This continues a tradition started in 2022 (originally on the Wanikani forums) where I read a random Aozora short piece of writing each day. Some of these were short stories, some were essays, some were children’s stories - all were chosen mostly at random and a surprise each day! In 2023 it continued over here, and we’re back again for the 2024 edition!
I have prepared 2 calendars here - one where every day is a surprise and I personally don’t know the content nor the difficulty of the text - at most I may be familiar with the author.
The second calendar contains Aozora shorts I have read and vetted for being at least somewhat entertaining and this year, also all level 33 or below in an effort to make them more approachable to a wider range of learners. Also, remember - even if a level is higher than you could normally do, maybe a few pages is doable!
FAQ Can I switch stories for < reason > ?
Feel free to swap out any story you don’t like or which is too high of a level for any other Aozora work.
How do I participate?
Advent runs from December 1st through 24th. In this event we read one short work from Aozora each day. Please feel free to ask questions, write out your thoughts here under spoiler tags. Please also rate and review the stories on Natively if you have time
What can I do if I struggle reading old Japanese writing?
pm215 helpfully provided A Bluffer’s Guide to Old Kana Spellings in the 2023 Advent which is worth a read! Also, many works have read alouds available on YouTube. If there isn’t already one listed on the Natively page just search for “book title, author, 朗読”. Ex: “人間失格 太宰治 朗読”.
Just a quick question, because I am too lazy to check: Does the pre-vetted one include stories we have had before? (e.g. stories that have been part of the mystery calendar or something…) Because some of those stories sound familiar but it might just be I read them on my own.
Yeah, I kind of think going forward that pre-vetted will have some repeats because I set the level limit, but there’s a decent number of already graded stories that people can swap for if they want (I’ll warn you that a large number are children’s stories by one or two authors, though).
I also just feel like the Dazai Christmas short is probably going to be a traditional story for this now I liked it so much, I might reread it on Xmas as a bonus story myself.
Very excited to participate this year! See a few titles I recognize in the vetted calendar that I’m excited to read again. Might try out some of the unknowns if other people read them and they seem worth trying too!
Ohh that sound really interesting! I’m thinking about plugging the texts into Renshuu text analyzer. BTW, could it be that the aozora text is strange? It somehow shows small tsu as big tsu in all words…
I see. Should have been obvious to me back then, as the page number is way off.
There is one other case (again added by me ) with the same problem 蜘蛛の糸, but here the link to the short story collection was successfully usurped by the short story.
蜜柑 is a bit of an odd but sweet story. Kinda fitting for Advent.
ピアノ is poetic. I am a bit surprised by L30. I’d given it a slightly higher rating as this one really only works well if you understand the details, imo. It’s all about the atmosphere. but then again, being as short as it is, you can easily look up all the words you don’t know.
Agreed. I’m not usually a fan of Akutagawa, so I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. But what is it with people throwing 蜜柑 out of train windows? This is the second Aozora story I’ve read where that happens
Thank you so much for putting this together! I am looking forward to reading along
Today I read both 蜜柑 and ピアノ.
蜜柑 , I had read before in English, so I found quite easy to read along. It is a really nice little vignette of the interaction. From memory the English translation had a lot softer language around how countryside the girl is. In the Japanese version, the narrator’s description seemed much more mean.
ピアノ is also lovely, I did find a little harder parsing a couple of things, although I think I would be fine if I cross referenced pm215’s helpful guide.
Ok, I want to join the party too! (Not for every day, tho.)
I read ピアノ using the readalong. I listened to each paragraph once while reading along, then read again looking stuff up, then listened again. This was super approachable, if anyone’s around my level (mostly reading stuff in the 20s) and the old kana spellings didn’t bother me when I could hear how everything was said.
I really liked it!! Maybe just because it’s my first ‘literature’ in Japanese? I thought that since I’m at a lower level, literary writing and difference in writing styles wouldn’t come across, but the story felt very evocative and I loved the atmosphere and way it was written. It also felt very Japanese haha. The transience of all things… the chestnut tree… the sound of the piano…
Read my first ever Aozora short story today! I struggled to read ピアノ at first, but after looking at the guide I was able to understand most of it. After reading through the whole thing I went and listened to the read-aloud to solidify my understanding. Now I’m intrigued to learn more about old kana spellings!
I’m impressed by how much atmosphere was packed into just a few paragraphs of story. Looking forward to tomorrow’s reading!
Happy Advent! 
FAQ 
I liked it so much, I might reread it on Xmas as a bonus story myself.
) with the same problem 
but then again, being as short as it is, you can easily look up all the words you don’t know.