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袈裟と盛遠

Kesa and Morito

by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Morito and Kesa each speak alone on the night of a planned murder.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Advanced3,289 characters · ≈ 13 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.

上up; above
First
夜at night盛遠Moritooがsubject marker築土mud wallのof外outsideでat/in (location marker)月魄moonをobject marker眺めながらwhile gazing at落葉fallen leavesをobject marker踏んでstepping on物思いに耽っているis lost in thought
At night, Moritoo stands outside the mud wall, looking at the moon, stepping on fallen leaves, lost in thought.
そのthat独白monologue
His monologue
もうalready月moonのof (possessive/linking particle)出rising (appearance)だis (copula)なisn't it (tag-like sentence-ending particle)
"The moon is already rising.

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About the book

The passage opens with Morito's monologue on a moonlit night, as he confesses that he must kill a man he does not hate and admits his feelings for Kesa were tangled with desire and lingering obsession. It reads like an intimate self-interrogation, moving between confession and self-justification with a heavy, uneasy tone.

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.

築土 Customs

Refers to the earthen walls (dobei) surrounding the mansions of Heian nobles. A mansion's grounds were enclosed by these walls, with lanes outside them. When Moritō lingers outside the earthen wall at night gazing at the moon, he is standing outside another person's mansion, in a position of wanting to enter but not yet having done so.

歌の稽古 Customs

Since the Heian period, composing waka was an essential accomplishment for nobles and high-ranking warriors in courtship and social life. Studying waka specifically in order to win a wife was regarded at the time as an earnest and serious means of courtship.

傀儡の女 Customs

Kugutsu were wandering women who travelled from place to place, performing puppetry and other entertainments. They appear in Heian-period documents, held low status, and sometimes also worked as prostitutes. Here Moritō uses the term self-mockingly, saying that his lust is inferior even to that of men who buy kugutsu women.

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 “Advanced”. 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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