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路上

by Motojirō Kajii

A new shortcut home turns slippery and unsettling in the rain.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Intermediate3,599 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.

自分がI (subject marker)その道をthat road (object marker)見つけたfoundのはthe fact that; it was ... that卯の花のof the white flowers (deutzia)咲く時分the time when they bloomであったwas
It was when the white flowers were blooming that I found that road.
Ｅの停留所stop Eからfromでもeven / also帰るgo homeことができるcan (do)
I can also go home from stop E.
しかもmoreoverＭ停留所からの距離the distance from stop Mとさして違わないnot much different fromというthat (quotative)発見はthe discovery (topic)大層very much自分をme (object)喜ばせたmade happy
The discovery that the distance from stop M was not much different made me very happy.
変化を喜ぶto delight in change心heart / feelingとandも一つはone more thing is友人の許へ行くのにfor going to my friend's placeＭからだとif from M大変大廻りになるbecomes a huge detour電車がthe trainＥからだとif from E比較にならないほどto an incomparable degree近かったwas closeからだったit was because
It was because I liked the change, and also because the train that made a big detour from M to go to my friend's place was much closer from E.

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About the book

The passage recounts how the narrator discovers a shorter way home from station E and starts taking that new route regularly, noticing the trams, houses, and trees along the line. It reads at an unhurried, essay-like pace, like notes taken on a walk, attentive to small everyday sights.

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.

検索表 Customs

Refers to a botanical identification key, a handbook used to identify plant species by checking their flower and leaf characteristics one item at a time. Such reference tools were commonly supplied in middle-school natural history education at the time.

軟球を打ち合っている Customs

Refers to soft tennis (軟式テニス), played with a soft rubber ball and rackets lighter and narrower than those used in regular tennis. It spread through Japanese schools from the late Meiji period and was commonly seen on school grounds and empty lots from the Taishō era into the early Shōwa era.

殻斗科の花や青葉の匂い Style

The family 殻斗科 (Fagaceae, the beech family) includes acorn-bearing trees such as oaks and chinquapins. The author uses the botanical classification name rather than the everyday one, highlighting the narrator's schoolboy-like observational eye.

About the author

Motojirō Kajii (February 17, 1901 – March 24, 1932) was a Japanese writer of the early Shōwa period known for his poetic short stories, including "Lemon," "In a Castle Town," "Winter Days," and "Beneath the Cherry Trees." His works were praised by fellow writers such as Yasunari Kawabata and Yukio Mishima, and are admired today for their finely tuned self-observation and descriptive power.

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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