豚吉とヒョロ子
A short, stout man and a tall, thin woman in a comic tale.
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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.
About the book
This text tells of Butakichi and Hyoroko, two oddly shaped villagers whom the townspeople push into marriage, only for the pair to run away hand in hand on their wedding night. It reads like a fairy tale—brisk and playful, with a quiet sympathy for two people treated as curiosities.
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.
A daimyō, the lord of a feudal domain in the Edo period. A daimyō's wedding emphasised family pedigree and ceremonial protocol, with processions and dowries of the utmost extravagance. Among common people it was a byword for 'the most magnificent wedding'.
A Shinto priest, the religious official of a shrine, responsible for conducting rites and ceremonies before the gods. In the story, the wedding takes place in the 'open square before the shrine' and is presided over by a Shinto priest in ceremonial dress.
A temari, a traditional Japanese toy: a round ball wound tightly with thread, full and spherical. The coachman uses it to describe豚吉's plump, rounded figure, in contrast to ヒョロ子 being tall and thin like a '棹' (a long pole).
About the author
Yumeno Kyūsaku (4 January 1889 – 11 March 1936) was a Japanese author whose pen name roughly means "a person who always dreams"; his real name was Sugiyama Yasumichi. He wrote detective novels and also worked as a Zen priest, post office director and sub-lieutenant, and is known for his avant-gardism and surrealistic, wildly imaginative and bizarre narratives.
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 “Beginner”. 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.