Having troubles understanding aspect in Japanese (unclear word choice in this sentence written by native)


I'm reading the Genki books and there was this story about an old man who was
poor so he went to the market to sell some hats he had made. He didn't manage
to sell any and is now returning home, which is described like this:

おじいさんは長い山道を歩いて帰りました。

So they used the -ta form: "kaerimashita". I have read in multiple places that
the -ta form, when used with an action verb, indicates something closest to
the perfective aspect and/or a completed action, which in our case would
translate to "returnED home on foot". But the words 長い山道を clearly leave only a
continuous interpretation possible: "was returnING home on foot", plus after
this sentence the story actually went on to describe the man's adventures
while walking so there's NO way the verb here is perfective/describes a
completed action. So can someone please explain to me why "kaerimashita" is
used here and _not_ "kaette imashita"?

The only explanation I can think of is that I know that verbs that affect the
subject in some way (physical motion/change/emotional development etc.) are
most often interpreted with focus on the _result_ of the verb process. Does
this then mean that

...歩いて帰っていました。

would be translated as "HAD returned home" which is clearly wrong so
"kaerimashita" has to be used instead, and is thus not taking its usual
perfective/completed action interpretation? Or is there another reason for why
the -ta form is used here?

Sorry about the long post. And thanks in advance for your help!




I don't understand why you think "長い山道を clearly leave only a continuous
interpretation possible".

As for the story evolving things that happened on his way home, it doesn't
necessarily have to progress according to the exact temporal order, does it?
And I don't think it'd be that unnatural to use 帰った even if you haven't fully
reached home.

帰っていました can be translated to "was going home" (though this usage is less
frequent) besides "had returned home" depending on contexts.

