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溺れかけた兄妹有島武郎

Intermediate · JLPT N3

溺れかけた兄妹Obore Kaketa Kyōdai — The Undertow

by Arishima Takeo (有島武郎, 1878–1923)

  • JLPT N3
  • 6,395 characters
  • 5 parts
  • about 53 minutes
  • 2 easier versions

溺れかけた兄妹 is a short, memoir-like story by Arishima Takeo, told by a man looking back on one afternoon of his childhood. On the third of September, after the summer visitors have left a seaside resort, he, his little sister and his friend M ignore their grandmother's warning and go down to the empty beach for one last swim. The waves are high and the undertow is strong. A game of jumping the breakers turns into a struggle in deep water. The story cares less about the rescue itself than about what the narrator learns about himself in that moment, and how long the memory stays with him. The voice is gentle and conversational. It is written in polite です・ます style, and the narrator sometimes turns to speak to the reader directly. The grandmother's courteous, old-fashioned speech adds character, but it also brings in forms you will not find in textbooks. For a learner around N3, the length is manageable and the physical descriptions of waves, current and exhaustion give vivid, concrete vocabulary. The main difficulties are long descriptive sentences and older kanji spellings.

Start reading →Try the easy N5 version

Contents

  1. A Last Swim at the Empty BeachIn early September, after the summer visitors have gone home, the narrator, his little sister and his friend M ignore their grandmother's warning and go down to the empty beach for one last swim. The swell is high and the pull of the receding water is strong, but the children find it thrilling and wade out, hand in hand, until the water reaches their waists and they have to float up over each wave.
  2. The Big Wave Carries Them OutThe three children happily jump the waves until an unusually large wave rolls toward them. Unable to escape it through the strong undertow, they swim over its crest just before it breaks. When they try to stand again, they find they have been swept into deep water and must swim for shore with very little skill or strength.
  3. Swimming for Shore, Leaving Her BehindThe current pulls the three children apart, and the narrator's little sister cries out to him as she drifts further out to sea. Afraid for his own life, he swims for shore without her and reaches the shallows exhausted, while M lands further along the beach. M brings a young passer-by, who strips off his kimono and swims out toward the sister as the narrator watches, shaking and weeping.
  4. Out of the Waves at LastThe young man reaches the sister and, after a long struggle in the breaking surf, drags himself ashore with her clinging to his back. She runs past her brother towards their grandmother, whom M is helping down from the dunes, and the narrator realises with a pang that she resents him. The grandmother earnestly thanks the exhausted, silent young man and presses him to come back to the house with them, where he drinks some barley tea and leaves.
  5. Grandmother's Words, and the Years AfterGrandmother tells the narrator how frightened she was and asks him, sternly, to be more careful. Ashamed that he had briefly wanted to save only himself, he sits before her unable even to cry. Looking back as an adult, he says the rescuer would accept no reward, Grandmother and M are now dead, and his sister still says that was the one time she truly hated him.

Easier versions

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

Before you read

  • The narrator writes in polite です・ます style and often addresses you, the reader, directly (考えて見て下さい, 御覧なさい). Read these lines as an adult telling a story aloud. They are not instructions to a character.
  • The grandmother uses old-fashioned courteous speech. Learn to recognise 御座んせん (≈ ございません), なすった (≈ なさった) and the negative request おくれでない (≈ please don't …). The narrator also uses honorific verbs for her, such as 仰有る (おっしゃる) and 行かれる.
  • Many words that are usually written in kana today appear here in kanji, for example 仰有る, 御座る, 下さい and 見て in 考えて見て. If a compound looks unfamiliar, try reading it aloud and checking whether it is a common word in older spelling.
  • Before you start, learn the beach and water vocabulary: 波 (wave), 浜 (beach), 沖 (open sea), 泳ぐ (to swim) and 溺れる (to drown). The action in Parts 2–4 depends on clearly following the movement of the waves and the swimmers.
  • Watch the grammar that carries the narrator's feelings: 〜てならない (can't help feeling), 〜ような気がする (it feels as if) and 〜といったらない (indescribably …). Also notice 〜たまま and 〜うちに, which describe what happens while the children are in the water.

Words to know

The most useful words from the notes across the story.

WordMeaningJLPT
沖おきthe open sea, offshore沖の方 = 'out towards the open sea'.N3
波打際なみうちぎわthe water's edge, where the waves break on the shoredictionary form: 波打ち際際 means 'edge' or 'border', as in 窓際 (by the window).—
土用波どようなみhigh late-summer swells (dog-day waves)土用 is the hottest stretch of midsummer; these big swells come from distant typhoons, often with no wind on the shore.—
気味悪くきみわるいuneasy, creepy, unsettlingdictionary form: 気味悪い—
仰向けあおむけlying face up, on one's backIts opposite is うつ伏せ (face down).—
仰有ったおっしゃるto say (honorific)dictionary form: 仰有るUsually written おっしゃる today; 仰有る is an old kanji spelling.N4
淋しいさびしいlonely; desolateOlder kanji spelling of 寂しい.N4
お蔭おかげthanks to; owing toOften written おかげ or お陰 today.N4
針はりneedleN3
受取らなかったうけとるto accept, to receivedictionary form: 受け取るN3
別荘べっそうvilla, summer houseN2
折角せっかくhaving gone to the trouble; with so much effortExpresses reluctance to waste effort already made.N2
真青まっさおdeathly pale (of a face); deep bluedictionary form: 真っ青真っ intensifies colour words: 真っ白, 真っ赤.N2
恨んでうらむto bear a grudge against; resentdictionary form: 恨むN2
お名残なごりfarewell; a last chance before partingdictionary form: 名残お名残だ = 'as a farewell (to summer/the sea)'.N1

Plot summary

Show the full summary (contains spoilers)

In early September, with the resort deserted, the narrator, his younger sister and his friend M go swimming despite their grandmother's warning. They jump the waves hand in hand until a huge wave forces them to swim over its crest, and they find themselves swept into deep water. The current separates them. The sister cries out to her brother, but, afraid for his own life, he swims to shore without her. M reaches land too and brings a young passer-by, who swims out and, after a long struggle, carries the sister back on his back. She runs past her brother to their grandmother, and he senses her resentment. The grandmother thanks the silent young man, who drinks some barley tea and leaves, refusing any reward. Ashamed, the narrator cannot even cry. Years later, his sister still says it was the one time she truly hated him.

About the author

Arishima Takeo was a Japanese novelist and essayist associated with the Shirakaba (White Birch) literary group. He studied at Sapporo Agricultural College and later in the United States, and for a time he was a committed Christian. His best-known works include the novel 或る女 (A Certain Woman) and the stories カインの末裔 and 生れ出づる悩み. Troubled by his inherited wealth, he gave his family's farm in Hokkaido to the tenant farmers who worked it.

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