忘れえぬ人々
Unforgettable People
At an inn, a writer tells a stranger of people he can never forget.
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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
The text opens at a lonely inn in the post town of Mizoguchi along the Tamagawa River, where a traveler arriving from Kawasaki pushes through the door on a cold, snowy evening in early March. It sets the scene before the inn's residents tell of a few passersby they cannot forget.
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.
In old-style inns, guests would summon the staff by clapping their hands, a practice called 「手を鳴らす」. The "六番" (number six) that the landlord calls out refers to the guest in room six; addressing guests by their room number was a customary practice at post stations of the time.
Musashino is the general name for the broad stretch of fields and uplands in the old Musashi province, roughly covering the Tama area of Tokyo down to southern Saitama Prefecture today. Kunikida Doppo wrote about the mixed woods and desolate scenery of this area in his essay "Musashino."
In the Meiji period, calling cards served as social tools for indicating one's identity and occupation, and exchanging them at a first meeting was a matter of etiquette. Neither of the two men's cards bears a title, showing that they are obscure young men with no fixed profession or standing.
About the author
Doppo Kunikida (30 August 1871 – 23 June 1908) was a Japanese author of novels and romantic poetry during the Meiji period. He is noted as one of the inventors of Japanese naturalism.
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.