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神様の布団

by Chiaki Shimomura

A poor inn buys an old quilt, which starts speaking at night.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Beginner3,358 characters · ≈ 13 minSource: 青空文库

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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.

一one
One
むかしlong ago鳥取のある町にin a certain town in Tottori新しくnewly小さなsmall一軒の宿屋がa (one) inn出来ましたwas built / came into being
Long ago, a new small inn was built in a town in Tottori.
このthis宿屋innの's (possessive)主人ownerはtopic marker貧乏poorだったwasのでbecauseいろいろのvarious道具tools類kinds (suffix: -type items)はtopic markerみんなall古道具屋second-hand shopからfrom買い入れたboughtのでした(polite past: it was that)がbutきれい好きなclean (person), tidy by nature主人ownerはtopic marker何でもeverythingきちんとneatly片づけput in orderぴかぴかとshiningly磨いてpolished and小ぎれいにneatlyさっぱりとしてtidy and cleanおきましたhad kept (in that state)
The owner of this inn was poor, so he bought all kinds of tools from a second-hand shop, but being a clean person, he put everything in order, polished them to a shine, and kept them neat and tidy.
このthis宿屋innをobject marker開いたopened最初のfirstお客guestはtopic marker一人のone行商人traveling merchantでしたwas
The first guest to open this inn was a traveling merchant.

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About the book

This passage tells of a poor inn in Tottori that bought old bedding, where a guest at night hears two children's voices caring for each other, only to discover the voices come from inside the quilt he is sleeping under, and he flees downstairs to wake the innkeeper. It reads at a calm, steady pace, with the repeated dialogue creating a quiet, faintly eerie atmosphere.

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.

行商人 Social role

A travelling merchant who carried goods on his back and peddled from street to street, formerly called 「行商」. In an era when retail was not yet concentrated, such peddlers often lodged at small inns along their route.

行灯 Customs

A Japanese-style oil lamp: a paper-covered wooden standing lamp with an oil dish inside holding a lit wick, giving off weak, warm light. Old-style inn rooms often used andon, and the lamp could be left burning overnight; thus the guest, after waking with a start, goes back to sleep 「灯をともしたままで」—with the lamp still lit-in keeping with the customs of the time.

古着屋 Customs

In modern times Japan had a lively trade in second-hand clothing and cloth. Bedding was a valuable, durable household item, and it was common for poor families to pawn or sell their bedding; dealers in old clothes bought it cheaply and resold it.

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.

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