Learn Japanese with Stories #3: Inch-High Samurai: The Easy Way to Read, Listen, and Learn from Japanese Folklore, Tales, and Stories

By Clay Boutwell and Yumi Boutwell

Read--in Japanese--about a tiny, yet brave samurai who ends up saving a princess and seeing his wish come true. The second story is the famous moon-princess Kaguya, who was found in a bamboo stalk. Kaguya-hime is one of the oldest Japanese tales and perhaps the world’s first science fiction story.

Yes, you can read real Japanese—even if you are just starting out in Japanese.

Perfect for beginning and upper beginning students of Japanese who have mastered hiragana and know basic Japanese grammar and sentence structure. This affordable Japanese reader contains two complete stories of very famous Japanese traditional tales.

PLUS! Get FREE Sound Files of the stories read by a native Japanese speaker. Listen while reading. Each story has a slow and normal speed recording. The link is found on the last page.

• All Japanese have furigana
• Two full traditional Japanese stories: Inch-high Samurai and Princess Kaguya
• Every sentence is broken down word-for-word and with explanation of the grammar.
• The full story in Japanese only (without the running gloss) is also provided so you can practice reading without interruption.
• Finally, we have included a simple and mostly literal English translation for you to check your understanding (Don’t cheat! Work through the Japanese first!).
• Download the FREE sound files to listen while you study.

• Download FREE Anki flashcard decks to learn all the vocabulary found in the stories

While beginners to Japanese can get a lot from this, hiragana knowledge and understanding of basic Japanese grammar and sentence structure is required.

Finally, we invite the reader to contact us with questions or requests for future Japanese readers. You will find our personal email addresses in the book. To your Japanese!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kotoba Inc
• Release date: Dec 21, 2021

Book preview

The Inch-High Samurai with Definitions

一寸法師(いっすんぼうし)

むかし、むかし、あるところにおじいさんとおばあさんが 住(す) んでいました。

_____

一寸法師 Issunboushi [A sun was a unit of measurement. 1 sun (which is what issun means) is about three centimeters. Bōshi means a Buddhist priest, but here idiomatically means son.]

むかしむかし a long time ago [This is a very typical opening for Japanese fairy tales similar to Once upon a time...; the repetition makes this a long, long time ago]

あるところに in some place [The ある shows uncertainty as in ある 日(ひ) (one day) or ある人(ひと) (some person)]

おじいさん an old man

と and

おばあさん an old woman [おじいさん andおばあさん is a common motif in these stories. Use いる with living things and ある with non-animate objects.]

住んでいました lived [past polite of 住(す)んでいる (living (somewhere))]

おじいさんとおばあさんには、 子供(こども) がいなかったので、

_____

には as for (the old man and woman) [This is the particle に pointing to the old man and woman plus the particle は , the topic marker.]

子供 children

が (usually marks the subject) [While が normally corresponds to the English concept of subject, it can actually be the object as in 猫 ( ねこ ) が 好 ( す ) きです。 (I) like cats.]

いなかった didn’t have (children)

ので therefore; because (they didn’t have children)

神様(かみさま) に「 子供(こども) をください。」とお 祈(いの) りしました。

_____

神様に to God; to the gods

「」 (Quotation marks)

子供をください please give us children

と (quotation marker) [と is used after quotations followed by a verb that involves speech like 祈 ( いの ) る (pray) or 言 ( い ) う (speak).]

お祈りしました prayed

すると、とても 小(ちい) さな 男(おとこ) の 子(こ) が 生(う) まれました。

_____

すると thereupon; in doing so…

とても very

小さな small [- na adjective which requires a な before nouns]

男の子 boy [literally, a child of (the variety of) male; while you can see this as man's child, usually the best way to parse a の phrase is to start at the end and translate の as of: child of male; the の is used to limit the information. It isn't just any child, but a male child]

生まれました was born

小指(こゆび) くらいの 背丈(せたけ) しかありませんでしたから、 一寸法師(いっすんぼうし) と 名(な) づけられました。

_____

小指 pinky; small finger

くらい about

背丈 stature; height

しか only [used with negative verbs