#10 古井由吉「雪の下の蟹」
正月を東京で過して、一月もなかばに金沢にもどって来ると、もう雪の世界だった。駅を出るとちょうど雪が降りやんだところで、空は灰色に静まり、家々の屋根の柔らかな白が、夕暮れの中に融けこもうとしていた。
When I returned around the middle of January, after having spent New Year in Tokyo, Kanazawa was already a world of snow. When I left the station it had just stopped snowing, the skies had turned a tacit ash grey, and the soft white of the rooftops dissolved into the twilight.
Vocabulary:
古井由吉 ふるいよしきち Furui Yoshikichi (author, 1937-2020)
正月 しょうがつ New Year, January
過す すごす to spend time (usually 過ごす)
金沢 かなざわ Kanazawa (name of city)
もどる to return (usually 戻る)
雪 ゆき snow
世界 せかい world
駅 えき (train) station
降りやむ ふりやむ stop falling (snow, rain, etc.)
空 そら sky, skies
灰色 はいいろ ash grey
静まる しずまる to go silent, to become quiet
家々 いえいえ houses (literary language)
屋根 やね roof
柔らか やわらか soft
白 しろ white
夕暮れ ゆうぐれ dusk, twilight
融けこむ とけこむ to melt/dissolve into…
Grammar:
~ところ
Following a simple past tense, ところ can have several meanings, but here it signifies that something just happened.
Hi Bunsuke! I don't understand the construction 融けこもうとして . The dictionary form is 融け込む but I'm not sure what to make of 融けこもう. Thank you!
As an aside, I think quiet or silent would be a better word than tacit.