By JLPT level

Japanese stories for JLPT N1

The original texts at their most demanding: older writing styles, rare kanji and dense description. Read the real thing, with furigana and one-tap meanings to keep you moving.

Stories at N1

1 story
Rashōmon
Historical Advanced · JLPT N1 · 40 min
羅生門
Rashōmon
Ryūnosuke Akutagawa · 1915
Kyoto, a thousand years ago. Famine and fire have emptied the capital, and a servant who has just lost his job shelters from the rain beneath a crumbling city gate. Starve, or become a thief? As he climbs the stairs into the dark tower above, he finds someone already there. The story that gave the world the word "Rashomon."
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JLPT levels are our estimates of how difficult each text is (N1 on this page). All stories are in the Library.