海が呼んだ話小川未明Intermediate · JLPT N3
海が呼んだ話Umi ga Yonda Hanashi — A Call from the Sea
- JLPT N3
- 3,680 characters
- 3 parts
- about 31 minutes
- 2 easier versions
A Call from the Sea is a short children's story by Ogawa Mimei, set in a Tokyo neighbourhood of bicycle shops and chindon-ya street bands. When the friendly bicycle-shop family moves to the countryside, their shop is taken over by Yū-chan's young, quiet uncle, who once worked as a diver at a faraway seashore. Seikichi and his friend Shōji love to hear him describe the world under the sea. But when they ask why he left it for the town, he only smiles sadly. Later the reason reaches Seikichi's family through his father, and it is far darker than the children's daydreams of the deep. The narration is gentle and polite, with an old-fashioned storybook touch. The dialogue moves between children's plain speech, a stern father and the uncle's rough but kindly voice. For learners, the narration is steady and easy to follow, and the dialogue gives good practice with casual and masculine speech. The challenges are the older grammar scattered through the text, such as 〜なければならぬ and 〜のであります, and an understated mood in which much of the feeling is left unspoken.
Contents
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 narration uses polite 〜ました forms throughout, sometimes with the old-fashioned 〜のであります. Read this as a storyteller's 'it was so' rather than as new grammar. It adds emphasis but no extra meaning.
- Watch for older or literary negative forms: 〜ずに ('without doing'), 〜なければならぬ (an older 〜なければならない, 'must'), and 〜るでない, a stern 'don't do'. These are most common in the father's and the uncle's speech.
- Much of the uncle's past is told secondhand, so learn the markers of reported and inferred information: hearsay 〜そうだ ('I hear that'), 〜とみえる ('it seems'), and 〜に相違ない ('there is no doubt that'). They show who knows what, and how surely.
- Learn the speech styles before you start. The uncle uses rough masculine forms (おれ, sentence-final ぜ, the casual command きな), while the father ends sentences with a firm ぞ. Recognising these makes it easy to tell who is speaking.
- Each boy has two names: Seikichi (清吉) is also Sei-chan (清ちゃん), and Shōji (正二) is also Shō-chan (正ちゃん). Also note 〜ことになる ('it has been arranged that'). It is used when the families' moves are decided, which drives the plot.
Words to know
The most useful words from the notes across the story.
| Word | Meaning | JLPT |
|---|---|---|
| 名人めいじん | expert, masterSomeone exceptionally skilled; 〜の名人 = a master of ~. | N3 |
| 陸おか | dry land (as opposed to the sea)Usually read りく; おか is used when contrasting land with the sea. | N3 |
| 乾物屋かんぶつや | dried-goods shopSells dried fish, seaweed, beans and so on. 乾 'dry' + 物 'thing' + 屋 'shop'. | — |
| 原因げんいん | cause | N4 |
| 衝突しょうとつ | collision; to collide (with する) | N3 |
| 報告ほうこく | report; to report (with する) | N3 |
| 不思議ふしぎ | strange, mysteriousA な-adjective: 不思議な病気. | N3 |
| きかなくきく | to work, to function (of a body part)dictionary form: きくUsually written 利く; 体がきかない = one's body won't do what one wants. | N3 |
| 修繕しゅうぜん | repair, mendingA slightly formal word for 修理; 修繕する = to repair. | N2 |
| 見下ろしてみおろす | to look down atdictionary form: 見下ろす | N2 |
| しびれてしびれる | to go numbdictionary form: しびれるAlso used for feet 'falling asleep' after sitting in seiza. | N2 |
| もぐってもぐる | to dive, to go under waterdictionary form: もぐるKanji 潜る. | N2 |
| 浜はま | beach, seashore; a seaside villageOften refers to the fishing community on the shore, not just the sand. | N1 |
| 無口むくち | quiet, taciturnLiterally 'no mouth'. Compare 口数が少ない in the last sentence of this part. | N1 |
| くぐるくぐる | to dive under (water); to pass through or underLater used for fish slipping through seaweed 'like going through a forest'. Kanji: 潜る. | N1 |
Plot summary
Show the full summary (contains spoilers)
The friendly bicycle-shop owner moves his family back to the countryside to care for his aging father, and his son Yū-chan says goodbye to Seikichi and Shōji. The shop becomes a dried-goods store run by Yū-chan's quiet uncle, a former diver. The boys love his stories of the sea, but he will not say why he left it. Seikichi's father learns the reason. The uncle, a famous diver, once went alone into a sunken steamer to search for eight missing people, and he found their bodies pressed against the ceiling, staring down at him. After that he gave up diving. Seikichi kindly never mentions it. About two months later the uncle falls ill with a strange fever that no doctor can explain. He tells the boys that the sea is calling him and that he will go back to diving, and that Yū-chan's family will probably return. Shōji is glad, but Seikichi is sad to say goodbye.
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).