大工の兼公【かねこう】と肴屋【さかなや】の角【かく】をつれて、茂作【もさく】の人参畠【にんじんばたけ】をあらした事がある。人参の芽が出揃【でそろ】わぬ処【ところ】へ藁【わら】が一面に敷【し】いてあったから、その上で三人が半日[相撲]【すもう】をとりつづけに取ったら、人参がみんな踏【ふ】みつぶされてしまった。
Regarding the phrase in bold.
...半日[相撲]【すもう】をとりつづけに取ったら...
I assume とりつづけ is the verb stem of 取り続ける, whose definition can be inferred from the alc results to mean "to keep up", or "to maintain". Thus, I first thought upon seeing とりつづけに取る was something like, "to compete (in wrestling) to keep up (something)". However, that sounds rather strange to me. It appears to make more sense when you treat it as an adverbial phrase.
My questions:
- What is the definition of 取り続ける (if that is indeed the word used), and how does it differ from 続ける? Or should I perhaps treat it as 取って続ける?
- Is 「三人が半日相撲をとりつづけに取ったら」 parsed as 三人が [ 半日相撲をとりつづけに ] 取ったら?
- Does 「半日相撲をとりつづける」 mean "to continue wrestling for half a day"?
- If the above are correct, could 「半日相撲をとりつづけにとる」then be interpreted as "to wrestle continuously for half a day"?
- What would be the difference in meaning between 「とりつづけに取ったら」 and 「とりつづけたら」 in the passage?
Apologies for the barrage of questions. I suppose what I am really asking is for a step-by-step confirmation of my thinking process. While I believe I am on the right track, my understanding of the sentence still feels somewhat "iffy".