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点鬼簿

by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

The narrator remembers his mad mother, his sister and his father.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Advanced3,393 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
One
僕のmy母motherはtopic marker狂人madwomanだったwas
My mother was a madwoman.
僕はI (topic)一度もnot even once僕の母にtoward my mother母らしいmotherly親しみをcloseness (object)感じたfeltことはないhave never (experienced)
I have never felt any motherly closeness to my mother.
僕の母はmy mother (topic)髪をher hair (object)櫛巻きにしstyled it in a kushi-maki (comb-roll) bunいつもalways芝の実家にat her family home in Shibaたった一人all alone坐りながらwhile sitting長煙管でwith a long pipeすぱすぱpuffing away煙草をtobacco (object)吸っているis smoking
My mother wore her hair in a bun and always sat alone in her family home in Shiba, puffing on a long pipe.

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About the book

'Tenkibo' (The Register of the Dead) is a short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, written in September 1926 and classified among his later works. Narrated by 'I', it recalls the narrator's mad mother, an elder sister who died young, and the father. As one of Akutagawa's late short stories, it reflects his recollections of family and departed kin.

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.

櫛巻き Customs

A common hairstyle for women in modern Japan: the hair is coiled into a tube shape on top of the head and fixed with a comb. The original text describes the mother wearing this hairstyle, which was everyday attire for married women at the time.

新銭座 History

A place name in Tokyo, in Shiba ward (today's Minato ward). In the Edo period the shogunate's mint was located here, which is where the name "Shinsenza" came from. In the text it is mentioned alongside Tsukiji, marking the route Hatsuko took from her home to the kindergarten.

木瓜 Customs

The Japanese word 木瓜 (boke) refers to a plant of the rose family, a type of flowering quince that bears red or white flowers in spring, not the tropical fruit papaya.

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.

Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: 点鬼簿 (CC BY-SA)

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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