山の上のへやThe Room on the Mountain

Read a sample in Japanese

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

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.
  上に出ると、しらないお寺の門がありました。
• で N5De marks the cause or the means. Here the sound of the waterfall is the reason the voice cannot be heard.
  たきの音で、大石さんの声は聞こえません。
• ～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.
  手の中で、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

Short Storytravelcoming of ageでde · at / by means of〜がありますga arimasu · there is (inanimate)〜く/ 〜になるku ni naru · become〜ているte iru · ongoing action / stateDictionary form+とdictionary form to · whenever / if〜ないでnai de · without doing