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少年

by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

On a bus at Christmas, Yasukichi recalls scenes from his boyhood.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Intermediate3,403 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.

一one (as a heading or item number)クリスマスChristmas
One: Christmas
昨年のクリスマスの午後on a Christmas afternoon last year堀川保吉はHorikawa Yasukichi (topic)須田町の角からfrom the corner of Sudacho新橋行のbound for Shinbashi乗合自働車にonto the omnibus乗ったgot on
Last year on a Christmas afternoon, Horikawa Yasukichi got on a bus at the corner of Sudacho, heading to Shinbashi.
彼の席his seatだけはあったonly ... existed / there was onlyもののalthough; though自働車の中はinside the bus / the interior of the automobile不相変身動きさえ出来ぬas usual, unable even to move満員であるwas packed full / full to capacity
Though only his seat was there, the bus was as full as ever, so full that one could not even move.
のみならずnot only震災後のafter the earthquake東京のTokyo's道路はthe roads (topic)自働車をthe car/automobile (object)躍らすto make (it) jump/bounceこともalso the act of一通りではないis not ordinary / is no small matter
Not only that, the roads of Tokyo after the earthquake made the bus jump in no small way.

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About the book

The passage follows Yasukichi on a crowded bus on Christmas afternoon, where he watches a missionary absorbed in a book, gives up on his own reading, and drifts into idle fantasies after a girl boards and is offered a seat. The reading experience is dry and observant, laced with mild irony as everyday bus scenes clash gently with the holiday and religious imagery.

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.

震災後の東京の道路 History

Refers to Tokyo after the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake. The earthquake and fires devastated large parts of the city; road repairs lagged behind and the streets were full of potholes and uneven surfaces. The phrase "自働車を躍らす" in the text describes the jolting ride of a car on such roads.

ベツレヘムに生まれた赤児 Allusion

Bethlehem is, according to the New Testament, the birthplace of Jesus. Christmas, 25 December, commemorates the birth of Jesus, which is why the text says "二千年前の今月今日" (two thousand years ago, this very month and day).

ガリラヤの湖にあらしを迎えたクリストの船 Allusion

Refers to Mark 4:35–41 in the New Testament: Jesus and his disciples encounter a storm on the Sea of Galilee (ガリラヤ in Japanese); the boat nearly capsizes, and Jesus rebukes the wind and waves and calms them. Here the story is used as a metaphor for how violently the car jolts.

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.

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