岡の家
On a hill farm, a little boy works the fields beside his father.
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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 follows a young boy from a poor farmhouse on a hill who works all day with his father and has only one hour of play at dusk, when he gazes at a shining golden window on a distant hill. The prose is plain and gentle, seen through a child's straightforward eyes.
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.
「とちの実」 is the fruit of the horse chestnut tree (トチノキ), not a chestnut as the term might suggest. After the bitterness is removed, it can be eaten, and it was a common snack and plaything for children in mountain villages, often given as a small gift.
「ろ」 refers to the sunken hearth (囲炉裏), a feature of traditional Japanese farmhouses: a square pit dug into the floor where firewood is burned for warmth and cooking. The whole family gathers around it, and it serves as the centre of daily life in a traditional farmhouse. Here it means the fire in the hearth.
About the author
Miekichi Suzuki (September 29, 1882 – June 27, 1936) was a Japanese novelist and author of children's stories from Hiroshima. He wrote both fiction for adults and stories for children.
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.