草枕
Kusamakura
A painter climbs a mountain path to a hot spring, musing on art.
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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
Kusamakura is a novel by Natsume Sōseki, published in 1906 in Shin-Shōsetsu. Set in Naguino Hot Spring (modeled on Koda Hot Spring in Kumamoto Prefecture), it follows a painter on a mountain journey to a hot spring resort and depicts what Sōseki called the world of "non-human sentiment" (hi-ninjō). Its famous opening, beginning "Climbing the mountain path, I thought...", is especially well known, and the work is regarded as an early masterpiece.
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.
「霊台」 and 「方寸」 are both old Chinese terms for the heart ("霊台" appears in the Zhuangzi, "方寸之地" in the Records of the Three Kingdoms). Here the traditional word for the heart is placed alongside the camera, a Western device newly introduced at the time—an example of Sōseki's customary blending of Japanese, Chinese, and Western elements.
"万乗の君" (ruler of ten thousand chariots), from the Mencius, the Records of the Grand Historian, and other classics, denotes the sovereign of a great state; "千金の子" comes from the Records of the Grand Historian's chapter on merchants and refers to the son of a wealthy family. Sōseki layers these two Chinese idioms to say that one who can attain artistic contemplation and escape the mundane world is happier than an emperor or a rich man's son.
This refers to "To a Skylark" (1820), the famous poem by the English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822). The five lines quoted are one stanza of the original, lamenting that we are always trapped by the past and the future, and that our sweetest songs always contain our deepest sorrow. This directly echoes the discussion below that poets feel more sorrow than ordinary people.
About the author
Natsume Sōseki (9 February 1867 – 9 December 1916), born Natsume Kinnosuke, was a Japanese novelist, poet, and scholar regarded as one of the greatest writers in modern Japanese history. His major works include I Am a Cat, Botchan, Sanshirō, Kokoro, and his unfinished final novel Light and Dark.
Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: 草枕 (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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This one is marked “Advanced”. Every word is glossed, so you can keep reading even with a small vocabulary.
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