Japanese Graded Reading

172 passages you can actually read, sorted by JLPT level. Nothing here is below 98% in-level vocabulary.

JLPT N5 reading 12 passages · Beginner JLPT N4 reading 10 passages · Elementary JLPT N3 reading 50 passages · Intermediate JLPT N2 reading 50 passages · Upper Intermediate JLPT N1 reading 50 passages · Advanced

Frequently asked questions

What is graded reading?

Japanese chosen so that it sits inside the vocabulary you already have. Every passage here is scored against its JLPT level word by word, and nothing below 98% in-level is published, so you read rather than decode.

How is the level decided?

Each passage is tokenised and every word checked against the level's vocabulary list. Particles, grammar endings, numbers and names count as known; everything else has to be in the list. A passage lands at the easiest level it clears.

Do the passages come with translations?

The passages written for this site come with a full English translation you can reveal after reading. The public-domain passages from Aozora Bunko come with a gloss of the words above their level instead.