ざしき童子のはなし
A few tales of the zashiki-warashi, a child spirit of old houses.
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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
"The Story of the Zashiki-Warashi" is a fairy tale by Kenji Miyazawa, presenting several short stories about the zashiki-warashi, a household spirit, as told in the author's home region. It is one of the few fairy tales Miyazawa published during his lifetime. It offers a glimpse of the local folklore that shaped his writing.
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.
The 座敷童子 (zashiki-warashi) is a household spirit from Japan's Tōhoku region, especially Iwate Prefecture, that appears in the form of a child; legend says the number of people in the house will mysteriously increase by one. This story is a short piece Miyazawa Kenji adapted from an Iwate folk legend.
“旧” refers to the old (lunar) calendar. After Japan switched to the Gregorian calendar in the Meiji era, festival days and Buddhist services in farming villages were still often reckoned by the old calendar, so the “eighth month of the old calendar” roughly corresponds to September in the Gregorian calendar.
A 紋付 (kimono bearing the family crest) worn with 袴 and a sword was the formal dress of samurai from the Edo period through the Meiji era. A child appearing alone at night dressed this way marks him as different from an ordinary village child.
About the author
Kenji Miyazawa (27 August 1896 – 21 September 1933) was a Japanese novelist, poet, and children's literature writer from Hanamaki, Iwate, who also worked as an agricultural science teacher. His major works include Night on the Galactic Railroad, Kaze no Matasaburō, Gauche the Cellist, and The Night of Taneyamagahara, and his work gained its reputation mostly after his death.
Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: ざしき童子のはなし (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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What level is it?
This one is marked “Beginner”. Every word is glossed, so you can keep reading even with a small vocabulary.
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English and Chinese glosses are prepared in advance; signed-in readers can generate other languages.
More by this author
- The Restaurant of Many OrdersKenji Miyazawa · Beginner
- Wildcat and the AcornsKenji Miyazawa · Beginner
- やまなしKenji Miyazawa · Beginner
- 雪渡りKenji Miyazawa · Beginner
- 月夜のでんしんばしらKenji Miyazawa · Beginner
- 狼森と笊森、盗森Kenji Miyazawa · Intermediate
- かしわばやしの夜Kenji Miyazawa · Intermediate
- 烏の北斗七星Kenji Miyazawa · Intermediate