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二

Chapter 2

221 sentences · 26 notes

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  1. 1

    With a boom the steamer stopped, and a lighter pulled away from the shore and rowed out to meet it.

    ぶうboomぶう · nounoblique complement of 云っ
    とquoteと · particlequote marker on ぶう
    云っwent云う · verbadverbial clause on とまる
    てandて · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of 云っ
    汽船steamer汽船 · nounsubject of とまる
    がsubjectが · particleparticle marking 汽船
    とまるstopsとまる · verbadverbial clause on 離れ
    とwhenと · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of とまる
    艀lighter艀 · nounsubject of 離れ
    がsubjectが · particleparticle marking 艀
    岸shore岸 · noundirect object of 離れ
    をobjectを · particleparticle marking 岸
    離れpulled away離れる · verbadverbial clause on 寄せ
    てandて · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of 離れ
    漕ぎrowed漕ぐ · verbadverbial clause on 寄せ
    寄せalongside寄せる · verbmain verb of the sentence
    てandて · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of 寄せ
    来came来る · verbpart of the phrase て
    たpastた · auxiliary verbauxiliary of 寄せ

  2. The boatman was stark naked but for a red loincloth.

  3. What a barbarous place.

  4. Though in this heat, I suppose, no one could stand wearing clothes.

  5. The sun was so strong the water glared.

  6. Even staring at it made my eyes swim.

  7. I asked a clerk and it turned out this was where I was supposed to get off.

  8. As far as I could tell, it was a fishing village about the size of Ōmori.

  9. They take me for a fool. How could I stand a place like this? That was what I thought, but there was nothing to be done.

  10. I leapt down first, full of spirit.

  11. Five or six others must have climbed in after me.

  12. Besides us, four big crates were loaded on, and the red-loincloth man rowed us back to shore.

  13. The moment we touched land I was the first to jump out, and on the spot I grabbed a snot-nosed brat standing on the beach and asked him where the middle school was.

  14. The boy just stood there blankly and said, 'Dunno.'

  15. What a dim-witted country bumpkin.

  16. In a town no bigger than a cat's forehead, how could anyone not know where the middle school was?

  17. Just then an odd man in a straight-sleeved coat came up and told me to follow him, so I did, and he led me to an inn called the Minatoya.

  18. A bunch of disagreeable-looking women all sang out together, 'Please come in,' which made me not want to go in at all.

  19. Standing right there in the doorway, I told them to just point me to the middle school, and when I heard I'd have to go about two ri by train to get there, I liked the idea of going in even less.

  20. I snatched my two leather bags back from the man in the straight-sleeved coat and lumbered off.

  21. The people of the inn looked at me like I was strange.

  22. 2

    The station was easy enough to find.

  23. Buying a ticket was no trouble either.

  24. When I climbed aboard, the train turned out to be no bigger than a matchbox.

  25. It rattled along for about five minutes, and then, before I knew it, I had to get off already.

  26. No wonder the ticket had been so cheap, I thought.

  27. It was only three sen.

  28. After that I hired a rickshaw and came to the middle school, but classes were already over and there was no one around.

  29. A janitor told me the night duty teacher had stepped out on some errand.

  30. What a carefree man they had on night duty.

  31. I thought about asking for the principal instead, but I was worn out, so I told the rickshaw man to take me to an inn.

  32. The rickshaw man briskly pulled up alongside a place called the Yamashiroya.

  33. I found it a little amusing that Yamashiroya was the very same name as Kantarō the pawnbroker's shop back home.

  34. 3

    For some reason they showed me to a dark room under the upstairs staircase.

  35. It was so hot I couldn't stand staying in it.

  36. When I said I didn't want a room like this, they told me unfortunately every other room was taken, dumped my bags on the floor, and walked out.

  37. There was nothing for it, so I went inside and sweated it out, putting up with it.

  38. Before long they told me to take a bath, so I plunged in with a splash and got straight back out again.

  39. On my way back I peeked around and found plenty of cool-looking rooms standing empty.

  40. What a rude fellow.

  41. The fellow had lied to me.

  42. After that a maid brought in a tray.

  43. The room was hot, but the food was a good deal better than at my old lodgings.

  44. While serving me the maid asked where I'd come from, so I told her I'd come from Tokyo.

  45. Then she said Tokyo must be a fine place, so I told her, 'Of course it is.'

  46. After the maid cleared the tray and went off to the kitchen, I heard a burst of loud laughter.

  47. It struck me as so much foolishness, so I went straight to bed, but sleep wouldn't come easily.

  48. It wasn't just the heat.

  49. It was noisy.

  50. About five times as loud as my old lodgings.

  51. When I finally dozed off I dreamed about Kiyo.

  52. In the dream Kiyo was munching away on Echigo bamboo-leaf candy, leaves and all.

  53. I told her the leaves were poison and she'd better stop, but she said, 'No, these leaves are medicine,' and kept eating as if they tasted good.

  54. I was so dumbfounded that I threw my mouth wide open and burst out laughing, ha-ha-ha, and that's when I woke up.

  55. The maid was opening the storm shutters.

  56. The weather was, as ever, the kind where the bottom of the sky seemed to have dropped clean out.

  57. 4

    I'd heard that when you travel you're supposed to give a tip.

  58. I'd also heard that if you don't tip, you get treated shabbily.

  59. Being shoved into a cramped, dark room like this was probably because I hadn't given a tip.

  60. Or because I was dressed shabbily and carrying a canvas bag and a wool-satin umbrella.

  61. Country folk, and they still dared to look down on me.

  62. I'd give them a tip and shock the lot of them.

  63. I'd left Tokyo with about thirty yen of leftover school money tucked in my pocket, believe it or not.

  64. Subtracting the train and steamer fares and various expenses, I still had about fourteen yen left.

  65. Even if I gave it all away it wouldn't matter, since I'd be getting a salary from now on.

  66. Country folk are stingy, so five yen was sure to make them faint with shock.

  67. Thinking I'd show them, I washed my face with an air of composure, went back to my room and waited, and the same maid from last night brought in my tray.

  68. While serving me from the tray she kept smirking away.

  69. What an insolent creature.

  70. It wasn't as if there was some festival parading across her face.

  71. Even mine was a good deal finer than that maid's face.

  72. I'd meant to wait until after I'd finished eating, but it got on my nerves, so partway through I pulled out a five-yen note and told her to take it to the front desk afterward, and the maid made a strange face.

  73. After that I finished my meal and set straight off for the school.

  74. My shoes hadn't been polished.

  75. 5

    I'd come to the school by rickshaw the day before, so I had a rough idea of the way.

  76. After turning a couple of corners I came right out in front of the gate.

  77. From the gate to the entrance the whole path was paved with granite.

  78. Yesterday, when the rickshaw had rattled and clattered over these very stones, the ridiculously loud racket put me out a little.

  79. Along the way I ran into a great many students in cotton twill uniforms, all of them heading in through this same gate.

  80. Some of them were taller and tougher-looking than me.

  81. The thought that I'd be teaching fellows like that gave me an unpleasant, uneasy feeling.

  82. I handed over my card and was shown into the principal's office.

  83. The principal was a dark-skinned, big-eyed man with a wispy beard, looking for all the world like a raccoon dog.

  84. He put on tremendous airs of self-importance.

  85. He told me, Well, apply yourself and work hard, and reverently handed me my letter of appointment stamped with a big seal.

  86. When I later went back to Tokyo I balled this letter up and flung it into the sea.

  87. The principal told me that he would soon introduce me to the staff, and that I was to show this letter of appointment to each of them in turn.

  88. What needless trouble.

  89. Rather than go through all that bother, it would be far simpler just to pin the thing up in the staff room for three days.

  90. 6

    The teachers wouldn't all gather in the staff room until the bugle for the first period sounded.

  91. There was still a good deal of time left.

  92. The principal took out his watch, glanced at it, and said that although he meant to talk things over with me at leisure later, he'd first like me to grasp the general picture, and then he treated me to a long lecture on the spirit of education.

  93. Naturally I listened to it half-heartedly, but partway through it struck me that I'd landed myself in an outrageous fix.

  94. There was simply no way I could live up to what the principal was saying.

  95. Here he was, laying wild, unreasonable demands on a reckless character like me—be a model for the students, be looked up to as a paragon for the whole school, an educator has to shape the character of his students beyond mere scholarship or he's no educator at all.

  96. Would a man that splendid really come all the way out to a country place like this for a salary of forty yen a month?

  97. Most people are much the same.

  98. I'd figured that anybody would get into a fight now and then if angry enough, but from the sound of things here, I could hardly even speak up, let alone go out for a stroll.

  99. If the job called for anything so difficult, they ought to have said so before hiring me.

  100. I hate telling lies, so I decided there was nothing for it, resigned myself to having been tricked into coming, and thought I'd better just refuse outright, here and now, and go straight back home.

  101. Having given the inn five yen, I had only about nine yen and some change left in my wallet.

  102. Nine yen wouldn't get me all the way back to Tokyo.

  103. I shouldn't have given that tip after all.

  104. What a waste that had been.

  105. Still, even nine yen could be made to work somehow.

  106. Deciding that being short on travel money was still better than lying, I told him, 'I simply cannot do as you say, and I'll give this letter of appointment back,' and the principal blinked his raccoon-dog eyes and stared at my face.

  107. After a moment he said, with a laugh, that what he'd just said was only a hope, that he knew perfectly well I couldn't live up to it, and that I needn't worry about it at all.

  108. If he knew that much all along, he needn't have gone and frightened me in the first place.

  109. 7

    Just then, while all this was going on, the bugle sounded.

  110. Over in the classrooms it suddenly grew noisy.

  111. The principal said the teachers must have gathered in the staff room by now, so I followed him in.

  112. It was a long, wide room with desks lined up around the sides, everyone seated at them.

  113. When they saw me come in, every one of them looked at my face, as if by prior agreement.

  114. I wasn't some sideshow exhibit.

  115. After that, just as I'd been told, I went up to each person in turn, presented my letter of appointment, and paid my respects.

  116. Most of them simply rose from their chairs and bowed a little, but the more meticulous ones took the letter I offered, glanced it over, and then handed it back to me with great ceremony.

  117. It was just like watching some cheap shrine-festival play.

  118. By the time it came round to the fifteenth person, the gym teacher, I'd done the same thing so many times over that I was starting to feel rather impatient.

  119. For each of them it was over in one go.

  120. But I had to repeat the same performance fifteen times over.

  121. They might at least have spared a thought for how I felt.

  122. 8

    Among those I greeted was the vice-principal, a man named something-or-other.

  123. He was said to hold a degree in literature.

  124. A literature graduate meant a university man, so he must have been someone quite distinguished.

  125. He had an oddly gentle voice, almost like a woman's.

  126. What surprised me most was that in this heat he was wearing a flannel shirt.

  127. Even granting the fabric was on the thin side, it was bound to be hot all the same.

  128. For a literature graduate, that was a needlessly troublesome getup.

  129. And on top of that it was a red shirt, which struck me as making a fool of everyone.

  130. I heard afterward that this man wore a red shirt the whole year round.

  131. The man had some peculiar affliction.

  132. By his own account, red was good for the health, and he had the shirts made specially for hygiene's sake, but that was needless worry if you asked me.

  133. If that were really so, he might as well have his kimono and his hakama made red too, while he was at it.

  134. Then there was the English teacher, a man named Koga or something, with a terribly poor complexion.

  135. Most people with pale faces are thin, but this man was pale and puffy.

  136. Back when I was in primary school there was a classmate named Tami Asai, and Asai's father had that very same complexion.

  137. Asai's father was a farmer, so I once asked Kiyo whether becoming a farmer made your face turn out like that, and she told me it wasn't that at all—that man got pale and puffy because all he ate were runty, stunted pumpkins.

  138. Ever since then, whenever I see someone pale and puffy, I'm sure it's the wages of eating nothing but stunted pumpkins.

  139. This English teacher, too, must have been eating nothing but stunted pumpkins.

  140. Mind you, to this day I still don't know what 'uranari' means.

  141. I did once ask Kiyo about it, but she just laughed and never gave me an answer.

  142. I suppose Kiyo didn't know either.

  143. Then there was a mathematics teacher, the same subject as me, by the name of Hotta.

  144. He was a burly fellow with a close-cropped chestnut-bur head, and a face you'd have to call the face of some rogue monk off Mount Hiei.

  145. When I politely showed him my letter of appointment he didn't even glance at it, just said, 'Ah, so you're the new fellow, eh? Come round and visit sometime,' and let out a big ha-ha-ha.

  146. Ha-ha-ha, my foot.

  147. Who on earth would go visit a fellow with no idea of manners like that?

  148. From that moment on I gave this monk-faced fellow the nickname Porcupine.

  149. The Chinese classics teacher, at least, was properly stiff and formal.

  150. 'You arrived only yesterday, you must be quite worn out, and yet you're already starting your classes, most commendably diligent of you—' he rattled on and on without a break; he was a charming old man.

  151. The drawing teacher looked exactly like some sort of performer.

  152. Wearing a flimsy, gauzy silk haori, snapping his fan open and shut, he asked, 'Where might you be from, eh?'

  153. 'Tokyo?'

  154. 'Well, isn't that delightful, another one of us come along... I happen to be an Edokko myself, you know,' he said.

  155. If that was what an Edokko was, I thought to myself, I'd rather not have been born in Edo at all.

  156. Beyond that, I could go on writing this sort of thing about every last one of them without end.

  157. But since there's no end to it, I'll stop here.

  158. 9

    Once the round of greetings was finished, the principal said I could go for the day, though I should first arrange the details of my teaching with the head of the mathematics department, and start my classes the day after tomorrow.

  159. I asked who the head of mathematics was, and it turned out to be none other than that Porcupine.

  160. How infuriating—so I was going to be working under this fellow—oh, brother—and I sank into disappointment.

  161. Porcupine said, 'Hey, where are you staying? The Yamashiroya, is it? Right, I'll come round later and we'll talk it over,' and left, chalk in hand, off to the classroom.

  162. For a department head to come round to me instead of the other way about—what a fellow with no sense of propriety.

  163. Still, that was more admirable than summoning me to him.

  164. 10

    After that I went out through the school gate meaning to head straight back to the inn, but there was nothing to do there anyway, so I decided to take a bit of a walk through the town, and wandered off wherever my feet happened to take me.

  165. I saw the prefectural office.

  166. It was an old building from the century before.

  167. I saw the army barracks too.

  168. Not as fine as the regiment barracks at Azabu.

  169. I saw the main street as well.

  170. It was about half the width of Kagurazaka, and the row of shops was shabbier than that too.

  171. So this was a castle town of two hundred fifty thousand koku—it wasn't worth much after all.

  172. I found myself thinking it was rather pitiful, people living in a place like this and putting on airs about being from 'the castle town,' and before I knew it I'd come out in front of the Yamashiroya.

  173. The place had seemed spacious enough, yet it turned out to be small after all.

  174. I supposed I'd more or less seen everything there was to see by now.

  175. Thinking I'd head back and get some dinner, I stepped in through the entrance.

  176. The landlady, who'd been sitting at the front desk, saw my face and suddenly rushed out, said 'Welcome back,' and pressed her forehead right to the wooden floor.

  177. I took off my shoes and stepped up, and the maid told me a room had come free, and showed me upstairs.

  178. It was a fifteen-mat room facing the street on the second floor, with a large alcove.

  179. I had never in my life set foot in such a splendid room.

  180. Since there was no telling when I might get to be in one again, I took off my Western clothes, changed into nothing but a yukata, and lay down spread-eagled right in the middle of the room.

  181. It felt wonderful.

  182. 11

    After eating my midday meal I lost no time in writing a letter to Kiyo.

  183. I write badly, and on top of that I don't know many characters, so I hate writing letters.

  184. There was no one else to write to, either.

  185. But Kiyo would be worried about me, surely.

  186. It would be no good if she got to fretting that my ship had gone down and I'd drowned, so I steeled myself and wrote a long one.

  187. This is what it said.

  188. 12

    'I arrived yesterday.

  189. A dull place.

  190. I'm sleeping in a fifteen-mat room.

  191. I gave the inn a five-yen tip.

  192. The landlady pressed her head right to the floor.

  193. I couldn't sleep last night.

  194. I dreamed you were eating bamboo-leaf candy, leaves and all.

  195. I'll come home next summer.

  196. I went to the school today and gave everyone nicknames.

  197. The principal is the Badger, the vice-principal is Red Shirt, the English teacher is Uranari, the math teacher is Porcupine, and the drawing teacher is Toady.

  198. I'll write you all sorts of things later.

  199. Goodbye.'

  200. 13

    Once I'd finished the letter I felt good and grew drowsy, so just as before I stretched out spread-eagled in the middle of the room.

  201. This time I slept soundly, without a single dream.

  202. A loud voice calling out 'Is this the room?' woke me up, and in came Porcupine.

  203. 'Sorry about earlier—now, as for what you'll be teaching...'—he launched straight into business the very instant I sat up, and it threw me into quite a fluster.

  204. When I heard what I'd be teaching, it didn't seem especially difficult, so I agreed to it.

  205. For a job that simple, even if they'd told me to start tomorrow instead of the day after, I wouldn't have batted an eye.

  206. Once we'd settled the business about classes, he said, 'You can't mean to stay at an inn like this forever, can you—I'll find you a good lodging house, so you'd better move in.'

  207. 'They won't take just anyone, but if I put in a word it'll be arranged in no time.'

  208. 'The sooner the better, so look at the place today, move in tomorrow, and start at the school the day after—that'll settle it nicely,' he decided, all on his own.

  209. It was true enough that I couldn't stay in a fifteen-mat room forever.

  210. Even handing over my whole salary for lodging might not have been enough to cover it.

  211. It seemed rather a shame to move out so soon after splurging on that five-yen tip, but since I was going to move anyway, it would be more convenient to move in quickly and settle down, so I decided to leave the arrangements to Porcupine.

  212. Then Porcupine said to just come along and take a look for myself, so I went.

  213. It was a house halfway up a hill at the edge of town, extremely quiet.

  214. The landlord was a man called Ika-gin who dealt in antiques, and his wife was a woman some four years older than her husband.

  215. Back when I was at middle school I'd once learned the word 'witch,' and this wife looked exactly like a witch.

  216. Still, witch or not, she was somebody's wife, so it made no difference to me.

  217. In the end it was settled that I'd move in starting the next day.

  218. On the way back Porcupine treated me to a bowl of shaved ice on Tōri-machi.

  219. When I'd met him at the school I'd thought him an insufferably high-handed, rude fellow, but seeing how much trouble he was going to on my behalf, he didn't seem like such a bad sort after all.

  220. Only he seemed, like me, to be quick-tempered and short of patience.

  221. I heard afterward that of all the teachers, this man was the most popular with the students.

The particulars

The text
坊っちゃん, Natsume Sōseki. Botchan.
Translation
Public-domain Japanese (Natsume Sōseki, d. 1916; published 1906). English translation © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC.
Reading aloud
Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
Words
Every word of the text, by letter.
Data
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Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.