くろん坊
by Kidō Okamoto
From an old record, the legend of a dark stranger in the hills.
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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 a reference to the kuron-bō entry in an old book, then moves into the narrator's recollection of his uncle's story from his younger days, setting up a strange tale set in the mountains. The uncle, sent as a secret agent and forced to flee, travels a remote mountain route toward Echizen, and the prose reads calmly and concretely, with a quiet, slowly building chill.
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 secret agent dispatched by the shogunate or by a domain in the Edo period, often disguised as a merchant or a monk to infiltrate other domains and gather intelligence on political conditions. If discovered by the rival domain, such an agent was liable to be arrested or killed, which is why the text says '召捕るか、殺すか' (capture or kill).
The lord of the Ōgaki domain was the Toda family, hereditary vassal (fudai) daimyo, with a stipend of about 100,000 koku of rice.
1862. A year of intensifying political turmoil at the end of the shogunate, when the shogunate's authority was declining and the movements of each domain were closely watched—a background against which secret agents were highly active.
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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