nntsuzu/KFTT huggingface dataset:
English: Improvement in rice varieties and development of agricultural technologies had increased crop yields (especially rice which was the mainstay of the tax in the Edo period) and made it easier for peasants to earn cash.
Japanese: 米の品種改良や農業技術の進歩に伴い農作物（特に、江戸時代の税の柱であった米）の収穫量が増え、農民でも現金収入を得る事が容易になった。
English: Also the development of commodity economy led to the appearance of what is equivalent to today's travel guidebooks and accounts.
Japanese: それに、商品経済の発達により現代の旅行ガイドブックや旅行記に相当する本も発売された。
English: Around that time, the movement of commoners, especially of peasants, was strictly regulated, but in most cases they were allowed to make a pilgrimage to the Ise-jingu Shrine.
Japanese: 当時、庶民の移動、特に農民の移動には厳しい制限があったが、伊勢神宮参詣に関してはほとんどが許される風潮であった。
English: Even if they traveled without permission, when it was confirmed that they had intended to visit the Ise-jingu Shrine, a traveler would not receive a punishment that was worse than a "reprimand."
Japanese: 無許可の旅行であっても伊勢神宮参拝が目的であることがはっきりすれば「叱責」程度の罰で済まされた。
English: Ko' members contributed to pay for the journey.
Japanese: 「講」の所属者はそれぞれお金を出し合い、それを合わせて旅行費に充当する。
English: The pilgrim was chosen by 'lot,' but consideration seemed to be given to ensure every member of 'ko' could be chosen sooner or later.
Japanese: 誰が行くかは「くじ引き」で決められる仕組みだが、「講」の全員がいつかは当たるよう配慮されていた様である。
English: The person chosen by lot made a journey to Ise on behalf of other 'ko' members, taking advantage of the agricultural off-season.
Japanese: くじ引きの結果、選ばれた者は、「講」の代表として伊勢へ旅立つ、旅の期間は農閑期が利用される。
English: Pilgrims would sightsee along the way, pray for all other members in Ise, and buy talismans, seeds of new varieties of crops, specialties and the latest products (light, compact, and strong products were commonly purchased) found in the neighboring areas of Ise as well as along the way, such as textile fabrics of Matsuzaka City and Kyoto, as souvenirs.
Japanese: 参拝者は道中観光しつつ、伊勢では代参者として皆の事を祈り、土産として神札や新品種の農作物の種子、松阪市や京都の織物などの伊勢近隣や道中の名産品や最新の物産（軽くてかさばらず、壊れないものがよく買われた）を購入する。
English: Thanks largely to this 'ko' structure, people in Edo, including the poor, could travel around at least once in their lives.
Japanese: 江戸の人々が貧しくとも一生に一度は旅行できたのは、この「講」の仕組みによるところが大きいだろう。
English: This 'oiseko' also worked as an association of shrine parishioners in ordinary times.
Japanese: またこの「お伊勢講」は平時においては神社の氏子の協同体としても作用していた。
English: Oiseko' had been seen since the mid-Muromachi period in the Kinai region (the five capital provinces surrounding the ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto), but it was only after the Edo period that 'oiseko' spread throughout the country.
Japanese: 「お伊勢講」は畿内では室町中期から見られた現象だが、全国的になったのは江戸以降である。
English: This structure survived to the end of the Edo period, but the General Headquarters of the Allied Powers (GHQ) regarded the 'ko' as gambling and dismissed it after the war (see the "Mujin-ko" (beneficial association) section).
Japanese: 江戸時代が過ぎてもこの仕組みは残った、なお戦後は講を賭博行為とみなした連合国軍最高司令官総司令部により解散させられた（無尽講を参照）。
English: As discussed in the "Background" section, onshi focused his attention on Toyouke no Okami enshrined in the geku in order to rebuild the Ise-jingu Shrine, and spread the Ise faith among peasants, leading to the appearance of okage mairi.
Japanese: 背景の項で述べている通り、伊勢神宮復興のために御師が外宮の豊受大神に目を付け、農民に伊勢信仰を広めたのがお蔭参りのきっかけである。
English: Onshi were divided into groups of several people, were scattered around the country, and made a living by receiving rice harvested in the year as hatsuho ryo (ceremony fee) in return for distributing calendars and praying for a good harvest in rural areas.
Japanese: 御師は数名ずつのグループに分かれて各地に散らばり、農村部でカレンダーを配ったり、豊作祈願を行ったりして、その年に収穫された米を初穂料として受け取る事で生計を立てていた。
English: In the middle of the Edo period, the variety of improvement and development of agricultural technologies led to an increase in the number of peasants who earned cash and gave rise to those who decided to go on a journey in search of new knowledge, experience, and products.
Japanese: 江戸時代も中頃になると、品種改良や農業技術の進歩により、農家の中に現金収入を得られるものが増え、新たな知識や見聞、物品を求めて旅をしようと思い立つものが現れるようになった。
English: A good reason was required, however, to make a journey in the Edo period when the movement of peasants was restricted, and the pilgrimage to Ise came to be used as justification for their journeys.
Japanese: しかし、農民の移動に規制があった江戸時代に旅をするにはそれなりの理由が必要で、その口実として伊勢参拝が使われるようになった。
English: This justification was used, partly because onshi conducted activities to invite peasants to join in on a pilgrimage to Ise.
Japanese: この口実には、御師が農民に伊勢参拝の勧誘活動を行っていた事も理由になっていたようだ。
English: Those who set out for Ise against such a background usually stayed with onshi who covered the pilgrim's village, during his/her stay in Ise.
Japanese: こうして伊勢に旅立った者は、伊勢滞在時に大抵、自分達の集落を担当している御師のお世話になっていた。
English: Many onshi ran the inn in their house to entertain visitors to Ise.
Japanese: 御師は伊勢参拝に来る人をもてなすため、自分の家で宿屋を経営している事が多かった。
English: In an onshi's inn, dressed up onshi would entertain visitors to keep them from being bored, by serving all sorts of delicacies in Ise and Matsuzaka City and other lavish meals on fine dishes, offering kabuki performance, and letting the peasants sleep on a silk futon which they had never used at home.
Japanese: 御師の宿屋では盛装した御師によって豪華な食器に載った伊勢や松阪市の山海の珍味などの豪勢な料理や歌舞でもてなし、農民が住んでいるところでは使った事がない絹の布団に寝かせる、など、参拝者を飽きさせないもてなしを行った。
English: Onshi also worked as a guide for visiting the Ise-jingu Shrine and sightseeing in Ise, and taught the peasants how to offer prayers and took them around famous places and entertainment districts in Ise.
Japanese: また、伊勢神宮や伊勢観光のガイドも勤め、参拝の作法を教えたり、伊勢の名所や歓楽街を案内して回った。
English: In such cases, onshi gave peasants only a quick tour of honden (main shrine building) where Amaterasu Omikami was enshrined, and showed them mainly around geku dedicated to Toyouke no Okami that the peasants worshipped.
Japanese: この時、天照大神が祀られている本殿の案内はそこそこにし、農民にとっての信仰の対象である豊受大神が祀られている外宮を重点的に案内した。
English: Because those who went out for okage mairi traveled to Ise on behalf of all the people in his/her village with the money gathered from the villagers, they avoided returning empty-handed.
Japanese: お蔭参りに行く者はその者が属する集落の代表として集落から集められたお金で伊勢に赴いたため、手ぶらで帰ってくる事がはばかられた。
English: Visiting Ise was often just an excuse to set out on a journey, and the journey was also made in order to acquire the latest knowledge and skills, know what is in fashion, and experience new things.
Japanese: また、伊勢参拝はあくまで旅に出る口実である事も多く、最新の知識や技術、流行などを知り見聞を広げるための旅でもあった。
English: Those who returned from okage mairi spread the latest fashions (e.g., the newest patterns of textile fabrics in Kyoto and Matsuzaka), farming tools (e.g., new varieties of crops were introduced, and winnowers to separate the chaff by means of a current of air created with a hand operated windmill was spread to replace winnowing baskets), and music and performing arts (music and dance originating from Ise Dance were spread around the country) across the country by actual products, word of mouth, and notes of a journey.
Japanese: お蔭参りから帰ってきた者によって、最新のファッション（例：京都や松坂の最新の織物の柄）や農具（例：新しい品種の農作物がもたらされる。箕に代わって、手動式風車でおこした風で籾を選別する唐箕が広まる）、音楽や芸能（伊勢音頭に起源を持つ歌舞が各地に広まる）が、実際の品物や口頭、紙に書いた旅の記録によって各地に伝わった。
English: (Years without detailed description indicate the year which saw many group pilgrimages which technically were not okage mairi.)
Japanese: （年号のみ記載のあるものは、厳密にはお蔭参りではないが、群参の顕著な年である。)
English: According to a survey by a checking station on Hakone-toge Pass, 500 to 600 people made a pilgrimage a day on average from late February to early April, and 2100 people made a pilgrimage on average from middle April to July.
Japanese: 箱根峠の関での調べによると、正月下旬から3月上旬までで一日平均500-600人が参詣し、3月中旬から5月までで平均2100人が参詣したという。
English: Okage mairi of the Hoei era really marked the beginning of okage mairi, and 3.3 to 3.7 million people visited the Ise-jingu Shrine for two months.
Japanese: 宝永のお蔭参りは、本格的なお蔭参りの始まりで、2ヶ月間に330万～370万人が伊勢神宮に参詣した。
English: Norinaga MOTOORI wrote, in his collection of essays "Tamakatsuma," that 2,000 to 3,000 people, and up to as many as 230,000 people, passed through Matsuzaka City each day from late April.
Japanese: 本居宣長の玉勝間の記載によると、4月上旬から1日に2～3千人が松阪市を通り、最高は1日23万人である。
English: On May 24, a group of women and children left the tea hill in Uji City, where they worked, without permission and with only the clothes they were wearing, and this is said to be the beginning of okage mairi of the Meiwa era.
Japanese: 4月11日、宇治市から女・子供ばかりの集団が仕事場の茶山から無断ではなれて、着の身着のままやってきたのが明和のお蔭参りの始まりと伝える。
English: A diary at the time says that during peak periods, in the neighboring Matsuzaka City there were so many visitors passing through the town that the author had trouble going to the house across the street from his/her own.
Japanese: ピーク時には地元松阪市では、自分の家から道路を横切って向かいの家に行くことすら困難なほど大量の参詣者が町の中を通っていった、と当時の日記にかかれている。
English: At first each group held up the flag with its hometown and members written on it, but the number of flags showing comical and obscene things gradually increased.
Japanese: 集団ごとに幟を立てていたが、初めは幟に出身地や参加者を書いていたが、段々と滑稽なものや卑猥なものを描いたものが増えてきたという。
English: Everyone, young and old, men and women, also came to sing all sorts of obscene things.
Japanese: お囃子も、老若男女がそろって卑猥な事々を並べ立てるようなものになった。
English: The market price of 1.8 liters of white rice was 50 mon (obsolete unit of currency), but it soared to 58 mon on May 31, 66 mon on July 1, and 70 mon on July 30.
Japanese: 白米1升が50文が相場のときに、4/18には58文に上がり、5/19には66文、6/19には70文まではね上がった。
English: Straw sandals sold for 8 mon on June 15, but the price surged to 13 to 15 mon on June 19 and 18 to 24 mon on June 21.
Japanese: わらじは5/3で8文だったものが、5/7には13-15文になり、5/9には18-24文に急上昇した。
English: A child who had left with no money reportedly came home with silver.
Japanese: 無一文で出かけた子供が、銀を持って帰ってきたといった事もあったという。
English: At first almsgivers gave charity partly because of religious ideas, but receivers came to take alms for granted.
Japanese: 初めは与える方も宗教的な思いもあって寄付をしていたが、徐々にもらう方ももらって当然と考えるようになり感謝もしなくなった。
English: It was somehow common for worshippers to take a ladle with them and leave it at the north gate of the geku of the Ise-jingu Shrine.
Japanese: 何故か参詣するときに、ひしゃくをもっていって伊勢神宮の外宮の北門で置いていくということが流行った。
English: It was recorded that prices rose, with the price of a pair of straw sandals increasing from 13 mon to 200 mon in Osaka and the price of a ladle from 16 mon to 300 mon in Kyoto.
Japanese: 物価上昇が起こり、大坂で13文のわらじが200文に、京都で16文のひしゃくが300文に値上がりしたと記録されている。
English: In the Meiji period, Emperor Meiji's visit to the Ise-jingu Shrine transformed the nature of the shrine and the Meiji government prohibited onshi's activities, and as a result, people lost their interest in visiting the Ise-jingu Shrine.
Japanese: 明治に入り、明治天皇が伊勢神宮へ行幸したのをきっかけに伊勢神宮の性質が変容し、さらに、明治政府が御師の活動を禁じたために、民衆の伊勢神宮への参拝熱は冷めてしまった。
English: In 1890, which was the "okage year," a newspaper published an article saying 'no signs of okage mairi.'
Japanese: 『おかげ年』にあたる明治23年の新聞には、「お蔭参りの面影もなし」という内容の記事が掲載された。
English: ("Shiru wo Tanoshimu Rekishi ni Kokishin" (Enjoy to Know and Have an Interest in History) by Japan Broadcasting Corporation Educational TV, broadcasted in October)
Japanese: （日本放送協会教育テレビ『知るを楽しむ歴史に好奇心』10月放送分より）
English: Sarayashiki is a general term for Kaidan telling (Ghost Stories telling) famous for a woman's ghost named Okiku counting plates.
Japanese: 皿屋敷（さらやしき）は、お菊という女性の亡霊が皿を数えることで有名な怪談話の総称。
English: "Banshu Sarayashiki" (Sarayashiki in Banshu) whose stage is Himeji City of Harima Province (presently Hyogo Prefecture) and "Bancho (or Banmachi) Sarayashiki" whose stage is Bancho, Edo, are widely known.
Japanese: 播磨国（現・兵庫県）姫路市が舞台の『播州皿屋敷』（ばんしゅう-）、江戸番町が舞台の『番町皿屋敷』（ばんちょう-、ばんまち-）が広く知られる。
English: Similar stories also remain all over Japan: In two towns and one village of Kanra-gun, Gunma Prefecture; Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture; Amagasaki City, Hyogo Prefecture; Matsue City, Shimane Prefecture; two towns and one village of Hata County, Kochi Prefecture; Kama City, Fukuoka Prefecture; the Island of Fukue, Goto-retto Island, Nagasaki Prefecture: and it is assumed that those stories were made with a mutual influence on each other.
Japanese: 他に群馬県甘楽郡の2町1村・滋賀県彦根市・兵庫県尼崎市・島根県松江市・高知県幡多郡の2町1村・福岡県嘉麻市・長崎県五島列島の福江島など日本各地において類似の話が残っており、それらが相互に影響しあいながら成立したものであろう。
English: Out of the well, Okiku's ghost narrates in a reproachful voice, 'One plate, two plate …' 'Nine plate, … one is missing …'; it is a typical way when she appears in Kaidan or a haunted house, and so on.
Japanese: 井戸の中からお菊の亡霊が「お皿が一枚……二枚……」「九枚……一枚足りない……」と恨めしげな声で語る、というのが、怪談やお化け屋敷などで登場するときのパターンである。
English: The prototype of Sarayashiki is Banshu-Sarayashiki Jitsuroku (The Fact of The Haunted Plate House in Banshu) which has been handed down to Junisho-jinja Shrine (Himeji City) of Himeji City and is related to Himeji-jo Castle.
Japanese: 姫路市の十二所神社(姫路市)に伝わる、姫路城にまつわる「播州皿屋敷実録」が原型とされる。
English: During the Eisho era (that is, before the present Himeji-jo Castle was built), Tetsuzan AOYAMA, a vassal of Norimoto KODERA, the ninth lord of Himeji-jo Castle, was plotting to take over his master's castle, however, a loyal subject named Motonobu KINUGASA sensed it and sent his mistress Okiku into Tetsuzan's house as a maid to spy on his plot.
Japanese: 永正年間（つまり現在の姫路城が出来る前）、姫路城第9代城主小寺則職の家臣青山鉄山が主家乗っ取りを企てていたが、これを衣笠元信なる忠臣が察知、自分の妾だったお菊という女性を鉄山の家の女中にし鉄山の計略を探らせた。
English: Then Motoharu found out that Aoyama was going to kill Norimoto by poisoning him during cherry-blossom viewing at Mt. Masuiyama (Hyogo Prefecture), so he stormed into the viewing, rescued Norimoto and hid him in Ieshima Island for attempting a comeback.
Japanese: そして、元信は、青山が増位山(兵庫県)の花見の席で則職を毒殺しようとしていることを突き止め、その花見の席に切り込み、則職を救出、家島に隠れさせ再起を図る。
English: Tetsuzan, failing in the takeover, suspected that there had been a betrayer in his house and ordered his vassal Danshiro CHONOTSUBO to inquire into it.
Japanese: 乗っ取りに失敗した鉄山は家中に密告者がいたとにらみ、家来の町坪弾四朗に調査するように命令した。
English: Then Danshiro, as he had been in love with Okiku, approached her to get her as his mistress.
Japanese: そこで、以前からお菊のことが好きだった弾四朗は妾になれと言い寄った。
English: Danshiro, offended at her attitude, hid one of the ten poison-neutralizing plates of the family treasure which were committed to Okiku's management and worthless unless all the plates were completely reserved, on purpose to blame her, and he finally strangled her to death and dumped her body in an old unused well.
Japanese: その態度に立腹した弾四朗は、お菊が管理を委任されていた10枚揃えないと意味のない家宝の毒消しの皿のうちの一枚をわざと隠してお菊にその因縁を付け、とうとう責め殺して古井戸に死体を捨てた。
English: Before long, Tetsuzan and his followers were destroyed by Odera's vassals such as Motonobu KINUGASA, and Himeji-jo Castle was safely returned to Norimoto.
Japanese: やがて衣笠元信達小寺の家臣によって鉄山一味は討たれ、姫路城は無事、則職の元に返った。
English: It has been said that hearing about Okiku, Norimoto felt sorry for her death and enshrined her as 'Okiku-Daimyojin Shrine' in Junisho-jinja Shrine.
Japanese: その後、則職はお菊の事を聞き､その死を哀れみ､十二所神社の中にお菊を「お菊大明神」として祀ったと言い伝えられている。
English: It is also said that about three hundred years later, a plague of strange-shaped insects appeared in the castle town, and people said that Okiku returned in the form of the insects.
Japanese: その後300年程経って城下に奇妙な形をした虫が大量発生し、人々はお菊が虫になって帰ってきたと言っていたといわれる。
English: Okiku was a mistress of a loyal subject, Motonobu KINUGASA, and it was Kinugasa who destroyed Tetsuzan.
Japanese: お菊は衣笠元信なる忠臣の妾で、鉄山を討ったのは衣笠であったというもの。
English: Okiku was a wife of a loyal subject, Sanpei FUNASE and Okiku's curses ruined Tetsuzan.
Japanese: お菊は船瀬三平なる忠臣の妻で、お菊の呪いが鉄山を滅ぼしたというもの。
English: Tetsuzan was killed by a monster called 'Okiku Mushi' (Okiku Insect) that looked like Okiku at the end of her life.
Japanese: お菊の最後の姿に似た「お菊虫」なる怪物によって鉄山が殺されたというもの。
English: The origin of Okiku Mushi is believed to be the larvae of swallow-tailed butterflies of which a plague occurred in 1795, and this brought Atrophaneura alcinous as the city butterfly of Himeji City (the crest of the Ikeda clan, the lord of Himeji Domain, is a swallow-tailed butterfly which dates back to the time of the Heike clans).
Japanese: お菊虫の元になったのは1795年に大量発生したアゲハチョウの幼虫ではないかと考えられており、このことにちなんで姫路市の市蝶はジャコウアゲハである（姫路藩主池田氏の家紋は平家由来の揚羽蝶である）。
English: Bancho refers to both Ushigome-Gomon 内番町 (presently near Idabashi, Chiyoda Ward?) and one bancho to six bancho of present Chiyoda Ward.
Japanese: 番町は牛込御門内番町（現在の千代田区飯田橋付近か?）とも、現在の千代田区一番町～六番町ともいう。
English: There are some variations: As she broke a plate of the family treasure or had the plate broken by someone, she was killed and thrown into a well, or jumped into a well herself.
Japanese: 家宝の皿を割ってしまうか誰かに割られるかしたため、殺されて井戸に投げ込まれたか自ら井戸に飛び込んだか、というバリエーションがある。
English: It is also said that since Shuzen cut off one of Okiku's fingers when blaming her, his child, who was born later, had one finger missing.
Japanese: 主膳がお菊を責め立てる際にその指を一本切り落としたため、後に生まれた主膳の子には手の指が一本足りなかったともいう。
English: There is also a tombstone, made of natural stone and engraved as Okiku's Tumulus, in the Akashicho Square near present Hiratsuka Station of the JR Tokaido Main Line.
Japanese: 現在東海道本線平塚駅近く、明石町公園内にもお菊塚と刻まれた自然石の石碑がある。
English: Okiku who worked in a residence of Genban KITA, a vassal of Aoyama Harima no Kami (the governor of Harima Province), was beaten and thrown into a well on the ground that a needle had been mixed in a meal.
Japanese: 青山播磨守の家臣・喜多玄蕃の屋敷に奉公していたお菊が、食事の中に針が混じっていたことを理由に折檻され井戸へ投げ込まれた。
English: After that, a large number of insects that looked like Okiku at the end of her life appeared and cursed Genban's house to ruin.
Japanese: その後お菊の最後の姿に似た虫が大量に現れ、玄蕃の家を呪い滅ぼしたという。
English: Trying to test his love, Okiku breaks one of the plates of the family treasure of the Aoyama family, but Harima overlooks Okiku's fault.
Japanese: 彼の愛情を試そうとしたお菊は青山家の家宝の皿を一枚割るが、播磨はお菊を不問に付す。
English: Learning this, Harima gets furious suspecting that she can't believe him that much, and kills Okiku with his sword.
Japanese: これを知った播磨は、自分がそんなに信じられないのかと激怒、お菊を斬ってしまう。
English: And as Harima's mind goes wild, the Aoyama family also goes to utter ruin.
Japanese: そして播磨の心が荒れるのに合わせるかのように、青山家もまた荒れ果ててゆくのだった。
English: In 1963, a movie "Teuchi" (capital punishment administered personally by one's master) was produced by Daiei Motion Picture Company starring Raizo ICHIKAWA (eighth) and Yukiko FUJI.
Japanese: 1963年（昭和38年）に大映で市川雷蔵(8代目)、藤由紀子主演で『手討』が製作された。
English: It is, however, a film characteristic of more tragic love story which ends at a scene where Harima AOYAMA goes to seppuku (suicide by disembowelment) in the form of immediately following Okiku.
Japanese: ただしすぐお菊の後を追う形で、青山播磨も切腹に向かう所で終わる、より悲恋物語の性格が強い作品である。
English: Before they leave, they are warned by a retired old man that they might die if they hear Okiku's voice count plates up to nine, so it's better to run off when they hear Okiku count them up to about six.
Japanese: 出かける前に隠居からお菊の皿を数える声を九枚まで聞くと死んでしまうから六枚ぐらいで逃げ出せと教えられる。
English: Following the old man's suggestion, the young folks escape from Sarayashiki when they hear her counting up to six, but Okiku is such a beautiful woman that they go there the next day again without learning a lesson.
Japanese: 若者達は隠居の教えを守り、六枚まで聞いたところで皿屋敷から逃げ出してきたが、お菊があまりにもいい女だったので若者達は翌日も懲りずに皿屋敷へ出かけていく。
English: Once the number of people increases that much, they cannot escape at the time of counting the sixth plate even if they want to, so they have to hear her voice even counting up to nine.
Japanese: それだけ人が増えると六枚目で逃げるにも逃げられず、九枚まで数える声をまで聞いてしまう。
English: However, not only those who hear her do not die but also Okiku, when they listen carefully, continues to count the plates even after the ninth.
Japanese: しかし聞いた者は死なず、よく聞くとお菊が九枚以降も皿を数え続けている。
English: As Okiku counts up to 18 plates, she is going to enter the well saying, 'That's all.', so one of the spectators says, 'It's the rule that Okiku's plates consist of nine.'
Japanese: お菊は十八枚まで数えると「これでおしまい」と言って井戸の中に入ろうとするので見物人の一人が「お菊の皿は九枚と決まっているだろう。
English: When the spectator asks 'Why do you count 18 plates?', Okiku replies, "As tomorrow is a holiday, I counted even my duty for tomorrow.'
Japanese: 何故十八枚も数えるんだ」と訊くと、お菊は「明日はお休みだから明日の分まで数えた」。
English: Tokuhon is the name of a learning program and the textbooks in the field of foreign language education, like grammar or conversation,, intended for the understanding of sentences, as well as for the cultivation of such skill.
Japanese: 外国語教育において、文法、会話などと並ぶ、文章を読解することおよびそのための能力を育成することを目的とした課程およびそのための教科書などの名称。
English: Although it became popular after the Kansei Reforms and its popularity reached the peak during the Bunka and Bunsei eras, it declined around the end of the Edo period.
Japanese: 寛政の改革以降流行し、文化文政の頃全盛となり、幕末にかけて衰退した。
English: Although Yomihon included frontispieces and illustrations, it was called Yomihon (reading books) because its emphasis was on the text itself.
Japanese: 口絵や挿絵もあったが、文章中心の読み物であるところから読本と呼ばれた。
English: Yomihon books were considered fiction even when the subject was based on historical events as they were fundamentally story-books with themes on good-versus-evil.
Japanese: 史実に取材することがあっても基本的にフィクションであり、勧善懲悪思想などを中心に据えた読み物であった。
English: Despite its entertaining tendency, Yomihon texts often included words of Chinese origin, and as such, it is considered literature of higher quality in comparison to Kokkeibon (comical and humorous stories) and Kusazoshi (illustrated books).
Japanese: 娯楽性も強いが漢語が散りばめられ、会話文主体で平易な滑稽本や草双紙などと比べ文学性の高いものと認識されている。
English: As there was a good publishing system such as an advanced printing technology and the system of payments for manuscripts, Yomihon gained many readers.
Japanese: 印刷技術や稿料制度など出版の体制が整っていたこともあり多くの読者を獲得した。
English: In cities such as Edo and Osaka, writers such as Akinari UEDA, Bakin KYOKUTEI and Kyoden SANTO became famous for their Yomihon stories.
Japanese: 江戸や大阪の町で上田秋成、曲亭馬琴、山東京伝といった作者が活躍した。
English: Unlike classics, Hakuwa shosetsu was written in contemporary Chinese of that time, and it was brought into Japan as textbooks for interpreters of Chinese called Totsuji.
Japanese: 古典とは違い同時代の中国語で書かれた白話小説は、唐通事という当時の中国語通訳のための教科書として日本に持ち込まれた。
English: In the course of time, some people started to read these novels not only for the practical purpose but for pleasure, and some also started to translate them and write stories under their influence.
Japanese: しかしやがてそれらの小説を実用目的ではなく楽しみとして読むものが現れ、影響を受けた創作や翻訳を行うものが現れた。
English: People such as Kanzan OKAJIMA, who taught Chinese to Sorai OGYU and others, Hakku Okada, Teisho TSUGA and Issai SAWADA popularized the novels written in Chinese popular terms by way of publishing books on them and giving lectures, and thus they prepared the ground for the birth of Yomihon.
Japanese: 特に荻生徂徠らに中国語を教えたこともある岡嶋冠山、さらに岡田白駒、都賀庭鐘、沢田一斎らによって出版物や講義の形で一般に俗語小説が広められ、読本が生まれる環境が作られた。
English: Some Hakuwa shosetsu were adapted, and further in the late 18th century, early Yomihon became popular as the representative works such as "Ugetsu monogatari" (Tale of Rain and Moon), which was not a mere adaptation, were written.
Japanese: 白話小説からの翻案が行われ、さらに18世紀の後半には単なる翻案に留まらない『雨月物語』などの代表作が書かれ初期読本が栄えた。
English: Even in the Meiji period, the works of Bakin were highly appreciated, and until the early modern literature was established by Shoyo TSUBOUCHI and Shimei FUTABATEI, Japanese literature had been highly influenced by gesaku such as Yomihon.
Japanese: 明治時代に入ってからも馬琴の評価は高く、坪内逍遥や二葉亭四迷によって近代文学が打ち立てられるまで日本文学は読本など戯作の影響を逃れなかった。
English: Nanso Satomi Hakkenden is Yomihon (copy for reading) written by Bakin KYOKUTEI (Bakin TAKIZAWA) during the late Edo period.
Japanese: 南総里見八犬伝（なんそうさとみはっけんでん、南總里見八犬傳）は、江戸時代後期に曲亭馬琴（滝沢馬琴）によって著された読本。
English: It consists of 98 volumes, 106 books in total, that started to be published in 1814 and was completed in 1842, 28 years later.
Japanese: 文化(元号)11年（1814年）に刊行が開始され、28年をかけて天保13年（1842年）に完結した、全98巻、106冊の大作である。
English: It is a leading gesaku (literary work of a playful, mocking, joking, silly or frivolous nature) during the Edo period like "Ugetsu Monogatari" (Tales of Moon and Rain) written by Akinari UEDA, and one of the classics of Japanese fantasy novels.
Japanese: 上田秋成の『雨月物語』などと並んで江戸時代の戯作文芸の代表作であり、日本の長編伝奇小説の古典の一つである。
English: "Nanso Satomi Hakkenden" is a fantasy novel about eight youngsters (eight dog warriors) bound by a fateful connection in another world between Princess Fuse, a princess of the Satomi clan in Awa Province, and the god dog Yatsufusa, set in the late Muromachi period.
Japanese: 『南総里見八犬伝』は、室町時代後期を舞台に、安房里見氏の姫・伏姫と神犬八房の因縁によって結ばれた八人の若者（八犬士）を主人公とする長編伝奇小説である。