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I'm reading a novel and I'm wondering what どれも means in this context --

椿台には、そこに住まう民が生前崇めていた神仏を祀った神殿がいくつも建てられているが、どれも現世での信仰を持ちこんだものであった。

For context; 椿台 is a place in the afterlife in this story, 現世 is the transient world referring to Earth/life on Earth.

どれも, according to my dictionary can mean any/every/both/either/all or it can even mean none.

So what I don't understand is, is it saying: (and this is based on my best guess at a translation, I have a feeling I may have gotten some things wrong)

The people that live here have built many temples dedicated to worshipping gods and Buddahs in their lifetime but none have brought over beliefs from the transient world.

Or is it saying:

The people that live here have built many temples dedicated to worshipping gods and Buddahs in their lifetime but still have brought over every belief from the transient world.

Or something else completely?

I would really love to know what the author has written here so your help is much appreciated, thank you!

1 Answer 1

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「椿台には、そこに住まう民が生前崇めていた神仏を祀った神殿がいくつも建てられているが、どれも現世での信仰を持ちこんだものであった。」

In this sentence, 「どれも」 refers to none other than 「どの神殿も」. It means:

"all of the temples", "every one of the temples", etc.

Thus, neither of your translation attempts is very accurate. It looks as though you thought 「どれも」 referred to the people, did you not? If that is the case, please note that only in very patronizing situation, 「どれも」 can be used to refer to people.

Notice that 「もの」 also refers to the temples. Here, 「どれも」 and 「もの」 work hand-in-hand.

"In 椿台, many temples have been built to enshrine the gods and buddhas that the residents had worshipped during their lifetime, and all of them are temples into which the residents had brought over their beliefs from the transient world."

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