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保吉の手帳から

by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

Short sketches from the notebook of Yasukichi, a young teacher.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Intermediate3,546 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.

わんwoof (dog barking sound)
Wan
ある冬の日の暮one winter evening保吉はYasuke (topic)薄汚いレストランの二階にon the second floor of a dirty restaurant脂臭い焼パンをa greasy baked bread (object)齧っていたwas gnawing
One winter evening, Yasuke was upstairs in a dirty restaurant, eating a greasy baked bread.
彼のhisテエブルのtable's前にin front ofあるis locatedのはthe thing that is亀裂のcrack's入ったthat has formed (in)白壁white wallだったwas
In front of his table was a white wall with cracks.
そこにはthere / at that place (topic)またalso / again斜かいにat a slant / diagonallyホットあたたかいサンドウィッチhot (warm) sandwichesもありますwe also have (polite)と書いたthat said / reading (quote + wrote)細長い紙long, thin paperが貼りつけてあったwas stuck on / had been pasted up
There also, stuck at a slant, was a long, thin piece of paper that said, 'We also have hot sandwiches.'

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About the book

Written as the notebook of a schoolteacher named Yasukichi, this passage follows him nibbling greasy toasted bread in a shabby restaurant while waiting for an English club meeting that evening, interspersed with small observations of the people around him. The prose reads plainly and casually, with a dry, self-deprecating everyday 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.

土岐哀果氏の歌 Allusion

Toki Aika (1885–1980) was a tanka poet who championed writing tanka in colloquial language. The poem describes being away from home, chewing an unappetising steak while longing for his wife. Yasukichi keeps recalling this poem, then mocks himself: 「恋しがるはずの妻はまだ貰ってはいなかった」 ('the wife I was supposed to long for, I had not yet married').

エサウは焼肉のために長子権を抛ち Allusion

From the Old Testament Book of Genesis: Esau (エサウ), returning famished from hunting, sold his birthright as firstborn to his younger brother Jacob for a bowl of stew—the classic example of 'selling one's dignity to satisfy one's appetite.' Yasukichi likens himself to this, as one who 'became a teacher for bread,' with self-mockery.

De gustibus non est Disputandum Allusion

A Latin proverb meaning 'there is no disputing about tastes.' The following line, 「蓼食う虫も好き好き」, is a corresponding Japanese saying (the leaves of the smartweed are pungent, yet some insects relish them), expressing that everyone has their own likes.

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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