少年

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 少年 (しょうねん) refers to a boy or young male. 少年が marks an acting subject; 少年の旅 links the character to a journey.
• Basic usage: A boy picks up stones by a river; a story depicts the long journey of a boy who left home.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Boy acting in a scene and boy whose journey is narrated
  • The boy is the subject in the first sentence; the direct object in the second is 旅. Exact age boundaries vary by legal and contextual use.