をめぐって／をめぐる — Over the Matter Of
Marks a topic around which discussion, dispute, opinions, or actions revolve — 'concerning', 'over', or 'regarding'. It is typically used when there is disagreement, debate, or competing interests surrounding an issue. The form をめぐる modifies a following noun.
Structure
[Noun] + をめぐって ／ [Noun] + をめぐる + [Noun]
Examples
その土地をめぐって、二つの村が争っている。
Sono tochi o megutte, futatsu no mura ga arasotte iru.
Two villages are in conflict over that land.
土地 (land) + をめぐって marks the contested topic of the dispute.
新しい法律をめぐって激しい議論が続いた。
Atarashii houritsu o megutte hageshii giron ga tsuzuita.
A heated debate continued over the new law.
法律 (law) + をめぐって shows the issue the debate centers on.
遺産をめぐる争いが家族を分裂させた。
Isan o meguru arasoi ga kazoku o bunretsu saseta.
The dispute over the inheritance split the family apart.
をめぐる modifies 争い to mean 'the conflict concerning the inheritance'.
• Strongly implies conflicting opinions, debate, or competition around the topic. • をめぐる is used before a noun; をめぐって works adverbially. • Register: formal/written, common in news reports.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones をめぐって／をめぐる is tested against.
vs について
について neutrally means 'about (a topic)', while をめぐって implies debate, dispute, or competing views around it.
vs に関して
に関して is a neutral formal 'regarding', whereas をめぐって specifically frames the topic as a point of contention.
More expressions
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