tinkerer.space

August 6, 2026

How to use

Designed to help you progress once you’re comfortable with the basics. Use it as supplementary material alongside your studies.

Pick a school grade or JLPT level and do this each day:

  1. Handwrite the passage in a notebook.
  2. Read the passage out loud.
  3. Understand the meaning of the passage (if you need help, check the English translation).
  4. Take note of the grammar points (try understanding them in Japanese first; if you need help, refer to the English translation).
N3高1 · High School 1August 6, 2026

きつねのよめいりのはなし

むかしから、にほんのあるちほうでは、はれたよるにやまのほうでちいさなあかりがならんでうごくのを「きつねのよめいり」とよぶ。むらびとはこのあかりをみると、きつねがにんげんにばけてよめいりのぎょうれつをつくっているのだとかんがえていたものだ。じっさいには、きつねびとよばれるしぜんげんしょうで、しょうたいはいまだにはっきりしていない。よみちをひとりであるくものは、あかりにちかづきすぎてみちにまよいがちだったため、むかしの々ひとびとはこのげんしょうをおそれ、むりにたしかめようとはしなかった。いまでもこのちほうでは、ひかるぎょうれつをみたとかたるひとがいることがある。

文法

  • 「~ものだ」は、過去かこの習慣しゅうかんや、一般的いっぱんてきに人々ひとびとがそう考かんがえていたことを、懐なつかしむように述のべる表現ひょうげん。
  • 「~がちだ」は、ある傾向けいこうが強つよく、そうなりやすいことを表あらわす表現ひょうげんで、「よく~する」「~しやすい」という意味いみを持もつ。
  • 「~ことがある」は、頻繁ひんぱんではないが、時々ときどきそのようなことが起おこる、または起おこった経験けいけんがあることを表あらわす表現ひょうげん。
English

The Legend of the Fox's Wedding

Since long ago, in a certain region of Japan, when small lights are seen moving in a row on the mountainside on a clear night, this has been called 'the fox's wedding.' Villagers, upon seeing these lights, used to think that foxes had transformed into humans and were forming a wedding procession. In reality, this is a natural phenomenon called 'foxfire,' and its true cause is still not clearly understood. People who walked alone on mountain roads at night tended to get too close to the lights and lose their way, so people in the past feared this phenomenon and did not try to investigate it by force. Even today, in this region, there are occasionally people who say they have seen a glowing procession.

  • 「~ものだ」is used to reminiscently describe a past habit or a belief that was commonly held, often with a nostalgic tone.
  • 「~がちだ」expresses a tendency for something to happen easily or frequently, meaning 'tends to ~' or 'apt to ~'.
  • 「~ことがある」expresses that something happens occasionally, or that one has had the experience of something happening, though not frequently.