とんまの六兵衛
Two lifelong friends, one clever and one slow, in a village tale.
- Authentic text: the opening of a public-domain original
- Word-by-word glosses and translation in English or Chinese, free
- Tap a word for its meaning, listen to the sentence, save words
- Reads in any phone or desktop browser, nothing to download
Want to read your own Japanese light novels? Read the guide →
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
This text tells of two close boyhood friends in a village: the clever and wealthy Jukichi, and Rokubei, a slow-witted boy constantly teased by others. Jukichi, wanting to make Rokubei smart and rich, hides his father's hanging scroll and claims Rokubei can divine where it is; the opening reads like a storyteller's tale, light and warmly humorous.
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.
"Let's go fish for dried bonito" describes something clearly impossible: katsuobushi is a dried product shaved into flakes to make soup stock and cannot be caught by fishing. This line is an absurd invitation with which the village children deliberately tease Rokubei; together with the next line, "Who was born first, you or your father?", it belongs to the type of trick questions testing a fool found in folk tales.
In a formal Japanese room (zashiki), the tokonoma is an alcove slightly raised above the floor at the front of the room, where a hanging scroll is displayed and a vase of flowers placed; it is the most prestigious spot in the house. It is customary to hang a fine scroll in the tokonoma at New Year, which is why the scroll's disappearance so embarrasses the father.
"お天道様" means the sun, which in Japanese folk belief is a deity in heaven representing unshakable natural law. "The sun rising in the west" is a set expression for "absolutely impossible"; the sentence-ending "らあ" is a blunt, rough assertion, conveying the villagers' jeering tone.
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.
More by this author
More in this language
- The Spider’s ThreadRyūnosuke Akutagawa · Intermediate
- RashōmonRyūnosuke Akutagawa · Advanced
- I Am a CatNatsume Sōseki · Advanced
- The NoseRyūnosuke Akutagawa · Intermediate
- Tu Tze-chunRyūnosuke Akutagawa · Intermediate
- TangerinesRyūnosuke Akutagawa · Intermediate
- In a GroveRyūnosuke Akutagawa · Advanced
- KappaRyūnosuke Akutagawa · Advanced