山の上のへやThe Room on the Mountain

About this story

Lucas is nineteen and travelling Japan alone. The temple at the top of the mountain was not on his map. The monks give him a room for the night, and in the morning they hand him white clothes and walk him down to the water.

An original story written by Yomimaru for JLPT N5 readers.

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What you'll learn

Lucas walks a mountain path all afternoon, finds a temple gate near the top, and is let in by a yamabushi called Oishi. He eats with the monks in silence, is given a thin white robe, and is told to be ready at four in the morning; over the next two dawns he goes down to the waterfall.

Key vocabulary

山伏やまぶし	yamabushi — a monk who trains in the mountains
出羽三山でわさんざん	Dewa Sanzan — the three sacred mountains of Yamagata
お寺てら	a Buddhist temple
門もん	a gate
かばん	a bag, a piece of luggage
たき	a waterfall
石いし	a stone
服ふく	clothes; here, the white robe worn for training

Grammar points you'll meet

• ～があります N5Says that a thing exists or is there. The thing takes ga, and arimasu is used for objects and things that do not move.

  ゆうごはんまで、まだ時間じかんがあります。

• ～すぎる N5Added to an adjective stem or a verb stem to say it is too much. Ookii plus sugiru becomes ookisugiru, too big.

  へやのはしに、大おおきすぎるかばんがあります。

• Dictionary form+と N4Dictionary form plus to means when you do this, that follows. The story uses it twice for the moment of arriving somewhere.

  上うえに出でると、しらないお寺てらの門もんがありました。

• で N5De marks the cause or the means. Here the sound of the waterfall is the reason the voice cannot be heard.

  たきの音おとで、大石おおいしさんの声こえは聞きこえません。

• ～ている N5The te form plus iru describes an action going on now, or a state that continues. Ugoite imasu is it is moving.

  手ての中なかで、おちゃがうごいています。

• ～く/ ～になる N5An i adjective drops i and takes ku before naru to say something is becoming that way. Shiroi becomes shiroku naru, to turn white.

  そらが、すこし白しろくなっています。

Cultural notes

• YamabushiYamabushi are monks who train in the mountains rather than in a city temple. Their practice mixes Buddhism with older mountain worship, and it is physical: long walks, cold water, little food. A yamabushi may live an ordinary life the rest of the year, so the man who opens the gate is both a host and a teacher.
• Dewa SanzanDewa Sanzan means the three mountains of Dewa, an old name for Yamagata in northern Japan. Haguro, Gassan and Yudono are climbed as a set, and pilgrims have walked them for over a thousand years. Saying you have been to one of them is not the same as saying you have done the three.
• Standing under the waterfallTakigyo is training done by standing under a cold waterfall, usually before sunrise and in a thin white robe. The point is not endurance for its own sake: the cold is loud and total, and what it interrupts is the ordinary chatter of the mind. Counting is a common way beginners get through it.

Topics & grammar