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城のある町にて

by Motojirō Kajii

After his sister’s death, a young man stays in a castle town.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Advanced3,538 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.

あるone (unspecified)午後afternoon
One afternoon
高いとこのhigh place眺め's (possessive/modifying particle)はas for the viewアアッahemと(quotative particle)咳をしてcoughing (and)またagain格段でごわすなis special, sir
"The view from high up is, ahem (coughs), special again, sir."
片手にin one hand洋傘Western umbrella片手にin the other hand扇子とa fan and日本手拭Japanese towelを(object marker)持っているis holding
In one hand a Western umbrella, in the other a fan and a Japanese towel.
頭がhis head (subject marker)奇麗にcleanly, neatly禿げていてwas bald, andカンカン帽子can-can hatを(object marker)冠っているis wearingのがthe fact that (nominalizer + subject marker)まるでjust like, as if栓をa stopper (object marker)はめたhad been put inようにas if, like見えるlooks, appears
His head was cleanly bald, and wearing a can-can hat looked just like a stopper was put in.

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About the book

After his sister’s death, a young man stays in a castle town.

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.

五七日 Customs

In Buddhist funeral rites, the 'five-sevens day' falls on the thirty-fifth day after death, the 'fifth seven' memorial service. Japanese funerals were influenced by Buddhism, with services held every seven days throughout the forty-nine days of mourning. Saying here that 'the five-sevens day has not yet passed' means the sister died less than five weeks earlier, so the mourning period is not over.

二里 History

A traditional Japanese unit of distance: one ri is about 3.9 kilometres, so two ri is nearly eight. Although the metric system was adopted after the Meiji era, 'ri' remained common in literature and everyday speech for expressing distances.

カンカン帽子 Customs

The kankan hat is a flat-topped stiff straw hat (a boater), fashionable from the Meiji era to the early Shōwa period and worn for sun protection in summer. The original text says the old man's bald head in this hat looked 'like a stopper in a bottle'—a simile playing on the shape of the stiff, flat crown.

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 “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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