兜
by Kidō Okamoto
A man who lost his home in the 1923 quake tells of an old helmet.
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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 recounts, in a narrator's retelling, Kunihara's strange experience: his home was burned down in the great earthquake, yet an old family helmet survived intact and was delivered to his refuge by an unidentified woman whose name and motives remain unknown. The narration circles this mystery step by step, reading plainly and restrained, but with an unsettling sense of the uncanny that lingers.
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.
Refers to the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1 September 1923. Large areas of Tokyo and Yokohama were destroyed by the fires that followed the earthquake, with heavy casualties. The later phrase “震災の当夜” (the night of the earthquake) means the night of 1 September.
Refers to the raised tableland in western Tokyo, in contrast to the low-lying “下町” (downtown). Since the Edo period it was largely a district of samurai residences and upper-class housing.
The post-disaster urban reconstruction project carried out in Tokyo after the Great Kantō Earthquake, replanning roads and readjusting land plots, begun around 1924.
About the author
Kidō Okamoto (October 15, 1872 – March 1, 1939) was a Japanese author and playwright whose real name was Keiji Okamoto; he was born in the Shiba Takanawa district of Minato Ward, Tokyo. His best known work is the shin kabuki play Bancho Sarayashiki.
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 “Intermediate”. Every word is glossed, so you can keep reading even with a small vocabulary.
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