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今年も良い年でありますように！ I hope you have another good year!

What is going on exactly where the ように means hope? Does the よう derive from a verb? I would also like to know how to describe this word in the relevant grammatical terms, both in english and japanese. From what I understand from the answers it is a noun that turns into an adverb?

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What it means

ように at the end of a sentence is a set expression for the volitional subjunctive. In layman terms, it means the preceding sentence is a wish!

Why it means that

様{よう} is "a word that expresses the state of things". に is a target particle. Therefore, if it helps you understand, ように means "towards a certain state". So when I say something like

明日{あした}は晴{は}れるように — May it be sunny tomorrow

I'm saying "towards the state of things where it's sunny". As happens frequently in Japanese, I am omitting the verb of this sentence because it is obvious in context.

明日{あした}は晴{は}れるように祈{いの}ります — I pray it may be sunny tomorrow

It expresses a yearning for a particular 様{よう}.

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  • thank you. then would this make sense? 今年も良い年でありますように望む
    – yadokari
    Commented Jan 3, 2012 at 5:32
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    @yadokari: 今年も良い年でありますように望む is strange for two reasons: (1) the polite form of a verb (such as あります) is rarely used when it modifies a noun (よう in this case), and (2) …でありますように is so fixed that adding something to it makes it sound odd.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Commented Jan 3, 2012 at 12:03
  • @TsuyoshiIto. I am slightly confused. Your (1) seems to contradict (2). Unless the fixed version of でありますように is an exception case to (1)?
    – Flaw ♦
    Commented Jan 3, 2012 at 13:51
  • @Flaw: I agree, they contradict, sorry for the careless comment. I speculate (without a supporting evidence) that the polite form was used in wider contexts in older time, when the expression …でありますように was established. In the current Japanese, it is strange to use the polite form of a verb to modify a noun, but the set phrase …でありますように has remained.
    – Tsuyoshi Ito
    Commented Jan 3, 2012 at 14:22
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    @yadokari Please ask a new question. This site needs all the traffic and rep opportunities it can get! This sort of "interactive dialogue" we're having is, while useful, not very Stack Exchange kosher
    – Jjed
    Commented Jan 3, 2012 at 14:46
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I believe it comes from an abbreviation of 「〜ように願います」, where ように here means "so as to" or "so that".　In that case it would be the same ように which appears in e.g. 「〜ようにご注意ください」 "Please be careful so as to ..." or 「〜ようにする」 "make it so that ...".

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