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影

by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

A Yokohama merchant suspects his wife and meets his own double.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Intermediate3,573 characters · ≈ 14 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.

横浜Yokohama
Yokohama.
日華洋行の主人the owner of Nikka Yoko陳彩はChen Cai (topic)机にon the desk背広の両肘をboth elbows of his suit (object)凭せてresting/leaning (and)火の消えたwhose fire had gone out葉巻をcigar (object)啣えたままwith it held in his mouth今日もtoday too / as usual today堆いpiled-up商用書類にon business papers繁忙な眼をbusy eyes (object)曝していたwas casting/exposing
Chen Cai, the owner of Nikka Yoko, rested both elbows of his suit on the desk, kept a dead cigar in his mouth, and as usual today, cast busy eyes over a pile of business papers.
更紗の窓掛けprinted cotton window curtainをobject marker垂れたhung (past form of 垂れる)部屋の内inside of the roomにはin (topic marker)不相変as before / still残暑の寂寞loneliness of the lingering summer heatがsubject marker息苦しいくらいto the point of being suffocating支配していたwas ruling / had dominion
Inside the room with the printed cotton window curtain hanging, the loneliness of the lingering summer heat still ruled, almost suffocating.
そのthat寂寞を破るbreak the lonelinessものはthe thing that ... wasニスの匀のするvarnished (having a coat of varnish)戸の向うからfrom beyond the door時々sometimesここへhere (to this place)聞えて来るcome to be heardかすかなfaintタイプライタアの音the sound of a typewriterだけであったwas only
The only thing that broke that loneliness was the faint sound of a typewriter, sometimes heard here from beyond the varnished door.

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About the book

A Yokohama merchant named Chen Cai suspects his wife of infidelity, yet keeps encountering another version of himself in the scenes that follow. The opening, set in a sultry late-summer office with a phone call, carries a subdued, quietly lonely atmosphere.

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.

Do I need to pay or sign up?

Library books are free to read without an account. Other gloss languages and importing your own texts need an account and credits.

What level is it?

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

Can I use another gloss language?

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

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