A-たように-B Clarification


I was looking up this pattern on here today because I'm still a tiny bit
unsure of the exact meaning.

Although there are multiple questions about this, I've found that the meaning
varies slightly based on which one you read.

For example, the following says that A-たように-B means "to do B as it was done
when A":

[Difference between だったように and
のように](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/48173/difference-
between-%E3%81%A0%E3%81%A3%E3%81%9F%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB-
and-%E3%81%AE%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB)

Whereas this says that A-たように-B means "to do B as if doing A":

[Ta form + ように + phrase with verb meaning/usage e.g.
拗ねたように頬を膨らませる](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/18153/ta-
form-%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB-phrase-with-verb-meaning-usage-
e-g-%E6%8B%97%E3%81%AD%E3%81%9F%E3%82%88%E3%81%86%E3%81%AB%E9%A0%AC%E3%82%92%E8%86%A8%E3%82%89%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9B%E3%82%8B)

Based on this, I'm not sure which translation is correct for the following
sentence:

> 子供の頃に作ったように雪で人や獣の像を作り、四方の壁に飾る。
>
>   1. Make statues of people and beasts out of snow as you did when you were
> a child, and decorate them on all four walls.
>   2. Make statues of people and beasts out of snow as **if** you did when
> you were a child, and decorate them on all four walls.
>

I know the "if" is small here and I'm probably just tying myself up in knots
unnecessarily, but 2. hints that she never did it as a child, and she's doing
it now as _if_ she had.

Can anyone kindly shed some light for me?




The first translation is correct.

In the second [link](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/18153/43676), the
verbs used before ように, namely [拗]{す}ねる, [諦]{あきら}める, and [思]{おも}い[切]{き}る, all
describe a person’s state of mind. You cannot tell for sure that another
person is in a particular state of mind. You rely on what you can observe from
the outside for that judgment. That’s where the verbs in the main clause come
in. They all describe a person’s external behavior, namely [頬]{ほほ}をふくらませる,
小さく[頷]{うなず}く, and 口を[開]{ひら}く. Each sentence is saying that the way the person
in question behaved made her look as if she was in the said state of mind.

作る in your example, on the other hand, describes a concrete action. If you see
someone making a snow statue, you can tell for sure she is making a snow
statue. Besides, the same verb is used in the main clause, too. The sentence
is simply comparing two concrete actions, now and then. She did make snow
statues when she was a child.

If she didn’t make snow statues when she was a child yet she is making them as
if she had, then the sentence would be something like:

> （あたかも）子供の頃に作ったかのように雪で人や獣の像を作り、四方の壁に飾る。

This expresses the idea of an unreal "as if".

