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一房の葡萄

A Bunch of Grapes

by Takeo Arishima

A boy steals a classmate’s paints, and his teacher gives him grapes.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Beginner3,497 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
僕はI (topic)小さいsmall / young時にwhen (I) was絵をpictures (object)描くdrawことがthe act of (nominalizer + subject marker)好きliked / fond ofでしたwas (polite past copula)
When I was small, I liked to draw pictures.
僕のmy通っていたwas attending学校はthe school (topic)横浜のof Yokohama山の手というcalled Yamate所にin a placeありましたがwas, butそこいらはthat area (topic)西洋人ばかりonly Westerners住んでいるwere living町でa town, and僕のmy学校もmy school too教師はthe teachers (topic)西洋人ばかりall Westernersでしたwere
The school I went to was in a place called Yamate in Yokohama, but that area was a town where only Westerners lived, and at my school too, the teachers were all Westerners.
そしてandそのthat学校schoolのof行きgoingかorえりreturningにon (the way)はas forいつでもalwaysホテルhotelsやand (such as)西洋人Westernersの's会社companiesなどand suchが(subject marker)ならんでいるwere lined up海岸seasideの通りstreetをalong通るpassed throughのでしたused to (past habitual)
And on the way to and from that school, I always went along the seaside street where hotels and Westerners' companies and such stood in a row.

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About the book

Hitofusa no Budō (A Bunch of Grapes) is a short story (fairy tale) by Takeo Arishima, first published in the August 1920 issue of the magazine Akai Tori. In the opening, the narrator steals a classmate's paints, and the teacher gives him a bunch of grapes. It is a brief work suited to readers interested in Arishima's writing for children.

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.

舶来の上等のもので Customs

“舶来” refers to goods imported from Europe and America. In the Meiji and Taishō periods it was a byword for things high-class and fashionable.

受持ちの先生 Social role

“受持ち” refers to the teacher in charge of a particular class—its homeroom teacher. The protagonist sees this teacher as someone approachable, someone to turn to for help.

About the author

Takeo Arishima (March 4, 1878 – June 9, 1923) was a Japanese novelist, short-story writer, and essayist active during the late Meiji and Taishō periods. His two younger brothers, Ikuma Arishima and Ton Satomi, were also authors, and his son was the internationally known film and stage actor Masayuki Mori.

Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: 一房の葡萄 (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 “Beginner”. Every word is glossed, so you can keep reading even with a small vocabulary.

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English and Chinese glosses are prepared in advance; signed-in readers can generate other languages.

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