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羅生門

Rashōmon

by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa

A jobless servant shelters from rain and faces a desperate choice.

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Original language: JapaneseLevel: Advanced3,851 characters · ≈ 15 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.

ある日one dayのof / 's (linking particle)暮方dusk / eveningのof / 's (linking particle)事であるit is a matter (that) / it was
It was one evening.
一人の下人one man; a certain servantがsubject marker羅生門の下でunder Rashomon雨やみthe rain stoppingをobject marker待っていたwas waiting
A man was waiting under Rashomon for the rain to stop.
広いwide門gateのof (possessive/modifying particle)下under/beneathにat/in (location particle)はas for (topic particle)このthis男manのthan (in comparison)ほかにbesides/other than誰anyoneも(with negative) no oneいないis not / there is not
Under the wide gate, there was no one but this man.
ただonly所々in places丹塗の剥げたwhose red lacquer had peeled大きなlarge円柱にon a round pillar蟋蟀がa cricket一匹one (counter for small animals)とまっているis perched
Only a cricket was on a big round pillar with red paint peeled in places.

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About the book

"Rashōmon" is a short story by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, based on tales from the Konjaku Monogatarishū and first published in 1915. It follows a servant who has lost his livelihood and shelters from the rain beneath the Rashōmon gate, where the ruined city and gathering dusk push him toward a difficult choice. The story depicts with clarity the egoism of doing wrong in order to survive, its opening scenes of landscape already setting an uneasy tone.

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.

羅生門 History

The common name for the Rashōmon, the main gate of Heian-kyō, standing at the south end of Suzaku Avenue and facing the Suzaku Gate at the north end. Decayed and abandoned, with corpses left there, it became a familiar setting for ghost stories. Akutagawa drew this story from the Konjaku Monogatarishū.

下人 Social role

A male servant or attendant who ran errands in the household of a court noble. Low in status, he depended on his master's house for a living. Once dismissed by his master ("暇を出される"), he lost his livelihood and had nowhere to turn—this is the key to understanding the protagonist's situation.

申の刻 Customs

One of the twelve two-hour periods of the traditional day, roughly 3 to 5 p.m. "申の刻下り" means just past that period, i.e. evening approaching, matching the "dusk" mentioned at the opening.

About the author

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1 March 1892 – 24 July 1927), also known by his art name Chōkōdō Shujin, was a Japanese writer active in the Taishō period who is regarded as the "father of the Japanese short story". He died by suicide at the age of 35 through an overdose of barbital, and Japan's premier literary award, the Akutagawa Prize, is named after him.

Summary prepared with AI from Wikipedia: 羅生門 (小説) (CC BY-SA)

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 “Advanced”. 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.

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