お山の爺さん
A tale behind the children’s song about a cold little monk.
- Authentic text: the opening of a public-domain original
- Word-by-word glosses and translation in English or Chinese, free
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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 begins with the nursery rhyme "Cold, so cold—a little monk comes down from the mountain crying," and tells how village children believe that singing it around a bonfire will summon the little monk, so they gather daily to sing and dance by the fire. When a kindly, smiling white-bearded old man appears in the smoke, the story moves toward the children trying to call him out, and the whole piece reads like a gentle fairy tale blending song and folklore.
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.
A famous figure from Japanese folk tales: a boy only one sun (about three centimetres) tall, who sails in a rice bowl, uses a needle as a sword, defeats an ogre and marries a princess. Here, 「子僧」 refers to a child who looks like a little monk.
A mixed woodland of pines, cypresses, くぬぎ (konara oak), 椎 (Japanese chinquapin) and other trees, typical vegetation of the satoyama (woodlands near villages), where villagers gathered firewood and fallen leaves for fuel.
松茸 (matsutake), 初茸 (ハツタケ) and 占地菇 (シメジ) are all wild mushrooms commonly found in Japan's autumn woodlands, and mushroom gathering is a traditional autumn activity in Japan's mountains and forests.
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.