隧道内の怪火Strange Fire in the Tunnel

About this story

A train conductor encounters a mysterious blue flame in a tunnel built with many casualties.

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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): 「伝奇ノ匣6　田中貢太郎日本怪談事典」学研Ｍ文庫、学習研究社
2003（平成15）年10月22日初版発行

Typed in by Hiroshi_O. Proofread by noriko saito.

Yomimaru changed the spelling to modern kana and modern kanji.

The furigana are Yomimaru's.

What you'll learn

The passage introduces a cursed tunnel between Hyogo and Okayama prefectures, built with many casualties. Train conductors fear the sound of the wheels, which seems to say 'not enough bones'. Years later, a young conductor on a summer night sees a blue fire rise from the tracks and fly towards the train, causing it to shake violently.

Key vocabulary

隧道ずいどう	tunnel
恐おそれられていた	was feared
背筋せすじ	spine, back (muscles)
慄えあがっておののきあがって	to shudder with fear

Grammar points you'll meet

• 〜だけに N2Expresses 'precisely because' or 'just as expected from'.

  多おおくの犠牲ぎせい者しゃを出だしてようやく竣工しゅんこうしただけに、

• 〜てしかたがない N3Expresses that something is extremely (unbearably) ...

  熱あつくてしかたがないので、

• 〜なり N1Indicates that an action occurs immediately after a previous action (archaic/literary).

  それがふわりと浮うきあがるなり、非常ひじょうな勢いきおいで列車れっしゃ目めがけて飛とんで来きた。

• 〜目がけて N2Aiming at/toward a target.

  非常ひじょうな勢いきおいで列車れっしゃ目めがけて飛とんで来きた。

Cultural notes

• Human Pillar Legend (人柱)Japanese folklore holds that building large structures like bridges or tunnels sometimes required human sacrifice (人柱, hitobashira) to appease spirits. The phrase '骨がたりない' (not enough bones) in the story alludes to the belief that the tunnel was incomplete because not enough lives were lost.

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