序じょ幕まく

noun, noun which may take the genitive case particle 'no'

curtain-raiser; prologue

Refers to the opening act of a play or, by extension, the beginning of an event. Often used metaphorically for the start of something significant.

• その事じ件けんは戦せん争そうの序じょ幕まくとなった。

  That incident became the prologue to the war.

• 式しき典てんの序じょ幕まくは国こっ歌か斉せい唱しょうで始はじまった。

  The ceremony's curtain-raiser began with the national anthem.