Miyo-ko's Sayings: "Tsuru-t"
I have written about the life of Miyo-ko (my mother), who was born in a farming village in Kagoshima in 1930 and passed away this March (2025), as "The Showa Era That Had No Written Word." In between, I have been recording Miyo-ko's favorite phrases and impressive ways of speaking that I recall from time to time as "Miyo-ko's Sayings" <327>.
The "Tsuru-t" in this entry is a type of onomatopoeia. After not sleeping very well during the night, I finally drifted off near dawn, and when I woke up with a start at my usual time, this Kagoshima dialect word suddenly came to mind.
If it were Miyo-ko, for example, when she accidentally dozed off after lunch, I often heard her say things like,
"Hara, tsuru-t shita mon ja" (Oh my, it seems I've just dozed off).
I wondered if this "Tsuru-t" might have been an original expression of Miyo-ko's, who loved onomatopoeic expressions. This is because I had rarely encountered other adults using it.
However, as usual, when I searched my beloved "Kagoshima Dialect Online Dictionary," the entries "tsuru-tsuru suru, tsuru-tsuru-t suru, tsuru-t" were properly listed. According to it, it means "to doze, to take a nap," and the origin is given as "an onomatopoeia expressing dozing or napping, tsuru-tsuru." This means Miyo-ko was also using it in its standard way.
As I touched upon in "The Showa Era That Had No Written Word," Miyo-ko's life was nothing but work. Especially while her parents-in-law (my grandparents) were still alive, she probably couldn't take a breather even when she was at home. I never saw her lounging around in front of the family. That must have been a common situation for many "brides" in farming villages up until the middle of the Showa era (it might still be the case in some areas today).
In such a life, dozing off when only the children were around must have been a moment of bliss. I think that is well expressed in the slightly embarrassed phrasing, "...it seems I've done it."
After her parents-in-law passed away, Miyo-ko's "Tsuru-t" became a little less restrained. Even so, she still held back during the times when her husband, Tsugio (my father), was around. When Tsugio was away, after she and I had eaten, we often had conversations like this:
"Nebunatta. Ittotte tsuru-t shite miro kai."
(I've gotten sleepy. Shall I take a little nap?)
"Sogen shiyanse. Otosan mo oiyarende."
(You should do that. Father isn't here either.) <328>
"Hara, mo o-ji i-hinatta nee. Tsuru-tsuru-t shita mon ja."
(Oh my, it's already o'clock. It seems I've fallen asleep.)
Every time I recall such scenes, I think that Miyo-ko was actually always tired. Not realizing that at the time, there was a period when I would look at her with cold eyes, even if I didn't say it out loud, thinking, "Instead of just napping all the time, she should have some kind of hobby."
I hope that Miyo-ko, who has ascended to heaven, can "tsuru-tsuru" to her heart's content.
<327> Past sayings include
potatoes or anything, millet, chinta, it's money, drinking on an empty stomach, don't bite off and kill the dirt, gyu, gyu, don't live looking up, live looking down, shall I exchange it, hinoko, because I'm used to being free, uhagamanmeshi, konabenshui, Shirokawa yafune (a deep sleep), home, kissowaro, Nobu-chan is a good person, isn't she, hippo, nika, ginger is sensitive to cold, drunkard, nyukki nyukki, because we are the only two siblings, it's not a made-up story, zorobi".<328> As I have mentioned in a previous note article, in Kagoshima up until a certain period, it was common to use honorifics even with family members who were older, and I followed that practice. Also, the "hi" in "mo o-ji i-hinatta nee" is an emphatic prefix. In the Kagoshima dialect, which prefers emphasis along with shortening, there are many such prefixes.
<<Source>>
Kagoshima Dialect Online Dictionary > Tsuru-tsuru