【No. 1629】Tōge (峠 - Mountain Pass)
Mountain passes or boundaries between up and down ways are called tōge (峠).
It is said that tōge comes from tamuke (手向け), which means to offer things to Shinto and Buddhist deities -- there was the fact that visitors offered things to dōsojin (道祖神 - "ancestor kami protecting the safety of roads").
Incidentally, 峠 is the kanji invented in Japan.
This kanji consists of three parts; 山 meaning "mountain," 上 meaning "up" and 下 meaning "down."
The reason why this kanji was made in Japan might be that the Japanese had the environment surrounded by mountains.
山の上りと下りの境界のことを、日本語で「峠」と言います。
「峠」は神仏に物を供えることを意味する「手向け（たむけ）」から来ており、旅行者が道祖神（道の安全を守る神）に手向けたことに由来すると考えられています。
ちなみに、漢字「峠」は和製漢字です。
"Mountain" を意味する「山」、"up" を意味する「上」、そして "down" を意味する「下」で構成されます。
このような漢字が生まれたのは、日本が山に囲まれていたためかもしれません。
Corrections (1)
- Tōge (峠 - Mountain Pass)
- This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
- Tōge
- This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
- Mountain passes or boundaries between up and down ways are called 'tōge' (峠).
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The meaning of 'tōge' (峠) is mountain pass or boundary.
I rephrased the sentence a little bit. I changed the word order. I added (the meaning of ) before ('tōge' (峠)) for this sentence. The reason for this change is that (the meaning of) introduces that the fact that you are going to write about the word origin and meaning of tōge.
- It is said that 'tōge' comes from 'tamuke' (手向け), which means to offer things to Shinto and Buddhist deities -- there was the fact that visitors offered things to dōsojin (道祖神 - "ancestor kami protecting the safety of roads").
- This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
- Incidentally, 峠 is the kanji invented in Japan.
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Incidentally, 峠 is a kanji that was invented in Japan.
I changed (the) to (a) for this sentence. The reason for this change is that (a) helps to refer to the fact that 峠 is just one particular kanji that was invented in Japan.
- This kanji consists of three parts; 山 meaning "mountain," 上 meaning "up" and 下 meaning "down."
- This sentence is perfect! No correction needed!
- The reason why this kanji was made in Japan might be that the Japanese had the environment surrounded by mountains.
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The reason why this kanji was made in Japan might be that the Japanese people lived in an environment that was surrounded by mountains.
I added (people) after (Japanese) for this sentence. The reason for this change is that (people) helps to refers to Japanese people. The word Japanese on its own can refer to anything from Japan. I changed (had the environment) to (lived in an environment that was) for this sentence. The reason for this change is that (lived in an environment that was) refers to the fact that these Japanese people lived in an area or environment that was surrounded by mountains.
Excellent journal entry. Please keep up the good work practicing English.
Thank you very much for the corrections and helpful comments! (^^)