調帯The Buzzing Belt

About this story

A narrator is relentlessly tormented by a buzzing, spinning belt that appears day and night.

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Source

This text comes from Aozora Bunko (青空文庫), the volunteer-run library of Japanese writing that is out of copyright. See this work on Aozora Bunko

Base edition (底本): 「日本プロレタリア文学集・38　プロレタリア詩集（一）」新日本出版社
1987（昭和62）年5月25日初版

Typed in by 坂本真一. Proofread by 雪森.

Yomimaru has not changed the spelling or the wording.

The furigana are Yomimaru's.

What you'll learn

The narrator describes a spinning band that constantly appears and attacks them, breaking their limbs and spinning even in darkness. This torment occurs day and night.

Key vocabulary

調帯ちょうたい	belt, band
うなり	groan, whir
まどろみかけた	dozed off
へし折おり	snap off, break
幻影げんえい	illusion, phantom

Grammar points you'll meet

• 〜ながら N4Means 'while doing (an action)'. Connects two simultaneous actions.

  ぶんぶんすばらしくうなりながら

• 〜ている N5Indicates ongoing action or state.

  回転かいてんしている調帯ちょうたいの幻影げんえい

• 〜てくる N4Indicates an action that comes toward the speaker or begins.

  私わたしの目めの前まえにいつでもいつでもあらわれてくる調帯ちょうたい

• 〜られる (passive) N4Passive voice: subject is acted upon.

  私わたしは調帯ちょうたいにせめられている

Cultural notes

• Shinkō Bungaku MovementThis text is from the 1929 collection 'Shinkō Bungaku Zenshū', part of the New Rising Literature movement in Japan. This movement emphasized modernist and avant-garde styles, often exploring psychological and sensory experiences.

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