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無惨

by Ruikō Kuroiwa

Often called Japan’s first detective story; it opens on a corpse.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Advanced2,189 characters · ≈ 9 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.

無惨cruelty序preface
The Cruelty Preface
日本探偵小説の嚆矢the beginning of Japanese detective fictionとはas for (topic marker)此無惨this Cruelty (title)を云うなりis called無惨とはas for Cruelty面白しis interesting如何なること柄what kind of mattersを書しものthings that were writtenを無惨と云うかare called Cruelty?是れは此れthis当時都新聞の主筆者the chief editor of the Miyako Newspaper at the time涙香小史君がRui Kō Shōshi's得意の怪筆skillful strange penを染めwielded去年築地河岸海軍原に於てlast year at the Navy Field on the Tsukiji riverbank人殺のありしことa murder that happenedを作り設けfabricated and set up之れに探偵の事項detective matters to itを附会してattaching and connecting著作せし小説なりis a novel he wrote予本書を読むにwhen I read this book始めに探偵談at the start, a detective talkを設けてsets up夫よりthen犯罪の事柄に移りmoves to the crime mattersお紺と云う一婦人a woman called Okonを捜索してsearches for証拠人に宛てaddresses her as a witness之れが口供よりfrom her testimony遂いにfinally犯罪者を知るを得るに至るcomes to be able to know the criminal始末the course of events老練の探偵がthe veteran detective自慢天狗proud like a tengu若年の探偵がthe young detective理学的論理的を以てwith physical and logical reasoning一々警部に対ってone by one toward the police inspector答弁するごときsuch as answering皆なall意表に出てgo beyond expectation人の胆を冷しmake people's livers cold人の心を寒らしむるmake people's hearts cold等etc.実に奇々怪々としてtruly strange and wonderful読者の心裡を娯ましむentertain the reader's mind此書やthis book涙香君事情ありてRui Kō had circumstances and予に賜うgave it to me予印刷してI printed以て発布せしむand published it世評尤もpublic opinion especially涙香君の奇筆Rui Kō's strange penを喜びliked之を慕いてadmired it其著書訳述に係る小説とhis authored and translated novelsを求めんと欲しwanted to seek続々投書山を為すletters came one after another like a mountain之をもって之を見ればseeing this君が文事に於けるhis literary work亦た羨むべしis also enviable嗚呼涙香君はAh, Rui Kō如何なる才を持てwhat talent does he have筆を採るやto pick up the pen?如何なる技を持ってwhat skill does he have小説を作るやto make novels?余は敢て知らずI dare not know知らざる故にbecause I do not know之れを慕うI admire him慕うと雖もthough I admire him亦た及ばずI also cannot reach him是れ即ち天賦の文才にしてthis is indeed a heaven-given literary talent到底追慕するもeven if chasing it after all亦画餠に属すればなりit also belongs to a painted rice cakeと予は筆を投じてso I threw down my pen嗟嘆して止みぬsighed and stopped
The beginning of Japanese detective fiction is called this Cruelty. Cruelty is interesting. What kind of things written are called Cruelty? This is a novel that Rui Kō Shōshi, the chief editor of the Miyako Newspaper at the time, wrote with his skillful strange pen, based on a murder that happened last year at the Navy Field on the Tsukiji riverbank, and added detective matters to it. When I read this book, it starts with a detective talk, then moves to the crime, searches for a woman called Okon, sends her to a witness, and from her testimony finally comes to know the criminal. The veteran detective who is proud like a tengu, and the young detective who answers the police inspector one by one with physical and logical reasoning, all go beyond expectation and make people's livers cold and people's hearts cold, truly strange and wonderful, entertaining the reader's mind. This book, Rui Kō had circumstances and gave it to me. I printed and published it. Public opinion especially liked Rui Kō's strange pen, admired it, and wanted to seek his authored and translated novels, and letters came one after another like a mountain. Seeing this, his literary work is also enviable. Ah, Rui Kō, what talent does he have to pick up the pen? What skill does he have to make novels? I dare not know. Because I do not know, I admire him. Though I admire him, I also cannot reach him. This is indeed a heaven-given literary talent, and after all, chasing it also belongs to a painted rice cake, so I threw down my pen and sighed and stopped.
明治Meiji (era name)廿twenty (archaic form of 二十)二年second year十月October中旬mid-month; the middle ten days of a month
Mid-October, Meiji 22
香夢楼にat Kōbōrō坐してsitting (and)梅廼家かほるKaoru Umenoya (name)識すwrote/inscribed
Written by Kaoru Umenoya, sitting at Kōbōrō

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About the book

Muzan is a short story published by Kuroiwa Ruikō in 1889 (Meiji 22), regarded as the first original detective story written by a Japanese author. It opens with a gruesomely dead body. As the pioneering work of Japanese detective fiction, it is worth reading.

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.

嚆矢 Allusion

From the Zhuangzi, chapter "Zai You": "How do we know that Zeng and Shi were not the signal arrows of Jie and Zhi?" The word originally meant a whistling arrow: because the sound arrives before the arrow when it is shot, in Japanese it came to mean the beginning or forerunner of something.

ルー、モルグ Customs

The Paris morgue (la Morgue), a nineteenth-century French facility where unidentified corpses were publicly displayed for identification. Japanese newspapers often rendered it as "shigai tenretsusho" (corpse exhibition hall).

大名縞単物 Customs

"Daimyō-jima" is a type of striped cotton cloth with broad, conspicuous stripes, named for resembling daimyō crests. "Hitoe-mono" refers to an unlined, single-layer kimono suitable for summer.

About the author

Kuroiwa Shūroku, also known as Kuroiwa Ruikō (29 September 1862 – 6 October 1920), was a Japanese journalist, novelist and translator. He founded Yorozu Chōhō in 1892, which soon became one of Japan's largest newspapers, and translated more than 100 French and English novels into Japanese.

Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: 無惨 (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.

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