Let's read Mouse's Sumou! Let's think about the difference between "Thanks" and "Seide" together! | blog

Let's read Mouse's Sumou!

I would like to introduce part 2 of the Japanese folk tale "Nezumi no Sumou" that I introduced last time.

Previous synopsis↓

An old man and an old woman who were kind but had no money lived in the mountains. One day, while the old man was working, he saw a mouse swimming. The small, skinny mouse that kept losing was the mouse that belonged to my grandfather's house. The grandfather and grandmother felt sorry for the mouse, so they fed it rice cakes. and…

If you want to read Part 1 in its entirety, click here! ↓

https://nihongojikan.jp/blog/20231227-4210/

"Mouse's Sumou" part2

The next day, the old man went to see the mice again.

The little mouse was losing all yesterday, but today is different.

The sumo was played four times, and twice the big mouse won, and twice the small mouse won. It's a draw.

Big Mouse: "How did you get so strong in one day?"

Little Mouse: ``Actually, my grandfather and grandmother made rice cakes for me yesterday.''

Big Mouse: "Huh, that's great. My family is rich, but we've never had any toys made for us."

The old man was enjoying listening to the two stories.

Then, when I got home, I told my grandmother.

Grandfather: "Today, it was a draw. Apparently the big mice have never eaten mochi. Next time, let's make mochi for both of them."

Grandma: "That's good."

The grandfather and grandmother made rice cakes again.

Then the grandmother made a small red wheel for them.

The old man placed a rice cake and a turning wheel in front of the mice, and the two mice happily ate the rice cake and put on the red turning wheel.

Seeing this, the grandfather and grandmother also smiled.

*Mawashi: Something like a belt worn by people who smoke. You could say it's Sumo's costume.

The next day, the old man and the old woman went to see the mouse's home.

Mouse: "Hakkei, left! Left!"

The two cats are wearing the red mawashi that their grandfather and grandmother gave them yesterday, and are trying their best to catch a meal.

Thanks to Mochi, both of them have become very strong, so today it will be difficult to decide.

Grandfather: "Good luck to both of you! Good luck!"

The grandfather and grandmother watched with excitement.

Little mouse: “Hey!!”

Big Mouse: “Itatatatata!”

The two mice seemed to enjoy today's game.

Both the grandfather and grandmother looked very happy to see the two sumo.

Every day after that, the big mouse put a lot of money in a bag and came to the old man's house to eat rice cake.

The grandfather and grandmother used the money to buy rice and fish and had a fun New Year's Day with the mice.

How was it?

It was a heartwarming story before the New Year.

Still, it's amazing how you can tell just by looking at a mouse that it's a mouse that lives in your house!

I hope you all have fun with your family and pets this New Year!

Now, I would like to talk a little about grammar.

In ``The Mouse's Sumou,'' it was written, ``Thanks to the rice cakes, both of them became strong.''

What is the difference between the grammar ``Thanks to you'' and ``Because of''?

Let's think about it together.

・Thanks to my teacher, I was able to pass the JLPT exam.

・I was late for school because of my younger brother.

Did you see what's different?

"Thanks to you" expresses a feeling of gratitude or happiness, "Because of..., we got a good result."

Sample1 Thanks to my parents, I was able to study abroad.

Sample2 Thanks to the rain, today's pool class was canceled. You're lucky because you don't want to swim!

Sample3 Thanks to my senior's teachings, I am now able to send business emails.

Sample4 Thanks to Mr. Tanaka inviting me to a party, I met my current boyfriend.

As shown above, in addition to "Thanks to N", you can also use "Thanks to you".

At the end of the sentence, words of gratitude such as "Thank you very much" are often said together.

"Because of..." is used to say, "Because of..., the result turned out to be bad." It's a negative expression.

Sample1 I was pushed by a man on the station platform. Because of that person, I couldn't get on the train.

Sample2 The Shinkansen was stopped for two hours because of the typhoon.

Sample3 Mr. Tanaka didn't contact me sooner, so the manager even scolded me.

Sample 4 At karaoke, my senior sang only songs that no one knew, so it was really boring.

``Seide'' expresses a stronger feeling of annoyance or disgust than ``kara.''

Be careful if you say directly to someone, ``Because of you, I couldn't do it!'' This could lead to a fight or make the other person sad.

Well, today I introduced the story "Nezumi no Sumo" and how to use "Thanks" and "Seide".

I hope everyone enjoyed it.

The JLS blog introduces a lot of grammar explanations and Japanese reading material, so be sure to check out our other blogs as well!

Well, 2023 is almost over.

You studied a lot of Japanese this year too! Were you able to achieve your goals?

Let's always remember to have fun, and sometimes be strict with ourselves as we continue to study Japanese in 2024.

I sincerely hope that the new year will be a happy year for all of you.