Photographs of deceased parents with 写真
Kogoro takes a client to the home of someone she’d be communicating with via pagers. They show the household family a music box that was left to the client by her correspondence partner. The music it plays reminds the homeowner of the koto his mother used to play.
- 小五郎:
- 「母さんってもしかしてあのお写真の…」
- “By 'Mom', could that be the one in that photo…?”
- Literal: “By 'mother', could you mean the one in that photo...?”
- “By 'Mom', could that be the one in that photo…?”
- 常雄:
- 「ええ… 父の横の写真が三年前に他界した母の春菜です…」
- “Yes... The photo beside my father's is my mother, Haruna, who passed away three years ago...”
- Literal: “Yes... the photo beside my father's is of my mother Haruna, who passed away three years ago...”
- “Yes... The photo beside my father's is my mother, Haruna, who passed away three years ago...”
Key Points
1写真 = photograph, a copied image
- The kanji 写 points to copying or reproducing an image, so 写真 is a “true copy” in the sense of a photograph.
2あのお写真の… leaves the person implied
- Kogoro starts to ask whether “Mom” is the person in that photo, but trails off after の.
- A fuller version would be あのお写真の人, “the person in that photo”.
3父の横の写真
- This stacks two の phrases: 父の横 means “beside my father”, and the second の links that location to 写真.
- The phrase identifies which photo he means: the photo beside his father’s photo.
4他界した is a respectful “passed away”
- 三年前に他界した modifies 母, giving “my mother, who passed away three years ago”.
- 他界 is more formal and softened than simply saying 死んだ.
Vocabulary
他界 (Passing away)
他界 is primarily used to politely or indirectly refer to “a person’s death”. It is used to avoid direct expressions in order to ease the shock felt by the bereaved family and to show respect.
写真 (Photograph)
写真 means a photograph or photo. It is the ordinary everyday word for still images captured by a camera.
See Also
- Kanji: Boundaries and worlds with 界
名探偵コナン © its respective creators. It is used here for educational commentary.