手始めは、三大宗教の聖地、エルサレムを訪れることだった。

Sentence Analyzer

English Translation

For a start, I visited Jerusalem - a sacred place for three major religions.

Furigana

手始(てはじ)めは、三(さん)大(だい)宗教(しゅうきょう)の聖地(せいち)、エルサレムを訪(おとず)れることだった。

Romanji

Tehajime wa, san dai shūkyō no seichi, Erusaremu o otozureru koto datta.

Words

手始め (てはじめ)

outset; start; beginning

は (は)

topic marker particle; indicates contrast with another option (stated or unstated); adds emphasis

三 (さん、み)

three; tri-

大 (おお)

big; large

宗教 (しゅうきょう)

religion; religious affiliation; belief; faith; creed; religious activity

の (の)

indicates possessive; nominalizes verbs and adjectives; substitutes for "ga" in subordinate phrases; (at sentence-end, falling tone) indicates a confident conclusion; (at sentence-end) indicates emotional emphasis; (at sentence-end, rising tone) indicates question

聖地 (せいち)

sacred place; holy ground; the Holy Land

を (を)

indicates direct object of action; indicates subject of causative expression; indicates an area traversed; indicates time (period) over which action takes place; indicates point of departure or separation of action; indicates object of desire, like, hate, etc.

訪れる (おとずれる、おとづれる)

to visit; to call on; to arrive; to come; to appear

事 (こと、こん)

thing; matter; incident; occurrence; event; something serious; trouble; crisis; circumstances; situation; state of affairs; work; business; affair; after an inflectable word, creates a noun phrase indicating something the speaker does not feel close to; nominalizing suffix; pretending to ...; playing make-believe ...; alias; aka; nickname; alternative name; also known as

だ (だ)

be; is; indicates past or completed action; indicates light imperative