# Read Japanese - Classic Novels — Furigana, dictionary & AI help

> Furigana, dictionary & AI help (iPhone/iPad app by ryo muranaka.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/read-japanese-classic-novels/id6801565906 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [ryo muranaka](https://appshunter.io/developer/1606480078)
- Category: Books, Education
- Price: Free with in-app purchases
- Age rating: 17+
- Requires: iOS 26.0 · 43 MB
- Languages: American English, Japanese
- Released: 2026-09-02
- Data updated: 2026-10-29

## What is Read Japanese?

Natsume Soseki. Dazai Osamu. Akutagawa Ryunosuke. 17,372 works of Japanese literature whose copyright has expired — all free to read, from the first page to the last. No limits, no ads.

The works are in the original Japanese. That is the point: you read what the author actually wrote, set the way a printed Japanese book is set. When a word stops you, the on-device AI explains it in English, for that passage.


■ Read it the way it was printed

True vertical text, right to left, with pages that turn the way a Japanese book opens. Furigana sits above the base characters and can be turned off. Emphasis dots, tate-chu-yoko, line-breaking rules, inline notes and page breaks follow the annotation syntax of 青空文庫 (Aozora Bunko) as written. Choose Mincho, Gothic or Rounded Gothic, and set type size, line spacing, margins and one of four themes — all of it free.


■ Look up a word without leaving the page

Press and hold a word. If it carries furigana, the reading is filled in for you.

Four routes to the meaning: the built-in dictionary, Japanese Wikipedia, the web, and the on-device AI. The AI reads the passage around the word, so it answers with the meaning in that scene. It answers in the app's language. Tap to switch the angle: meaning, etymology, usage, examples, synonyms, English translation. Translation runs on your device; nothing is sent anywhere.

Looking words up is unlimited. Saving is free up to 30 words; the AI explains 5 words a day.


■ The words you looked up stay with you

Every word is saved automatically, kept as one entry with the book and the passage where you met it. "5 times, across 3 books" — your reading becomes visible. Tap an entry to return to that page.


■ Listen, and read offline

Furigana is passed to the speech synthesiser as the reading, so difficult words are not mispronounced, and VoiceOver reads the text paragraph by paragraph. Read-along mode follows where you are by listening to you read (Pro). A work is downloaded once and kept on your device, and search runs on the device too.


■ What is included

17,344 works by 1,052 authors from 青空文庫 (Aozora Bunko), all with expired copyright — Soseki's Kokoro, Dazai's Run, Melos!, Akutagawa's Rashomon, Miyazawa Kenji's Night on the Galactic Railroad, and work by Edogawa Ranpo and Higuchi Ichiyo. Also 28 works from the National Diet Library Digital Collections. Filter by category, orthography (modern or historical), and year.

Bookmarks, four-colour highlights with notes, in-text search and contents are free — as is everything above.


■ What Pro adds

Reading is not what we charge for. Pro is for the tools, and for what is left after you read: unlimited saved words (30 without Pro), unlimited AI word explanations (5 a day without Pro)*, unlimited reading assist*, read-along mode, ambient sound, auto page turn, the full history, and export as CSV or a quote card.

* Needs a device that supports Apple Intelligence. On other devices these are not offered.


■ Pricing and auto-renewal

- Pro (monthly): 200 yen per month
- Pro (yearly): 1,600 yen per year
- Pro (lifetime): 4,000 yen, one payment, covering future features

Your local price is shown before you buy. Monthly and yearly include a 3-day free trial.

Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. A subscription renews automatically unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and the renewal is charged within 24 hours before the period ends. You can turn off auto-renewal or cancel at any time in Settings > your Apple Account > Subscriptions. If you move to a paid plan during a free trial, the remaining free period is forfeited.

Terms of Use: https://novel-b5536.web.app/en/terms
Privacy Policy: https://novel-b5536.web.app/en/privacy

Works from 青空文庫 (Aozora Bunko, https://www.aozora.gr.jp/) are used under its guidelines: each work screen shows the source edition, the person who input the text and the proofreader.

## Pricing and in-app purchases

Base price: Free.

**Subscriptions**

| Subscription | Price | Period |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pro (Monthly) | $0.99 | per month |
| Pro (Yearly) | $9.99 | per year |

**One-time purchases**

| Purchase | Price | Type |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pro (Lifetime) | $24.99 | one-time |


## Is Read Japanese safe?

Not enough ratings yet to assess Read Japanese.

## Is Read Japanese legit?

Read Japanese - Classic Novels appears legitimate, with a few gaps. The AppsHunter Legitimacy Score for Read Japanese is 70 out of 100 points across 7 verification signals from App Store and developer data.


## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.3.3 — 2026-10-25

- Fixed an issue where reading aloud with a high-quality on-device voice could stop at passages made only of symbols, such as “……”.
- When Read Aloud can’t start, for example during a call, the app now tells you why.
- The Read Aloud note in Display Settings now mentions that reading stops when you close the book.
- Added an FAQ under How to use in Settings.

### 1.3.2 — 2026-10-23

- Fixed the Sources note in Settings, which was missing part of its text in English.
- Fixed editorial notes that were not read correctly in some works.

### 1.3.1 — 2026-10-21

- Fixed a rare crash when viewing saved words grouped by book.

### 1.3.0 — 2026-10-18

- Read-aloud can now use a high-quality voice generated on your device (the voice data is downloaded the first time).
- Added a sleep timer for read-aloud.
- A "Finished" page now follows the last page, with suggestions for what to read next.
- Added "Read a little every day" mode, and "Set aside" for books you want to pause.
- Added a shelf for reviewing highlights across all your books.
- Meanings of difficult words can now appear in small type where the ruby goes.
- Line and character spacing now come in presets (Paperback, Narrow, Standard, Wide), and page turns can be set to "No animation".
- You can flip the tap zones for one-handed reading.
- Discover now starts with Today’s book and Recently viewed, and search results can be filtered by orthography, length and era.
- Figure captions are now set smaller than the body text.
- Fixed annotations that failed to parse in some works, and long word notes are now set large enough to read.
- Fixed layout issues at the largest text sizes, and other small bugs.

### 1.2.5 — 2026-10-11

Stability improvements.

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All apps by ryo muranaka: https://appshunter.io/developer/1606480078

## Related topics

[ryunosuke akutagawa novels](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/ryunosuke-akutagawa-novels)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-10-29.*