it ambiguous?
 
1) a)
The latter.

b)
It's used to weaken the emphasis, not to lessen the value. The speaker thinks くらべることはできません is too much emphasized.

(イ) 叙述を弱めやわらげる場合。この場合には例示の気持ちはあまりない。文語文や古文に多く見られる用法。
彼―よくやっているほうだね
など - Yahoo!辞書

c)
Yes, it's used as a euphemism for "to marry the person" in this case.

d)
Yes.

2)
Yes.

3)
It has a nuance of "Every samurai has bows and arrows in their hands".

4)
Both are possible. Further, 見たこともないような美しい天女たち is so, too. Thus, it's ambiguous. (But, anyway, they have beautiful appearances.)
 
Hi Toritoribe, thanks for your help.

Out of interest, in #4, do you have any obvious preferred or "default" way of associating these modifiers (like the first thing that occurs to you when you read it)?
 
It's common that the noun right after the modifying clause is the modifee (窶吮?ヲ窶「ツィ in this case). But my impression of the sentence is that it expresses they look beautiful, not just the kimono but their whole appearances.
 
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