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In one panel in 犬夜叉1, the character says:

よし、こんなもんか。

Page scan

He says that after digging up a hole to hide his fellow.

I suppose that もんか is a contraction of ものか. As far as I know, that should carry a meaning of irony (as if this…). It doesn’t, however, fit there. It was his idea to dig that hole, there was no discussion about it, no objections. No conversation on that topic preceded.

Another meaning of ものか I found was to express a surprise. That fits there even less.

In the context, something like

So, this should be enough. (The hole is big/deep enough already.)

would fit there. But that doesn’t match the Japanese version. Or does it? Is there some meaning of the ものか (or even just もんか) I’m just unaware of?

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    The もんか is not the 終助詞「ものか」. The もの (物) is a noun. Parse it as 「こんなもの(lit. something like this) + か」
    – chocolate
    Mar 26, 2019 at 0:32

2 Answers 2

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「よし、」indicates a sense of completion or at least minimal satisfaction with the result of one's labor. If this part were to be translated here, I would do it as 'Alright,'.

「こんなもんか」is an common expression, often said to oneself (独り{ひとり}言{ごと}).

こんなもの・こんなもん is expressing the idea 'The way it is' or 'the way it should be'. Not necessarily a ringing endorsement of his own work, just a sense that 'it is the way it is' (i.e. 'good enough').

The か is more of a rhetorical device, as in 'isn't it' or in this case 'I guess'. No question mark necessary.

'Alright, I guess that is good enough.' or 'Alright, I guess that's (about) it.'.

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  • こんな this is how 
  • もん (it is) 
  • か I guess

"I guess this about as good as it's going to get"

It seems to me like「もの」is here to intensify the utterance by adding a nuance of disbelief or disappointment.

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