桜の樹の下には
Under the Cherry Trees
“There are corpses buried under the cherry trees!” A famous monologue.
- Authentic text: the opening of a public-domain original
- Word-by-word glosses and translation in English or Chinese, free
- Tap a word for its meaning, listen to the sentence, save words
- Reads in any phone or desktop browser, nothing to download
Want to read your own Japanese light novels? Read the guide →
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.
About the book
The text opens with the monologue that corpses are buried beneath the cherry trees, following the narrator from unease at the flowers' beauty to a vision of rotting bodies feeding the roots, through which he finally grasps that beauty. It reads like a hallucinatory, dark and eerie piece.
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.
The safety razor is the Gillette-style T-shaped razor with replaceable blades, introduced to Japan from Europe and America in the late Meiji period, and by the Taishō era it had spread as an everyday item. The original text deliberately points out that it is a "ちっぽけな薄っぺらい" (small and thin) object in the home, highlighting how such an unremarkable thing nonetheless lingers stubbornly in the mind.
Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty in Greek mythology, said to have been born from the foam rising on the surface of the sea. Here the comparison is used to describe a mayfly emerging as an adult from the spray of a stream.
A Japanese custom of feasting under the cherry trees while viewing the blossoms. By the modern era it had become a major spring entertainment for ordinary people, and gathering to drink sake and share food beneath the cherry blossoms was a common sight. In the text, the "村人たち" are holding their banquet under the cherry trees, and the speaker measures himself against them, wondering whether he can share in their joy.
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.
More by this author
- LemonMotojirō Kajii · Intermediate
- The Ascension of KMotojirō Kajii · Intermediate
- Winter DaysMotojirō Kajii · Advanced
- 城のある町にてMotojirō Kajii · Advanced
- Winter FliesMotojirō Kajii · Advanced
- 闇の絵巻Motojirō Kajii · Intermediate
- 愛撫Motojirō Kajii · Intermediate
- 蒼穹Motojirō Kajii · Intermediate