# Botchan, Chapter 2

坊っちゃん · Natsume Sōseki · Botchan

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch02. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch02.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/botchan/<line id>.m4a.


ぶうと云って汽船がとまると、艀が岸を離れて、漕ぎ寄せて来た。  
With a boom the steamer stopped, and a lighter pulled away from the shore and rowed out to meet it.
> «て来る» — motion toward the speaker: «漕ぎ寄せて来た» pairs the te-form of «漕ぎ寄せる» ('to row up close') with «来る». This auxiliary «て来る» marks motion or a process converging toward the speaker/narrator — the boat isn't just rowing, it's rowing *this way*.
船頭は真っ裸に赤ふんどしをしめている。  
The boatman was stark naked but for a red loincloth.
> «〜ている» for a worn state: «しめている» is «しめる» ('to tie/fasten') plus «ている». With clothing verbs, «ている» describes the resulting state of wearing something, not an action in progress — 'he has it tied on / is wearing it'.
野蛮な所だ。  
What a barbarous place.
もっともこの熱さでは着物はきられまい。  
Though in this heat, I suppose, no one could stand wearing clothes.
> Negative conjecture «〜まい»: «きられまい» = «着られる» (potential of «着る», 'can wear') + «まい», a literary negative-conjecture ending meaning 'probably cannot' — 'no one could likely wear clothes.' Blunter and more old-fashioned than «〜ないだろう».
日が強いので水がやに光る。  
The sun was so strong the water glared.
見つめていても眼がくらむ。  
Even staring at it made my eyes swim.
> «眼がくらむ» — to be dazzled: «眼がくらむ» (めがくらむ, me ga kuramu) literally 'the eyes go dark' — an idiom for being dazzled or blinded, here by glare off the water.
事務員に聞いてみるとおれはここへ降りるのだそうだ。  
I asked a clerk and it turned out this was where I was supposed to get off.
見るところでは大森ぐらいな漁村だ。  
As far as I could tell, it was a fishing village about the size of Ōmori.
人を馬鹿にしていらあ、こんな所に我慢が出来るものかと思ったが仕方がない。  
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.
> Shitamachi contraction «〜いらあ»: «していらあ» is rough Tokyo shitamachi speech for «している»: «いる» slides into «いらあ», a brash, working-class contraction that marks Botchan's voice as a Tokyo townie, not a gentleman.
威勢よく一番に飛び込んだ。  
I leapt down first, full of spirit.
続づいて五六人は乗ったろう。  
Five or six others must have climbed in after me.
外に大きな箱を四つばかり積み込んで赤ふんは岸へ漕ぎ戻して来た。  
Besides us, four big crates were loaded on, and the red-loincloth man rowed us back to shore.
陸へ着いた時も、いの一番に飛び上がって、いきなり、磯に立っていた鼻たれ小僧をつらまえて中学校はどこだと聞いた。  
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.
> Colloquial «捕まえて»: «つらまえて» is the te-form of colloquial «つらまえる», a rough variant of «捕まえる» ('to catch or grab'). The rough form suits Botchan's brisk, unceremonious manner.
小僧はぼんやりして、知らんがの、と云った。  
The boy just stood there blankly and said, 'Dunno.'
> Shikoku dialect ending «〜がの»: The local boy's «知らんがの» uses «知らん» (dialectal negative for «知らない») plus the sentence-final «〜がの», a rural/Shikoku-flavored particle roughly like 'y'know' — the first taste of the local dialect Botchan will keep mocking.
気の利かぬ田舎ものだ。  
What a dim-witted country bumpkin.
猫の額ほどな町内の癖に、中学校のありかも知らぬ奴があるものか。  
In a town no bigger than a cat's forehead, how could anyone not know where the middle school was?
ところへ妙な筒っぽうを着た男がきて、こっちへ来いと云うから、尾いて行ったら、港屋とか云う宿屋へ連れて来た。  
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.
やな女が声を揃えてお上がりなさいと云うので、上がるのがいやになった。  
A bunch of disagreeable-looking women all sang out together, 'Please come in,' which made me not want to go in at all.
門口へ立ったなり中学校を教えろと云ったら、中学校はこれから汽車で二里ばかり行かなくっちゃいけないと聞いて、なお上がるのがいやになった。  
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.
> Contraction «〜なくっちゃいけない»: «行かなくっちゃいけない» contracts «行かなくては» to «行かなくっちゃ» before «いけない» — colloquial for 'have to go', matching the casual register of the whole passage.
おれは、筒っぽうを着た男から、おれの革鞄を二つ引きたくって、のそのそあるき出した。  
I snatched my two leather bags back from the man in the straight-sleeved coat and lumbered off.
宿屋のものは変な顔をしていた。  
The people of the inn looked at me like I was strange.

停車場はすぐ知れた。  
The station was easy enough to find.
切符も訳なく買った。  
Buying a ticket was no trouble either.
乗り込んでみるとマッチ箱のような汽車だ。  
When I climbed aboard, the train turned out to be no bigger than a matchbox.
ごろごろと五分ばかり動いたと思ったら、もう降りなければならない。  
It rattled along for about five minutes, and then, before I knew it, I had to get off already.
道理で切符が安いと思った。  
No wonder the ticket had been so cheap, I thought.
たった三銭である。  
It was only three sen.
> «銭» (sen): «銭» (せん, sen) was a subunit of the yen (1/100) used until 1953 — «三銭» is three sen, an almost comically small fare that surprises Botchan.
それから車を傭って、中学校へ来たら、もう放課後で誰も居ない。  
After that I hired a rickshaw and came to the middle school, but classes were already over and there was no one around.
宿直はちょっと用達に出たと小使が教えた。  
A janitor told me the night duty teacher had stepped out on some errand.
随分気楽な宿直がいるものだ。  
What a carefree man they had on night duty.
校長でも尋ねようかと思ったが、草臥れたから、車に乗って宿屋へ連れて行けと車夫に云い付けた。  
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.
車夫は威勢よく山城屋と云ううちへ横付けにした。  
The rickshaw man briskly pulled up alongside a place called the Yamashiroya.
山城屋とは質屋の勘太郎の屋号と同じだからちょっと面白く思った。  
I found it a little amusing that Yamashiroya was the very same name as Kantarō the pawnbroker's shop back home.

何だか二階の楷子段の下の暗い部屋へ案内した。  
For some reason they showed me to a dark room under the upstairs staircase.
熱くって居られやしない。  
It was so hot I couldn't stand staying in it.
こんな部屋はいやだと云ったらあいにくみんな塞がっておりますからと云いながら革鞄を抛り出したまま出て行った。  
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.
> Humble «おる» in keigo: «塞がっております» uses the polite, formal pattern «〜ております». Because its subject is the rooms rather than the speaker or staff, «おる» is not functioning as humble language here; the employee is courteously telling the guest that the rooms are occupied. — contrasted sharply with Botchan's own rough «いらあ» from the ferry scene.
仕方がないから部屋の中へはいって汗をかいて我慢していた。  
There was nothing for it, so I went inside and sweated it out, putting up with it.
やがて湯に入れと云うから、ざぶりと飛び込んで、すぐ上がった。  
Before long they told me to take a bath, so I plunged in with a splash and got straight back out again.
帰りがけに覗いてみると涼しそうな部屋がたくさん空いている。  
On my way back I peeked around and found plenty of cool-looking rooms standing empty.
失敬な奴だ。  
What a rude fellow.
嘘をつきゃあがった。  
The fellow had lied to me.
> Contemptuous «〜やがる»: «つきゃあがった» contracts «つき» (from «つく», 'to tell [a lie]') plus «やがった», the past of the contemptuous auxiliary «〜やがる». It marks open scorn — 'they had the nerve to lie'.
それから下女が膳を持って来た。  
After that a maid brought in a tray.
部屋は熱つかったが、飯は下宿のよりも大分旨かった。  
The room was hot, but the food was a good deal better than at my old lodgings.
給仕をしながら下女がどちらからおいでになりましたと聞くから、東京から来たと答えた。  
While serving me the maid asked where I'd come from, so I told her I'd come from Tokyo.
すると東京はよい所でございましょうと云ったから当り前だと答えてやった。  
Then she said Tokyo must be a fine place, so I told her, 'Of course it is.'
> Polite copula «でございます»: «でございましょう» is the highly formal/polite copula «でございます» (teineigo — not humble kenjougo) plus the conjectural «〜しょう» — deferential maid's speech, 'it must be [a fine place], I'd think', pitched well above Botchan's own blunt register.
膳を下げた下女が台所へいった時分、大きな笑い声が聞えた。  
After the maid cleared the tray and went off to the kitchen, I heard a burst of loud laughter.
くだらないから、すぐ寝たが、なかなか寝られない。  
It struck me as so much foolishness, so I went straight to bed, but sleep wouldn't come easily.
熱いばかりではない。  
It wasn't just the heat.
騒々しい。  
It was noisy.
下宿の五倍ぐらいやかましい。  
About five times as loud as my old lodgings.
うとうとしたら清の夢を見た。  
When I finally dozed off I dreamed about Kiyo.
清が越後の笹飴を笹ぐるみ、むしゃむしゃ食っている。  
In the dream Kiyo was munching away on Echigo bamboo-leaf candy, leaves and all.
笹は毒だからよしたらよかろうと云うと、いえこの笹がお薬でございますと云って旨そうに食っている。  
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.
おれがあきれ返って大きな口を開いてハハハハと笑ったら眼が覚めた。  
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.
下女が雨戸を明けている。  
The maid was opening the storm shutters.
相変らず空の底が突き抜けたような天気だ。  
The weather was, as ever, the kind where the bottom of the sky seemed to have dropped clean out.

道中をしたら茶代をやるものだと聞いていた。  
I'd heard that when you travel you're supposed to give a tip.
茶代をやらないと粗末に取り扱われると聞いていた。  
I'd also heard that if you don't tip, you get treated shabbily.
こんな、狭くて暗い部屋へ押し込めるのも茶代をやらないせいだろう。  
Being shoved into a cramped, dark room like this was probably because I hadn't given a tip.
見すぼらしい服装をして、ズックの革鞄と毛繻子の蝙蝠傘を提げてるからだろう。  
Or because I was dressed shabbily and carrying a canvas bag and a wool-satin umbrella.
田舎者の癖に人を見括ったな。  
Country folk, and they still dared to look down on me.
一番茶代をやって驚かしてやろう。  
I'd give them a tip and shock the lot of them.
> Benefactive «〜てやろう»: «驚かしてやろう» = «驚かす» ('to startle') + «てやる» + volitional «〜う». «〜てやる» does something *to* or *for* someone from a position of superiority — here with a spiteful edge: 'I'll go and give them a shock'.
おれはこれでも学資のあまりを三十円ほど懐に入れて東京を出て来たのだ。  
I'd left Tokyo with about thirty yen of leftover school money tucked in my pocket, believe it or not.
汽車と汽船の切符代と雑費を差し引いて、まだ十四円ほどある。  
Subtracting the train and steamer fares and various expenses, I still had about fourteen yen left.
みんなやったってこれからは月給を貰うんだから構わない。  
Even if I gave it all away it wouldn't matter, since I'd be getting a salary from now on.
田舎者はしみったれだから五円もやれば驚ろいて眼を廻すに極っている。  
Country folk are stingy, so five yen was sure to make them faint with shock.
> Contraction «〜に極っている»: «驚ろいて眼を廻すに極っている» «驚ろいて眼を廻すに極っている» uses «極る» for «きまる», corresponding to modern «〜に決まっている»: 'is bound to' or 'is sure to.' It expresses Botchan's confident prediction, not a contraction., 'is bound to / sure to' — a confident, almost boastful prediction.
どうするか見ろと済して顔を洗って、部屋へ帰って待ってると、夕べの下女が膳を持って来た。  
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.
盆を持って給仕をしながら、やににやにや笑ってる。  
While serving me from the tray she kept smirking away.
失敬な奴だ。  
What an insolent creature.
顔のなかをお祭りでも通りゃしまいし。  
It wasn't as if there was some festival parading across her face.
これでもこの下女の面よりよっぽど上等だ。  
Even mine was a good deal finer than that maid's face.
飯を済ましてからにしようと思っていたが、癪に障ったから、中途で五円札を一枚出して、あとでこれを帳場へ持って行けと云ったら、下女は変な顔をしていた。  
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.
それから飯を済ましてすぐ学校へ出懸けた。  
After that I finished my meal and set straight off for the school.
靴は磨いてなかった。  
My shoes hadn't been polished.

学校は昨日車で乗りつけたから、大概の見当は分っている。  
I'd come to the school by rickshaw the day before, so I had a rough idea of the way.
四つ角を二三度曲がったらすぐ門の前へ出た。  
After turning a couple of corners I came right out in front of the gate.
門から玄関までは御影石で敷きつめてある。  
From the gate to the entrance the whole path was paved with granite.
きのうこの敷石の上を車でがらがらと通った時は、無暗に仰山な音がするので少し弱った。  
Yesterday, when the rickshaw had rattled and clattered over these very stones, the ridiculously loud racket put me out a little.
途中から小倉の制服を着た生徒にたくさん逢ったが、みんなこの門をはいって行く。  
Along the way I ran into a great many students in cotton twill uniforms, all of them heading in through this same gate.
中にはおれより背が高くって強そうなのが居る。  
Some of them were taller and tougher-looking than me.
あんな奴を教えるのかと思ったら何だか気味が悪るくなった。  
The thought that I'd be teaching fellows like that gave me an unpleasant, uneasy feeling.
名刺を出したら校長室へ通した。  
I handed over my card and was shown into the principal's office.
校長は薄髯のある、色の黒い、目の大きな狸のような男である。  
The principal was a dark-skinned, big-eyed man with a wispy beard, looking for all the world like a raccoon dog.
やにもったいぶっていた。  
He put on tremendous airs of self-importance.
まあ精出して勉強してくれと云って、恭しく大きな印の捺った、辞令を渡した。  
He told me, Well, apply yourself and work hard, and reverently handed me my letter of appointment stamped with a big seal.
この辞令は東京へ帰るとき丸めて海の中へ抛り込んでしまった。  
When I later went back to Tokyo I balled this letter up and flung it into the sea.
校長は今に職員に紹介してやるから、一々その人にこの辞令を見せるんだと云って聞かした。  
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.
余計な手数だ。  
What needless trouble.
そんな面倒な事をするよりこの辞令を三日間職員室へ張り付ける方がましだ。  
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.

教員が控所へ揃うには一時間目の喇叭が鳴らなくてはならぬ。  
The teachers wouldn't all gather in the staff room until the bugle for the first period sounded.
大分時間がある。  
There was still a good deal of time left.
校長は時計を出して見て、追々ゆるりと話すつもりだが、まず大体の事を呑み込んでおいてもらおうと云って、それから教育の精神について長いお談義を聞かした。  
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.
おれは無論いい加減に聞いていたが、途中からこれは飛んだ所へ来たと思った。  
Naturally I listened to it half-heartedly, but partway through it struck me that I'd landed myself in an outrageous fix.
校長の云うようにはとても出来ない。  
There was simply no way I could live up to what the principal was saying.
おれみたような無鉄砲なものをつらまえて、生徒の模範になれの、一校の師表と仰がれなくてはいかんの、学問以外に個人の徳化を及ぼさなくては教育者になれないの、と無暗に法外な注文をする。  
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.
> Quotative «〜の» chaining demands: The principal's list — «模範になれの、…仰がれなくてはいかんの、…教育者になれないの» — strings commands together with the colloquial quotative «〜の», each clause a separate demand tacked on like items on a list; it mimics the breathless, moralizing lecture Botchan is only half-listening to.
そんなえらい人が月給四十円で遥々こんな田舎へくるもんか。  
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?
人間は大概似たもんだ。  
Most people are much the same.
腹が立てば喧嘩の一つぐらいは誰でもするだろうと思ってたが、この様子じゃめったに口も聞けない、散歩も出来ない。  
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.
そんなむずかしい役なら雇う前にこれこれだと話すがいい。  
If the job called for anything so difficult, they ought to have said so before hiring me.
おれは嘘をつくのが嫌いだから、仕方がない、だまされて来たのだとあきらめて、思い切りよく、ここで断わって帰っちまおうと思った。  
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.
宿屋へ五円やったから財布の中には九円なにがししかない。  
Having given the inn five yen, I had only about nine yen and some change left in my wallet.
九円じゃ東京までは帰れない。  
Nine yen wouldn't get me all the way back to Tokyo.
茶代なんかやらなければよかった。  
I shouldn't have given that tip after all.
惜しい事をした。  
What a waste that had been.
しかし九円だって、どうかならない事はない。  
Still, even nine yen could be made to work somehow.
旅費は足りなくっても嘘をつくよりましだと思って、到底あなたのおっしゃる通りにゃ、出来ません、この辞令は返しますと云ったら、校長は狸のような眼をぱちつかせておれの顔を見ていた。  
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.
> Polite negative potential: «出来ません» is the polite negative of «出来る» ('can do'), used here in Botchan's one moment of formal, careful speech to the principal — a deliberate register shift from his usual brusque interior voice.
やがて、今のはただ希望である、あなたが希望通り出来ないのはよく知っているから心配しなくってもいいと云いながら笑った。  
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.
そのくらいよく知ってるなら、始めから威嚇さなければいいのに。  
If he knew that much all along, he needn't have gone and frightened me in the first place.

そう、こうする内に喇叭が鳴った。  
Just then, while all this was going on, the bugle sounded.
教場の方が急にがやがやする。  
Over in the classrooms it suddenly grew noisy.
もう教員も控所へ揃いましたろうと云うから、校長に尾いて教員控所へはいった。  
The principal said the teachers must have gathered in the staff room by now, so I followed him in.
広い細長い部屋の周囲に机を並べてみんな腰をかけている。  
It was a long, wide room with desks lined up around the sides, everyone seated at them.
おれがはいったのを見て、みんな申し合せたようにおれの顔を見た。  
When they saw me come in, every one of them looked at my face, as if by prior agreement.
見世物じゃあるまいし。  
I wasn't some sideshow exhibit.
それから申し付けられた通り一人一人の前へ行って辞令を出して挨拶をした。  
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.
大概は椅子を離れて腰をかがめるばかりであったが、念の入ったのは差し出した辞令を受け取って一応拝見をしてそれを恭しく返却した。  
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.
まるで宮芝居の真似だ。  
It was just like watching some cheap shrine-festival play.
> «宮芝居» — shrine kabuki: «宮芝居» (みやしばい, miya-shibai) refers to kabuki-style performances staged at shrines for festivals — Botchan likens the elaborate, ceremonious way some teachers return his letter of appointment to watching a stage play.
十五人目に体操の教師へと廻って来た時には、同じ事を何返もやるので少々じれったくなった。  
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.
向うは一度で済む。  
For each of them it was over in one go.
こっちは同じ所作を十五返繰り返している。  
But I had to repeat the same performance fifteen times over.
少しはひとの了見も察してみるがいい。  
They might at least have spared a thought for how I felt.

挨拶をしたうちに教頭のなにがしと云うのが居た。  
Among those I greeted was the vice-principal, a man named something-or-other.
これは文学士だそうだ。  
He was said to hold a degree in literature.
文学士と云えば大学の卒業生だからえらい人なんだろう。  
A literature graduate meant a university man, so he must have been someone quite distinguished.
妙に女のような優しい声を出す人だった。  
He had an oddly gentle voice, almost like a woman's.
もっとも驚いたのはこの暑いのにフランネルの襯衣を着ている。  
What surprised me most was that in this heat he was wearing a flannel shirt.
> «襯衣» しゃつ (shatsu): «襯衣» is an old kanji spelling read «シャツ» (shatsu), the loanword for 'shirt' — a Meiji-era way of writing a foreign word with native characters rather than katakana.
いくらか薄い地には相違なくっても暑いには極ってる。  
Even granting the fabric was on the thin side, it was bound to be hot all the same.
文学士だけにご苦労千万な服装をしたもんだ。  
For a literature graduate, that was a needlessly troublesome getup.
しかもそれが赤シャツだから人を馬鹿にしている。  
And on top of that it was a red shirt, which struck me as making a fool of everyone.
あとから聞いたらこの男は年が年中赤シャツを着るんだそうだ。  
I heard afterward that this man wore a red shirt the whole year round.
妙な病気があった者だ。  
The man had some peculiar affliction.
当人の説明では赤は身体に薬になるから、衛生のためにわざわざ誂らえるんだそうだが、入らざる心配だ。  
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.
そんならついでに着物も袴も赤にすればいい。  
If that were really so, he might as well have his kimono and his hakama made red too, while he was at it.
それから英語の教師に古賀とか云う大変顔色の悪るい男が居た。  
Then there was the English teacher, a man named Koga or something, with a terribly poor complexion.
大概顔の蒼い人は瘠せてるもんだがこの男は蒼くふくれている。  
Most people with pale faces are thin, but this man was pale and puffy.
昔小学校へ行く時分、浅井の民さんと云う子が同級生にあったが、この浅井のおやじがやはり、こんな色つやだった。  
Back when I was in primary school there was a classmate named Tami Asai, and Asai's father had that very same complexion.
浅井は百姓だから、百姓になるとあんな顔になるかと清に聞いてみたら、そうじゃありません、あの人はうらなりの唐茄子ばかり食べるから、蒼くふくれるんですと教えてくれた。  
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.
> «うらなり» + «唐茄子»: «唐茄子» (とうなす, tōnasu) is an old word for pumpkin/squash; «うらなり» (うらなり, uranari) names the small, weak fruit left at the far end of a vine, pale and undersized. Together the idiom paints someone sickly-pale — and becomes the English teacher's nickname, 'Uranari'.
それ以来蒼くふくれた人を見れば必ずうらなりの唐茄子を食った酬いだと思う。  
Ever since then, whenever I see someone pale and puffy, I'm sure it's the wages of eating nothing but stunted pumpkins.
この英語の教師もうらなりばかり食ってるに違いない。  
This English teacher, too, must have been eating nothing but stunted pumpkins.
もっともうらなりとは何の事か今もって知らない。  
Mind you, to this day I still don't know what 'uranari' means.
清に聞いてみた事はあるが、清は笑って答えなかった。  
I did once ask Kiyo about it, but she just laughed and never gave me an answer.
大方清も知らないんだろう。  
I suppose Kiyo didn't know either.
それからおれと同じ数学の教師に堀田というのが居た。  
Then there was a mathematics teacher, the same subject as me, by the name of Hotta.
これは逞しい毬栗坊主で、叡山の悪僧と云うべき面構である。  
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.
> «毬栗坊主» いがぐりぼうず (igaguri-bōzu): «毬栗坊主» (いがぐりぼうず, igaguri-bōzu) describes a shaved or close-cropped head bristling like a chestnut still in its spiny burr — a vivid image for Hotta's tough, cropped haircut.
人が叮寧に辞令を見せたら見向きもせず、やあ君が新任の人か、ちと遊びに来給えアハハハと云った。  
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.
何がアハハハだ。  
Ha-ha-ha, my foot.
そんな礼儀を心得ぬ奴の所へ誰が遊びに行くものか。  
Who on earth would go visit a fellow with no idea of manners like that?
おれはこの時からこの坊主に山嵐という渾名をつけてやった。  
From that moment on I gave this monk-faced fellow the nickname Porcupine.
漢学の先生はさすがに堅いものだ。  
The Chinese classics teacher, at least, was properly stiff and formal.
昨日お着きで、さぞお疲れで、それでもう授業をお始めで、大分ご励精で、――とのべつに弁じたのは愛嬌のあるお爺さんだ。  
'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.
画学の教師は全く芸人風だ。  
The drawing teacher looked exactly like some sort of performer.
べらべらした透綾の羽織を着て、扇子をぱちつかせて、お国はどちらでげす、え？  
Wearing a flimsy, gauzy silk haori, snapping his fan open and shut, he asked, 'Where might you be from, eh?'
　東京？  
'Tokyo?'
　そりゃ嬉しい、お仲間が出来て……私もこれで江戸っ子ですと云った。  
'Well, isn't that delightful, another one of us come along... I happen to be an Edokko myself, you know,' he said.
こんなのが江戸っ子なら江戸には生れたくないもんだと心中に考えた。  
If that was what an Edokko was, I thought to myself, I'd rather not have been born in Edo at all.
そのほか一人一人についてこんな事を書けばいくらでもある。  
Beyond that, I could go on writing this sort of thing about every last one of them without end.
しかし際限がないからやめる。  
But since there's no end to it, I'll stop here.

挨拶が一通り済んだら、校長が今日はもう引き取ってもいい、もっとも授業上の事は数学の主任と打ち合せをしておいて、明後日から課業を始めてくれと云った。  
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.
数学の主任は誰かと聞いてみたら例の山嵐であった。  
I asked who the head of mathematics was, and it turned out to be none other than that Porcupine.
忌々しい、こいつの下に働くのかおやおやと失望した。  
How infuriating—so I was going to be working under this fellow—oh, brother—and I sank into disappointment.
> «忌々しい» いまいましい (imaimashii): «忌々しい» (いまいましい, imaimashii) means 'vexing, infuriating' — a strong word for Botchan's flash of irritation at learning who his boss will be.
山嵐は「おい君どこに宿ってるか、山城屋か、うん、今に行って相談する」と云い残して白墨を持って教場へ出て行った。  
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.
> Masculine rough speech: «おい君〜か»: Porcupine's «おい君どこに宿ってるか» strings together «おい» (a blunt 'hey'), the address term «君» (used between men/to inferiors), and the plain question ending «〜か» with no polite copula — brusque, masculine speech typical of the era's schoolmasters.
主任の癖に向うから来て相談するなんて不見識な男だ。  
For a department head to come round to me instead of the other way about—what a fellow with no sense of propriety.
しかし呼び付けるよりは感心だ。  
Still, that was more admirable than summoning me to him.

それから学校の門を出て、すぐ宿へ帰ろうと思ったが、帰ったって仕方がないから、少し町を散歩してやろうと思って、無暗に足の向く方をあるき散らした。  
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.
県庁も見た。  
I saw the prefectural office.
古い前世紀の建築である。  
It was an old building from the century before.
兵営も見た。  
I saw the army barracks too.
麻布の聯隊より立派でない。  
Not as fine as the regiment barracks at Azabu.
大通りも見た。  
I saw the main street as well.
神楽坂を半分に狭くしたぐらいな道幅で町並はあれより落ちる。  
It was about half the width of Kagurazaka, and the row of shops was shabbier than that too.
二十五万石の城下だって高の知れたものだ。  
So this was a castle town of two hundred fifty thousand koku—it wasn't worth much after all.
> «石» (koku) — a domain's rated yield: «石» (こく, koku) measured a feudal domain's rice yield and, by extension, its rank; a '250,000-koku castle town' placed a domain among the largest ~20-25 of roughly 260 Edo-period domains nationwide — comparable to Aizu (230,000 koku) or Tosa (202,600 koku), well above the ~100,000-koku threshold generally considered 'large.' Far from mid-sized, it was one of the bigger domains in the country, which is exactly what makes Botchan's sneer so ironic.
こんな所に住んでご城下だなどと威張ってる人間は可哀想なものだと考えながらくると、いつしか山城屋の前に出た。  
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.
広いようでも狭いものだ。  
The place had seemed spacious enough, yet it turned out to be small after all.
これで大抵は見尽したのだろう。  
I supposed I'd more or less seen everything there was to see by now.
帰って飯でも食おうと門口をはいった。  
Thinking I'd head back and get some dinner, I stepped in through the entrance.
帳場に坐っていたかみさんが、おれの顔を見ると急に飛び出してきてお帰り……と板の間へ頭をつけた。  
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.
靴を脱いで上がると、お座敷があきましたからと下女が二階へ案内をした。  
I took off my shoes and stepped up, and the maid told me a room had come free, and showed me upstairs.
十五畳の表二階で大きな床の間がついている。  
It was a fifteen-mat room facing the street on the second floor, with a large alcove.
おれは生れてからまだこんな立派な座敷へはいった事はない。  
I had never in my life set foot in such a splendid room.
この後いつはいれるか分らないから、洋服を脱いで浴衣一枚になって座敷の真中へ大の字に寝てみた。  
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.
いい心持ちである。  
It felt wonderful.

昼飯を食ってから早速清へ手紙をかいてやった。  
After eating my midday meal I lost no time in writing a letter to Kiyo.
おれは文章がまずい上に字を知らないから手紙を書くのが大嫌いだ。  
I write badly, and on top of that I don't know many characters, so I hate writing letters.
またやる所もない。  
There was no one else to write to, either.
しかし清は心配しているだろう。  
But Kiyo would be worried about me, surely.
難船して死にやしないかなどと思っちゃ困るから、奮発して長いのを書いてやった。  
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.
その文句はこうである。  
This is what it said.

「きのう着いた。  
'I arrived yesterday.
つまらん所だ。  
A dull place.
十五畳の座敷に寝ている。  
I'm sleeping in a fifteen-mat room.
宿屋へ茶代を五円やった。  
I gave the inn a five-yen tip.
かみさんが頭を板の間へすりつけた。  
The landlady pressed her head right to the floor.
夕べは寝られなかった。  
I couldn't sleep last night.
清が笹飴を笹ごと食う夢を見た。  
I dreamed you were eating bamboo-leaf candy, leaves and all.
来年の夏は帰る。  
I'll come home next summer.
今日学校へ行ってみんなにあだなをつけてやった。  
I went to the school today and gave everyone nicknames.
校長は狸、教頭は赤シャツ、英語の教師はうらなり、数学は山嵐、画学はのだいこ。  
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.
> «のだいこ» — a flatterer's title: «のだいこ» (野幇間, no-daiko) means an unlicensed amateur party entertainer or flatterer. Botchan uses it as a mocking nickname for the foppish drawing teacher., an unlicensed party entertainer/flatterer — Botchan's mocking nickname for the foppish, obsequious drawing teacher.
今にいろいろな事を書いてやる。  
I'll write you all sorts of things later.
さようなら」  
Goodbye.'

手紙をかいてしまったら、いい心持ちになって眠気がさしたから、最前のように座敷の真中へのびのびと大の字に寝た。  
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.
今度は夢も何も見ないでぐっすり寝た。  
This time I slept soundly, without a single dream.
この部屋かいと大きな声がするので目が覚めたら、山嵐がはいって来た。  
A loud voice calling out 'Is this the room?' woke me up, and in came Porcupine.
最前は失敬、君の受持ちは……と人が起き上がるや否や談判を開かれたので大いに狼狽した。  
'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.
受持ちを聞いてみると別段むずかしい事もなさそうだから承知した。  
When I heard what I'd be teaching, it didn't seem especially difficult, so I agreed to it.
このくらいの事なら、明後日は愚、明日から始めろと云ったって驚ろかない。  
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.
授業上の打ち合せが済んだら、君はいつまでこんな宿屋に居るつもりでもあるまい、僕がいい下宿を周旋してやるから移りたまえ。  
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.'
> Mild imperative «〜たまえ»: «移りたまえ» attaches the old masculine auxiliary «たまえ» to the stem of «移る» — a softened command used by a senior man to a junior, common in Meiji-era men's speech between colleagues.
外のものでは承知しないが僕が話せばすぐ出来る。  
'They won't take just anyone, but if I put in a word it'll be arranged in no time.'
早い方がいいから、今日見て、あす移って、あさってから学校へ行けば極りがいいと一人で呑み込んでいる。  
'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.
なるほど十五畳敷にいつまで居る訳にも行くまい。  
It was true enough that I couldn't stay in a fifteen-mat room forever.
月給をみんな宿料に払っても追っつかないかもしれぬ。  
Even handing over my whole salary for lodging might not have been enough to cover it.
五円の茶代を奮発してすぐ移るのはちと残念だが、どうせ移る者なら、早く引き越して落ち付く方が便利だから、そこのところはよろしく山嵐に頼む事にした。  
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.
すると山嵐はともかくもいっしょに来てみろと云うから、行った。  
Then Porcupine said to just come along and take a look for myself, so I went.
町はずれの岡の中腹にある家で至極閑静だ。  
It was a house halfway up a hill at the edge of town, extremely quiet.
主人は骨董を売買するいか銀と云う男で、女房は亭主よりも四つばかり年嵩の女だ。  
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.
中学校に居た時ウィッチと云う言葉を習った事があるがこの女房はまさにウィッチに似ている。  
Back when I was at middle school I'd once learned the word 'witch,' and this wife looked exactly like a witch.
> Loanword «ウィッチ»: «ウィッチ» is the English loanword 'witch', written in katakana — a small joke that Botchan's one scrap of English-class vocabulary is exactly what he needs to describe his new landlady.
ウィッチだって人の女房だから構わない。  
Still, witch or not, she was somebody's wife, so it made no difference to me.
とうとう明日から引き移る事にした。  
In the end it was settled that I'd move in starting the next day.
帰りに山嵐は通町で氷水を一杯奢った。  
On the way back Porcupine treated me to a bowl of shaved ice on Tōri-machi.
学校で逢った時はやに横風な失敬な奴だと思ったが、こんなにいろいろ世話をしてくれるところを見ると、わるい男でもなさそうだ。  
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.
ただおれと同じようにせっかちで肝癪持らしい。  
Only he seemed, like me, to be quick-tempered and short of patience.
あとで聞いたらこの男が一番生徒に人望があるのだそうだ。  
I heard afterward that of all the teachers, this man was the most popular with the students.
---

Source text: public domain (Natsume Sōseki, d. 1916; first published 1906), from Aozora Bunko. English translation and notes: © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC. Narration: synthesized for this edition.