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Cover of 赤いろうそくと人魚 (Akai Rōsoku to Ningyo)

Intermediate · JLPT N3

赤いろうそくと人魚Akai Rōsoku to Ningyo — The Mermaid and the Crimson Candles

by Ogawa Mimei (小川未明, 1882–1961)

  • JLPT N3
  • 7,041 characters
  • 5 parts
  • about 59 minutes
  • 2 easier versions

This is a literary fairy tale (童話) by Ogawa Mimei and one of his best-known works. A mermaid living in a cold, dark northern sea decides that her child should grow up among humans, whom she has heard are kind. She leaves her newborn daughter on the shore below a hilltop shrine. An elderly couple who make and sell candles find the child and raise her as a gift from the gods. The girl paints red pictures on their candles, and the candles become famous in the town. The story then asks how far human kindness and gratitude really go. The tone is quiet, sad and increasingly eerie, and the ending is not a happy one. The narration uses a gentle, formal storyteller's voice in です/ます style, with old-fashioned forms such as であります and 青うございました. The dialogue is also mildly archaic. These forms slow you down at first, but they repeat often and you will soon recognise them. The plot is simple and easy to follow. That makes it a good text for practising longer descriptive sentences at about N3 level.

Start reading →Try the easy N5 version

Contents

  1. A Mother's Hope from the Northern Sea （一）A lonely mermaid lives in the cold, dark northern sea and longs for the bright world of human beings. She is expecting a child. She has heard that people are kind and never abandon the helpless, so she decides to give birth on land and let humans raise her baby, even if she never sees it again. One night she swims towards the shore, where the lights of a shrine on a hill flicker over the waves.
  2. The Old Couple Find a Mermaid Child （二）In a small seaside town, an old couple make and sell candles at the foot of a hill with a shrine on top. One moonlit night the old woman goes up to pray and finds a baby crying at the foot of the stone steps. She brings the baby home, where it turns out to be a mermaid girl. The couple believe she is a gift from the gods and raise her with great care.
  3. Painted Candles and a Hillside Shrine （三）The mermaid girl grows up hidden away because she is shy of her unusual form. She begins painting red pictures on the old man's candles, and they sell wonderfully. A rumour spreads that painted candle stubs offered at the hill shrine protect sailors from storms, and the shrine becomes famous. No one thinks of the tired girl, who secretly longs for the northern sea.
  4. The Mermaid Is Sold to a Showman （四）A showman from the south learns that the girl is a mermaid and offers the old couple a large sum of money for her. He persuades them that mermaids bring bad luck, and in their greed they agree to sell her, ignoring her tearful pleas. On a moonlit night he arrives with an iron-barred cage, and the girl, hurried away before she can finish her pictures, paints her last candles red and leaves a few behind.
  5. The Pale Woman and the Cursed Shrine （五）Late one night a pale woman with dripping wet hair buys a red candle from the old couple and pays with seashells. That night a terrible storm wrecks countless ships, and the old couple fear for the ship carrying the mermaid girl. From then on, red candles lit at the shrine bring storms and death, people stop visiting it, and within a few years the town at the foot of the hill falls to ruin.

Easier versions

This story is also retold in simpler Japanese. Reading an easier version first makes the original much more approachable.

Before you read

  • Learn to undo the old adjectival ございます form. 青うございました is 青い + ございました, meaning 'was blue', and 気味悪うございました means 'was eerie'. Drop the う/ございます and rebuild the plain い-adjective.
  • The narrator often ends sentences with ～のであります or ～のでありました. Read these as a formal, explanatory version of ～のです. They add a storytelling tone rather than new meaning.
  • The dialogue uses old-fashioned forms. おくれ is a softer 'give me / please do' (≈ ください). くださいまし is a polite 'please'. なされた is an honorific of した. 思うて is the older form of 思って.
  • Learn these key words before you start: 人魚 (mermaid), ろうそく (candle), お宮 (shrine), 神様 (god), 年寄り (old person), 香具師 (やし, travelling showman) and おり (cage). They carry the plot and appear repeatedly.
  • Watch how the colour red (赤い, 赤く塗る) and the sea and weather are described. The same images return near the end with a different meaning, so noticing them helps you follow the story's quiet build-up.

Words to know

The most useful words from the notes across the story.

WordMeaningJLPT
罰ばちdivine punishment罰が当たる = to be punished by the gods; read ばつ for legal or ordinary punishment.N1
内気うちきtimid, shy, reservedLiterally 'inward spirit'. Used as a な-adjective.—
燃えさしもえさしa partly burnt stub (of a candle)〜さし attached to a verb stem means 'left partway done', as in 飲みさし.—
参詣さんけいvisiting a shrine or temple to worship—
香具師やしtravelling showman; peddler at fairsA fixed reading that cannot be guessed from the kanji. It suggests someone who makes money from shows and curiosities, often a little shady.—
お蔭おかげthanks to (someone's help or grace)Usually written おかげ today, as in おかげさまで.N4
承知しょうちconsent, agreement承知をしない means "to refuse to agree"; 承知しました is a polite "certainly".N4
ながめながめるto gaze at, to look out overdictionary form: 眺めるUsed for looking at a view or scenery for a while.N3
評判ひょうばんreputation, public talk評判がたつ means 'a reputation spreads'.N3
あこがれてあこがれるto long for, to yearn fordictionary form: 憧れるTakes を here (海の面をあこがれて). In modern Japanese, 〜に憧れる is more common.N2
漁師りょうしfisherman漁 is read りょう here, not ぎょ as in 漁業.N2
せっせとせっせとbusily, diligently, without a breakN2
災難さいなんmisfortune, disasterN2
もうけようもうけるto make a profit, to earn moneydictionary form: 儲ける金をもうける is the set phrase "to make money".N2
もうかるもうかるto be profitable, to make moneydictionary form: 儲かるIntransitive; the transitive partner is 儲ける.N2

Plot summary

Show the full summary (contains spoilers)

A mermaid gives birth on a lonely northern shore. She leaves her baby near a hilltop shrine, hoping humans will raise her kindly. An old candle-making couple take the girl in and love her. She grows up beautiful but shy of being seen, and she paints red designs on their candles. People come to believe these candles protect sailors from shipwreck, and the shop prospers. Then a travelling showman offers the couple a great sum of money for the 'mermaid' girl. They are tempted and sell her despite her pleas. Before she is taken away in a cage by ship, she paints her last candles all red. That night a pale woman with wet hair buys the red candles. A violent storm follows and ships are lost. From then on, red candles at the shrine bring disaster, and within a few years the town falls to ruin.

About the author

Ogawa Mimei was a Japanese writer from Niigata Prefecture. He is often called the father of modern Japanese children's literature, and he is sometimes described as 'the Japanese Andersen.' He studied at Tokyo Senmon Gakkō (now Waseda University), where his teacher Tsubouchi Shōyō is said to have given him the pen name Mimei. He wrote both fiction for adults and fairy tales, and he later devoted himself mainly to children's stories. His tales are known for their lyrical, often melancholy atmosphere and their concern for the weak and the lonely. Among his best-known works is 赤い蝋燭と人魚 (The Red Candles and the Mermaid).

More stories by Ogawa Mimei →