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火星の芝居

Name: 火星の芝居
Availability: InStock
Author: Ishikawa Takuboku

by Ishikawa Takuboku

“I went to Mars last night,” a friend says, describing a play there.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Intermediate1,317 characters · ≈ 5 minSource: 青空文库

Authentic text: the opening of a public-domain original
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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.

何かsomething / anything面白いinteresting事thingはtopic markerないthere is notかquestion particle

Is there nothing fun?

俺はI (masculine, informal) — topic marker昨夜last night火星にto Mars — direction particle行って来たwent and came back (went there and returned)

I went to Mars last night.

そうso / that's rightかquestion/realization particleえhuh / oh (softening exclamation)

I see.

真個にreally / truly行ってwent (te-form of 行く)来たよcame (back); よ adds emphasis

I really went.

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About the book

This passage is a dialogue in which one friend claims he went to Mars last night and describes a theater there with blue walls as the runway and actors wearing huge hats. It reads like playful, absurd bragging over casual chat, and ends with the admission that it was a dream.

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.

冥途の飛脚 Allusion

A famous work of ningyō jōruri puppet theatre by Chikamatsu Monzaemon (later also adapted for kabuki), telling the story of the double suicide of the courier (an old term for a messenger who delivered letters and packages) Chūbei and the prostitute Umegawa.

団十郎 Allusion

Refers to Ichikawa Danjūrō, the hereditary stage name of the most representative family of actors in Edo kabuki. It is mentioned alongside アアビング (a famous Western actor) in the following line.

ニコライの会堂 History

The Nikolai Cathedral in Surugadai, Tokyo (the Holy Resurrection Cathedral of the Japanese Orthodox Church), famous for its huge green Byzantine dome. Completed in 1891, it was a landmark of Tokyo at the time.

About the author

Takuboku Ishikawa (born Hajime Ishikawa; February 20, 1886 – April 13, 1912) was a Japanese poet known for both tanka and "modern-style" (shintaishi) or "free-style" (jiyūshi) poetry. He began as a member of the Myōjō group of naturalist poets, later joined the "socialistic" group of Japanese poets and renounced naturalism, and died of tuberculosis.

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 “Intermediate”. 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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