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尾生の信

by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Wei Sheng waits under a bridge for his lover as the water rises.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Intermediate1,632 characters · ≈ 7 minSource: 青空文库

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Sample: three-line reading

Each word has its meaning in this sentence underneath, and each sentence has a full translation. Read the original and glance down only when you need to.

尾生Weisheng (a person's name)はtopic marker橋bridgeのpossessive/linking particle下underにlocation particle: at/in佇んでstanding still (te-form of 佇む)さっきa little while agoからsince/from女womanのparticle linking to the following clause来るto comeのnominalizerをobject marker待っているis waiting
Weisheng stood under the bridge, waiting for the woman who had been supposed to come for some time.
見上げるとwhen one looks up高い石の橋欄にはon the high stone railing of the bridge蔦蘿がivy (tsuta-kazura)半ば這いかかってhad half crept over時々now and thenその間をthrough between it通りすぎるpass through往来の人の白衣の裾がthe hems of the white garments of the passersby鮮かな入日にin the bright setting sun照らされながらwhile being lit悠々とfreely / leisurely風に吹かれて行くgo blowing in the wind
Looking up, on the high stone rail of the bridge, ivy had half crept over, and now and then the white hems of passersby's clothes, as they went through between the ivy, shone in the bright setting sun and blew freely in the wind.
がbut女the womanはtopic marker未だにstill来comeないdid not
But the woman still did not come.
尾生はWeisheng (topic marker)そっとsoftly口笛を鳴しwhistled (a tune)ながらwhile気軽くcasually橋の下の洲をthe sandbar under the bridge (object)見渡したsurveyed / looked over
Weisheng softly whistled as he lightly glanced over the sandbar under the bridge.

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About the book

The passage depicts Yoko waiting under a bridge for the woman he loves as the tide slowly rises around him. The pace is unhurried, with quiet natural detail heightening a mounting sense of unease and stillness.

Cultural notes (selection)

Background a translation can’t carry: social roles, history and allusions. While reading, tap “Note” at the end of a sentence to see them all.

尾生 Allusion

From the 'Robber Zhi' chapter of the Zhuangzi: Weisheng made an appointment with a woman under a bridge. She did not come; the water rose, and he would not leave, so he died clinging to the bridge pillar. Akutagawa's story is a reworking of this allusion. Readers who do not know its source may mistake it for an ordinary love scene.

二坪 Customs

'坪' (tsubo) is a Japanese unit of area; one tsubo is roughly 3.3 square metres. Do not take the phrase literally as 'two flat plots of land'.

生を人間に託さなければならなくなった Style

A Buddhist idea of reincarnation: after the soul has passed through countless cycles of birth and death, it must once again be reborn as a human being.

About the author

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1 March 1892 – 24 July 1927), also known by his art name Chōkōdō Shujin, was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period who is regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story". He died by suicide at the age of 35 through an overdose of barbital, and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him.

How the glosses are made

Word glosses and sentence translations are generated in context by AI models (DeepSeek and Zhipu GLM), and every word is checked to have a gloss. AI can make mistakes; you can report problems from the book page.

FAQ

Is this the original text?

Yes. The library holds the opening section of the public-domain original, taken from 青空文库.

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What level is it?

This one is marked “Intermediate”. Every word is glossed, so you can keep reading even with a small vocabulary.

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English and Chinese glosses are prepared in advance; signed-in readers can generate other languages.

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