7 days ago
Easy Japanese news in translation: Rice planting festival held at shrine in Nara Prefecture
The "Otaue-sai" rice planting festival, which prays for a good harvest in autumn, was held on June 25 at a rice field of Omiwa Shrine in the city of Sakurai, Nara Prefecture. Eleven men and women in white clothes and wearing sedge hats lined up side by side and planted rice to the beat of a drum. The rice field is about 200 square meters in size. They carefully planted Hinohikari rice seedlings, which had grown from rice seeds, by hand.
Easy Japanese news is taken from the Mainichi Shogakusei Shimbun, a newspaper for children. This is perfect material for anyone studying Japanese who has learned hiragana and katakana. We encourage beginners to read the article in English followed by Japanese, or vice versa, to test their comprehension.
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Intermediate learners who do not need English assistance can directly access the Mainichi Shogakusei Shimbun site here. Furigana (hiragana) is added to all kanji in the text.
