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So in this song (full lyrics: http://vocaloidlyrics.wikia.com/wiki/%E5%8F%8D%E8%8A%BB%E3%81%AE%E5%8D%B0%E8%B1%A1_(Hansuu_no_Inshou) ) I ran across this line, and the use of 紡がれない confuses me here:

紡がれない墨染めホーム瑠璃の空に消え行くひつじ雲

(From) the (not being spun?) black platform, (I see) the cloud disappear into the lapis-blue sky.

I feel like I'm missing something crucial here, but no dictionary I can find lists 紡ぐ as anything besides spin (though some list it as "spin a tale," but I don't know how that's applicable here.)

Could broken-down work here for 紡がれない? I know that strays from the literal meaning a lot, but it would make sense in context. Or should I just translate it literally - is it just a more poetic choice by the writer?

Thanks for your help!

2 Answers 2

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It didn't make sense to me, either. Maybe the most probable answer to your question is just a kind of typo.

In order to answer your question, I was thinking about ten minutes seriously, and this is my answer:

紡ぐ here is a figurative expression to create/make something well organized.

The railway station was a ghost station without any staff. The tickets seemed useless because there was no staff member to check it. There was no or only few passengers on the trains. The lightning was so poor and dark. Therefore, the dark platform of the train station or the dark train station itself was not well organized.

This is my personal interpretation. Maybe I am wrong.

Hope this helps though.

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  • That is a rather ingenious interpretation. I'm not sure if it's what the author is going for - no one could know for sure, though. I might just translate it more literally and indicate with a note possible interpretations. Thanks for your help!
    – Smoothie
    Aug 14, 2017 at 16:27
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Strange use of 紡がれない in this lyric

紡がれない墨染めホーム 瑠璃の空に消え行くひつじ雲

(From) the (not being spun?) black platform, (I see) the cloud disappear into the lapis-blue sky.

I can't also find a very good logical sense out of it, but I think the author tried to make a word-play while keeping a good rhythm in the words.

The original meaning of 墨染め is the dyeing/coloring of threads or cloth. The author used this word 墨染め figuratively, in other words as metaphor. I don't know if they dye the material before spinning to produce threads, but it's close enough as a poem, isn't it?

I see there's 墨染町, 墨染寺, 墨染駅 in Kyoto prefecture, but the lyrics has 砂浜, and these three locations don't face to the ocean, as far as I can see on the map... so, these places seem to be irrelevant, but maybe it's about many places, and the author might have done the word-play after 墨染駅. I want to think like this because we Japanese sometimes enjoy a word-play by expressing things with double meanings.

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  • Thanks for your answer. The dyeing of threads did occur to me; however, the things about Kyoto prefecture didn't, but that probably did influence the author's word choice. I guess I'll just translate it literally.
    – Smoothie
    Aug 14, 2017 at 16:26

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