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蒲団

The Quilt

by Katai Tayama

A middle-aged writer harbours a secret passion for his young pupil.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Advanced3,029 characters · ≈ 12 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.

一one
One
小石川のof Koishikawa切支丹坂からfrom Kirishitan-zaka極楽水に出るthat leads out to Gokuraku-sui道のof the roadだらだら坂をthe gentle slope (along)下りようとしてas he was about to go down渠はhe考えたthought
As he was about to go down the gentle slope on the road from Kirishitan-zaka in Koishikawa to Gokuraku-sui, he thought.
これでwith this自分myselfとand彼女herとの's (relationship with her)関係relationshipはas for (topic marker)一段落を告げたcame to a pause / reached a stopping point
"With this, the relationship between myself and her has come to a pause.
三十六にもなってbeing thirty-six (years old) even子供も三人あってhaving three children tooあんなことを考えたかと思うとwhen I think that I thought of such a thing馬鹿々々しくなるI feel foolish
To think that at thirty-six, with three children, I thought of such a thing—it makes me feel foolish.

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About the book

The Futon (Uta?) is a novella by Tayama Katai, regarded as one of the representative works of Japanese naturalism and a starting point of the I-novel. It depicts a middle-aged writer, Tokio, harboring a hidden love for his female disciple Yoshiko; its explicit passages, such as the ending where he smells the quilt his disciple used, caused a major stir in literary circles and the press at the time. It is worth reading as an entry point into the origins of the Japanese I-novel.

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.

縞セルの背広に、麦稈帽 Customs

「セル」is a transliteration of the English word "serge," a thin wool fabric; 「縞セルの背広」means a pin-striped serge suit. 「麦稈帽」is a straw hat woven from wheat straw.

嘱託 Social role

「嘱託」refers to a non-regular employee hired by a company or government office.

ハウプトマンの「寂しき人々」 Allusion

A play by the German dramatist Gerhart Hauptmann, Lonely Lives (Einsame Menschen, first performed in 1891). The protagonist Johannes is a scholar torn between his wife and a female university student who comes to visit. The 「ヨハンネス」in the text refers to him.

About the author

Katai Tayama (born Rokuya Tayama, 22 January 1872 – 13 May 1930) was a Japanese author. He is noted for establishing the Japanese literary genre of naturalistic I novels, which revolve around the detailed self-examinations of an introspective author; his most famous works include Futon (The Quilt) and Inaka Kyōshi (Rural Teacher), and he also wrote about his experiences in the Russo-Japanese War.

Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: 蒲団 (小説) (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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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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