Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) opens his 1927 novel ¡°ºÓͯ¡± ("Kappa") with an interesting-looking passage.
ÈþÄêǰ€ÎÏĀ΀³€È€Ç€¹¡£W€ÏÈ˲¢€ß€Ë¥ê¥å¥Ã¥¯?¥µ¥Ã¥¯€ò±³žº€Ò¡¢€¢€ÎÉϞߵ؀ÎÎÂȪËÞ€«€é·[žßÉœ€ØµÇ€é€Š€È€·€Þ€·€¿¡£(San-nen mae no natsu no koto desu. Boku wa hitonami ni ryukku sakku o seoi, ano Kamikšchi no onsen yado kara Hotaka-san e ²ÔŽÇ²úŽÇ°ùš to shimashita, It happened the summer of three years prior. Like anyone else would, I shouldered a backpack, and attempted to summit Mount Hotaka from that Kamikochi hot springs inn.)
Does anything look strange about it to you? Perhaps you spotted the €Ò (hi) used instead of €€ (i) in ±³Ø€€ (seoi, to carry on one¡¯s back)? Or maybe it was the €é (ra) in what would now be µÇ€í€Š (²ÔŽÇ²úŽÇ°ùš, climb)? Avid climbers might know the mountain he¡¯s speaking of as ·[žßÔÀ (Hotaka-dake). In fact, the passage would have looked even more different if it had retained its original ŸÉh×Ö (kyš± kanji), older Chinese characters that were eventually replaced by the simplified, modern ones we know today.
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