floradeck
Japanese literature
Original Japanese readings, with furigana from their source editions.
22 of 22 works
Prose · Ten nights
Ten nights of dreams
Ten dream scenes, with a separate section for each night.
Tanka · Complete poem
At the seashore
A moment of sadness on a sandy shore.
Tanka · Complete poem
A familiar dialect
Listening for the sound of home in a crowded station.
Complete short story
A bunch of grapes
A childhood memory of painting, theft and a teacher’s kindness.
Complete short story
Java sparrow
Daily observations of a small bird in a writer’s home.
Haiku · Complete poem
An old pond
A frog enters an old pond; a sound breaks the stillness.
Haiku · Complete poem
The rough sea
The Milky Way stretches over Sado and the rough sea.
Haiku · Complete poem
Chrysanthemums in Nara
Chrysanthemum scent beside the old Buddhas of Nara.
Haiku · Complete poem
Two houses by the river
Two houses face a great river in the seasonal rain.
Haiku · Complete poem
Two plum trees
Two plum trees blossom at different times.
Haiku · Complete poem
A path of ants
A trail of ants seems to continue from a towering cloud.
Haiku · Complete poem
The Milky Way at midnight
At midnight, the speaker turns and sees the Milky Way.
Haiku · Complete poem
A horse beneath the Milky Way
A rider pats a horse beneath the Milky Way.
Haiku · Complete poem
Lightning east and west
Lightning appears in the east one day and the west the next.
Complete short story
Hanshan and Shide
An official searches a monastery kitchen for two men believed to be holy.
Complete short story
The Takase boat
A guard hears why a strangely peaceful prisoner is being sent into exile.
Prose · Ten nights
Long-day sketches
Twenty-five compact observations of visits, memories, dreams and daily life.
Complete short story
A strange sound
A patient listens to an unexplained scraping sound from the next room.
Prose · Ten nights
Musashino
A reflective walk through the woods, fields, roads and settlements around Tokyo.
Complete short story
Unforgettable people
Two travellers exchange memories of ordinary strangers who remained vivid to them.
Complete short story
The thirteenth night
A woman in an unhappy marriage visits her parents and later meets a figure from her past.
Prose · Ten nights
To my little ones
A father addresses his children about their mother, grief and the lives ahead of them.
English labels describe the readings; they are not translations. Short poems may still use unfamiliar literary language.