Structure
Noun + を中心 + に(1)
Noun + を中心 + にした(2) + Noun
(1) にして、として
(2) とした
Details
Standard
About を中心に
When combined with nouns, the expression を中心に indicates that something is being 'focused on' or 'centered around'. Occasionally, it may also be translated simply as 'mainly (A)', or 'most notably (A)'. 中心 itself is a noun that expresses the 'pivot', or 'central focus point' from which something else is occurring. The case marking particle に just marks '(A) を中心に' as the target that is being focused on.
Due to 中心 itself marking a 'central point', it may also be used just to express the middle of something, rather than something that is being concentrated or focused on.
By adding する in either its dictionary or past forms, を中心にする or を中心にした may appear before another noun. This will highlight the noun that comes after as being the overall thing through which the 'focus on (A)' is taking place.
Additionally, the case-marking particle と may sometimes replace に. This change will put more nuance on the focus point being conclusive, rather than progressive or decisive.
Examples
--:--
てるはしさんを中心に世界が回っている。
The world revolves mainly around Teruhashi-san.
マコさんはコンピューターを中心として生活をしている。
Mako leads a life centered around computers.
妻は働き、私は育児を中心に生活しています。
My wife works and I place my focus on raising the children. That is our livelihood.
あのアンテナを中心に家を何軒か建てましょう。
Let's build some houses centered around that antenna.
息子はあいかわらずお金を中心に物を考えているようだ。
As always, my son always thinks in terms that are focused on money.
Get more example sentences!
Premium users get access to 12 example sentences on all Grammar Points.
Self-Study Sentences
Online
Additional examples and breakdown
JapaneseTest4You
Offline
Tobira
Page 193
Track Resources!
Bunpro tracks all of the resources you’ve visited, and offers relevant bookmarks of physical books to help with offline tracking.
を中心に – Grammar Discussion
Most Recent Replies (4 in total)
Zoular
Matt on Game Gengo just posted a video on this grammar.
crisp-y
The current translation for
健康診断に行ったら先生に揚げ物を中心とする食生活はやめるようにと言われた
is slightly incorrect and doesn’t help accurately interpret the difference in nuance that とする infers.
Currently, “to stop centering my diet around fried food,” implies a there’s a deliberate, active effort on the part of the speaker to prioritise fried food. However, を中心とする is used here because the sentence is describing a general characteristic of the diet (it naturally revolves around fried food), not an intentional action of making fried food the focus.
Therefore, a more accurate and helpful translation would be "When I went to my physical check-up, my doctor told me to stop having a diet that is centered on fried food."
CrisH
I was wondering this as well. Based on the use of 進行中 in the Japanese, I’m thinking they may be meaning to suggest scenarios where something has come to be the case without any deliberate attempt, while I would venture to guess that the ‘essential’ translation of 重要 is being mixed up with the meaning of the English word ‘essential’ that corresponds to ‘inherent’. And I think identifying ‘conclusive’ and ‘decisive’ as significantly different meanings may just be a simple misunderstanding.
So, I think what it’s trying to say is “This change gives a nuance that points to the focus being the result of a concious decision rather than a passive eventuality or an inherent property.” But that is pretty much a guess.
In the recent feedback survey I mentioned that I think (based on my limited Japanese) that the Japanese is frequently better than the English. It makes sense of course, since it’s not an English learning tool, but it does need to be clear or you can’t really learn ...