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急行十三時間

by Saburō Kōga

On a night express, two suspicious men sit opposite the narrator.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Intermediate3,598 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.

箱根山にかかるとwhen we reached the Hakone mountains車内もthe inside of the car too大分considerably落着いて来たhad grown calm
By the time we reached the Hakone mountains, the inside of the car had grown much calmer as well.
午後in the afternoon / p.m.十ten時半half past (the hour)だit is (plain copula)
It's half past ten at night.
只only私の前にin front of me席を占めたhad taken the seats異様な二人the strange pair一人はone of them五十位のabout fifty色の黒いdark-skinned頬骨の出たwith protruding cheekbones眼のギロリとしたwith glaring eyes一癖ありそうなwho seemed to have some peculiar habit男man一人はthe otherもう七十近いかと思われるwho seemed to be nearly seventy白髪の老翁だがa white-haired old man, butその二人がthose two抑もfrom the very出発の始めからのstart of the journeyボソボソ話がtheir whispering talk気味の悪いcreepy犯罪の話ばかりだったがwas nothing but talk of crimes, but未だstill止めようとせぬwould not try to stop
The only oddity was the strange two seated in front of me: one a dark-skinned man of about fifty with protruding cheekbones and sharp glaring eyes, who seemed to have some peculiar habit; the other a white-haired old man who looked to be nearly seventy. Yet the two of them had been whispering ever since the journey began, and it was nothing but talk of creepy crimes, and still they would not stop.
それもand that too / moreover汽車がthe train (subject)午後八時eight in the evening東京駅をTokyo Station (object of departure)滑り出てからafter sliding out暫くはfor a while車内の喧噪the noise inside the car騒然たる会話やand the clamorous conversations座席の上に立ってstanding on the seats雑然とin a disorderly way網棚の上にonto the luggage racks抛り上げた荷物をthe luggage they had thrown up整理する人people sorting (it)駅に止る毎にat every station stop忙しくbusily弁当や茶の売子をthe lunch and tea vendors呼ぶ人people callingそれにand besides車内にin the car濛々とthickly (of smoke)立籠めたhad filled and hung煙草の煙tobacco smokeそれらの中でamid those things杜絶れ杜絶れにしかonly in fits and starts聞えなかったがcould be heard, but行儀の悪いbad-mannered乗客達がthe passengers (subject)食べるだけ食べてhaving eaten all they could eat散かすだけ散かしてhaving scattered all they could scatter居睡りを始めるbegin to doze off頃になるとwhen it came to the time一言一句がevery word (subject)ハッキリclearly耳に這入ってcame into my ears私の神経はmy nerves (topic)いよいよmore and more苛立って来たgrew irritated
Also, for a while after the train slid out of Tokyo Station at eight in the evening, I could hear it only in fits and starts, amid the noise in the car, the loud conversations, the people standing on seats and roughly sorting the luggage they had thrown up onto the racks, the people busy calling the lunch and tea sellers at every station stop, and the tobacco smoke that hung thick in the car; but when the badly behaved passengers had eaten all they could eat and scattered all they could scatter and began to doze off, every word came clearly into my ears, and my nerves grew more and more irritated.

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About the book

On a night express train, the narrator, carrying a large sum of money, sits across from two suspicious strangers whose quiet conversation turns entirely on blackmail and crime. As the train settles down and their every word becomes audible, his nerves grow increasingly on edge.

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.

切れた草鞋程にも思っていない Allusion

"切れた草鞋" (worn-out straw sandals) refers to sandals that have been worn through and discarded, a metaphor for something utterly worthless and thrown away. Here it describes treating human sentiment or obligation as being as worthless as a worn-out straw sandal—extreme heartlessness.

上野の戦争 History

This refers to the Battle of Ueno in 1868 (the fourth year of Keiō): the Shōgitai, forces loyal to the former shogunate, held the Kan'ei-ji temple in Ueno and clashed with the new Meiji government's army, being routed within a single day. The old man claims he fled the battlefield to Senju (a place in the northern suburbs of Tokyo) at the time—a tone of someone who lived through the upheavals of the bakumatsu period, which is why the man with prominent cheekbones says "古い事ですな".

髷を結うとった Customs

The 髷 was the hairstyle of Edo-period men, in which the forehead was shaved and the remaining hair at the back was tied up into a topknot; samurai and townspeople tied it differently, hence the old man's remark that by changing how it was tied, one could pass as someone of another status. After the Meiji Restoration, the edict cutting men's topknots did away with the custom, and the traditional hairstyle could no longer serve as a means of disguise.

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

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