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二人の盲人

Name: 二人の盲人
Availability: InStock
Author: Hatsunosuke Hirabayashi

by Hatsunosuke Hirabayashi

In Tokyo rebuilding after the quake, a story of two blind men.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Intermediate3,399 characters · ≈ 14 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

復興局のof the Reconstruction Bureau一技師のof one engineer手がhand (subject)大東京市のof Greater Tokyo City地図の上にon the map縦横にvertically and horizontally朱線をred lines (object)ひいていくdraws (continues to draw)

The hand of an engineer from the Reconstruction Bureau draws red lines up and down and across the map of Greater Tokyo.

個人の既得権もpersonal vested rights too利害関係もinterests tooセンチメンタルな詠嘆もsentimental lamentation tooすべてを無視してignoring all of it彼のペンはhis pen気まぐれにcapriciously地図の上をacross the map走っていくgoes running on

Ignoring personal rights, interests, and sentimental sighs, his pen runs freely across the map.

山の切り通しの上のthe cut above the mountain四十坪ばかりの土地a plot of about forty tsuboを(object marker)天にも地にもin heaven and on earthたった一つの財産their only propertyとしてas父祖幾代の昔からsince the days of ancestors over generations受けついできたhad inherited down玄療院の屋敷the Genryōin residenceもalso無慈悲な都市計画の犠牲a victim of the merciless city planとなってbecame市の中央へ通ずるleading to the city center放射線の道路radial road新設のためにfor the new construction of半ば以上more than half切り取られることになったit was decided it would be cut away

The Genryōin residence, which had inherited a small plot of about forty tsubo on the cut above ○○ Mountain as its only property in heaven and earth since the days of its ancestors, also became a victim of the merciless city plan and was to have more than half of it cut away for the new radial road to the city center.

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About the book

This passage, set in post-earthquake reconstruction Tokyo, follows Genzeku, an acupuncturist blind since childhood, whose forty-tsubo family plot is to be cut through by a new radial road, taking with him the only world his visual memory still holds. Told through the planner's red lines across the map and his daily listening to the ground collapsing, along with his unbridgeable gap with his beautiful wife whom he cannot see, it reads quiet and oppressive, suffused with a delicate sense of loss.

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.

復興局 History

After the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923, the Japanese government established the Imperial Capital Reconstruction Institute (later renamed the Reconstruction Bureau) to oversee the rebuilding of Tokyo. The red lines and radial roads on the map in this story belong to the post-earthquake Greater Tokyo urban plan, which remade Tokyo with radial and ring roads, and large numbers of old residential plots were compulsorily acquired and cut up.

針按療治 Social role

This refers to acupuncture and massage. In modern Japan, massage and acupuncture were long traditional occupations for the blind, and institutions such as schools for the blind and deaf trained blind people to enter these trades. This term shows that the trade Gen Seki relied on for a living was precisely this traditional blind occupation.

盲唖学校 History

That is, a school for the blind and deaf, established throughout Japan from the Meiji period onward, teaching blind people both massage and acupuncture skills and braille. In the story, Gen Seki and Fujiki were classmates at such a school, which is why they could read the alumni association magazine printed in braille.

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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