葱
A writer on deadline tells of a café waitress and some scallions.
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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.
About the book
This text begins with a writer who, the night before his deadline, resolves to finish a story in one sitting—a story about a café waitress named Okin and the friction between her and an older coworker, Omatsu. The opening shifts from self-mocking remarks about being forced to write into the everyday scene of the café, reading like casual, wry chatter with a light, teasing 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.
Takehisa Yumeji (1884–1934) was a painter of the late Meiji and Taishō periods, famous for his bijin-ga (portraits of beautiful women). His subjects were mostly young women with parted hair and a cool, melancholy air, and they enjoyed great popularity. Here his painted figures are invoked to describe O-Kimi's posture.
Rōshō / rōkyoku is a form of popular storytelling performance accompanied by the shamisen. O-Kimi cites 'listening to rōshō and eating mamekan' as evidence that Omatsu's tastes are vulgar; mamekan was a cheap sweet eaten by ordinary people at the time.
Nasu no Otogizōshi (The Cuckoo) is a novel by Tokutomi Roka serialised in 1898–99, a bestselling domestic tragedy of the Meiji period in which the heroine, Namiko, is divorced by her husband's family after contracting tuberculosis. Together with Shimazaki Tōson's Tōson Shishū, it was a fashionable book that maids and schoolgirls competed to read; the list here shows O-Kimi's reading tastes.
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.
Can I use another gloss language?
English and Chinese glosses are prepared in advance; signed-in readers can generate other languages.
More by this author
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- In a GroveRyūnosuke Akutagawa · Advanced
- KappaRyūnosuke Akutagawa · Advanced
- 魔術Ryūnosuke Akutagawa · Intermediate