九月十四日の朝
One September morning, the dying poet wakes inside his mosquito net.
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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 describes a September morning when an ailing narrator wakes inside a mosquito net, finds his legs swollen and immovable, and calls his sister and the friend who stayed overnight to help him. Reading it feels like a quiet blend of pain and calm: the body suffers intensely while the mind, unusually settled, calmly watches the autumn garden beyond the glass door.
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.
Takahama Kyoshi (1874–1959) was a leading disciple of Shiki and at the time helped edit the magazine Hototogisu. In Shiki's late years, bedridden with illness, his disciples took turns caring for him. As recounted here, Kyoshi stayed overnight to look after him and took dictation, writing down the text as Shiki dictated it.
The sponge gourd (hechima 糸瓜) held a special place in Shiki's writing from his sickbed in the final period before his death. This piece records September 1902 (Meiji 35), the very month he died. It describes in detail how the gourd's slender, frail vines could not climb up onto the trellis.
About the author
Masaoka Shiki (October 14, 1867 – September 19, 1902), pen name of Masaoka Noboru, was a Japanese poet, author, and literary critic of the Meiji period. He is regarded as a major figure in modern haiku, credited with nearly 20,000 stanzas, wrote on tanka reform, and is often counted among the four great haiku masters alongside Matsuo Bashō, Yosa Buson, and Kobayashi Issa.
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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English and Chinese glosses are prepared in advance; signed-in readers can generate other languages.