# Botchan, Chapter 5

坊っちゃん · Natsume Sōseki · Botchan

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch05. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch05.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/botchan/<line id>.m4a.


君釣りに行きませんかと赤シャツがおれに聞いた。  
"Won't you come fishing?" Red Shirt asked me.
> Negative question as invitation: «ませんか» (polite negative + か) turns a plain verb into a soft invitation: not 'won't you go?' as doubt, but 'shall we?' It's the standard Japanese shape for proposing an activity, softer than a bare imperative.
赤シャツは気味の悪るいように優しい声を出す男である。  
Red Shirt is the sort of man who puts on a voice so soft it's downright creepy.
> «である» — literary copula: «である» is a formal/literary equivalent of «だ», common in narration and essays. Botchan's narrator slips into it for wry, mock-formal asides, as here describing Red Shirt's voice.
まるで男だか女だか分りゃしない。  
You genuinely can't tell whether it's a man or a woman talking.
男なら男らしい声を出すもんだ。  
A man ought to make a man's voice.
ことに大学卒業生じゃないか。  
Especially since he's a university graduate.
物理学校でさえおれくらいな声が出るのに、文学士がこれじゃ見っともない。  
Even a fellow from physics school, like me, can manage a better voice than that — it's shameful for a bachelor of literature to sound like this.
> «見っともない»: «見っともない» みっともない (mittomonai) — unseemly, disgraceful-looking; a common colloquial put-down for behavior that looks bad to others.

おれはそうですなあと少し進まない返事をしたら、君釣をした事がありますかと失敬な事を聞く。  
I gave the unenthusiastic answer of "I suppose so," and he asked the rude question of whether I'd ever been fishing.
あんまりないが、子供の時、小梅の釣堀で鮒を三匹釣った事がある。  
Not much, though as a child I once caught three crucian carp at the fishing pond in Koume.
それから神楽坂の毘沙門の縁日で八寸ばかりの鯉を針で引っかけて、しめたと思ったら、ぽちゃりと落としてしまったがこれは今考えても惜しいと云ったら、赤シャツは顋を前の方へ突き出してホホホホと笑った。  
Then, at the Bishamon festival in Kagurazaka, I hooked a carp about nine and a half inches long, and just as I thought "got it," it plopped back into the water — I said even now I regret that — and Red Shirt stuck his chin out and laughed, "Ho ho ho ho."
何もそう気取って笑わなくっても、よさそうな者だ。  
There was no need to laugh so affectedly about it — he could have just let it be.
「それじゃ、まだ釣りの味は分らんですな。お望みならちと伝授しましょう」とすこぶる得意である。  
"Well then, you don't yet know the pleasure of fishing. If you like, I'll teach you a little," he said, looking terribly pleased with himself.
> «伝授»: «伝授» でんじゅ (denju) — to impart or teach a skill/secret, often with a flavor of formal transmission (as of an art or technique); Red Shirt's use of it here about fishing is pompous.
だれがご伝授をうけるものか。  
As if I'd ever accept lessons from him.
一体釣や猟をする連中はみんな不人情な人間ばかりだ。  
Generally speaking, everyone who fishes or hunts is a heartless sort of person.
不人情でなくって、殺生をして喜ぶ訳がない。  
If they weren't heartless, they couldn't take pleasure in killing living things.
魚だって、鳥だって殺されるより生きてる方が楽に極まってる。  
Fish and birds alike would obviously rather be alive than be killed.
釣や猟をしなくっちゃ活計がたたないなら格別だが、何不足なく暮している上に、生き物を殺さなくっちゃ寝られないなんて贅沢な話だ。  
If a man couldn't make a living without fishing or hunting, that would be one thing, but to be unable to sleep unless he has killed something living when he already wants for nothing is simply extravagant.
こう思ったが向うは文学士だけに口が達者だから、議論じゃ叶わないと思って、だまってた。  
I thought all this, but since the other man was a bachelor of literature and glib with words, I judged I couldn't win an argument, and kept quiet.
すると先生このおれを降参させたと疳違いして、早速伝授しましょう。  
Then, mistaking this for my surrender, the fellow said he'd teach me on the spot.
おひまなら、今日どうです、いっしょに行っちゃ。  
If I was free, why not come along today?
吉川君と二人ぎりじゃ、淋しいから、来たまえとしきりに勧める。  
With just himself and Yoshikawa it would be lonely, he said, and kept pressing me to come.
吉川君というのは画学の教師で例の野だいこの事だ。  
This Yoshikawa is the art teacher — the very Toady I mentioned before.
> «野だいこ»: «野だいこ» のだいこ (nodaiko) — literally a hired jester/drum-player at parties; by extension, a flatterer or sycophant who tags along to please a superior. Botchan uses it as a nickname for Yoshikawa ("Toady").
この野だは、どういう了見だか、赤シャツのうちへ朝夕出入して、どこへでも随行して行く。  
For whatever reason, this Toady comes and goes at Red Shirt's house morning and night, and tags along wherever he goes.
まるで同輩じゃない。  
They're nothing like equals.
主従みたようだ。  
It's more master and servant.
赤シャツの行く所なら、野だは必ず行くに極っているんだから、今さら驚ろきもしないが、二人で行けば済むところを、なんで無愛想のおれへ口を掛けたんだろう。  
Since Toady is bound to go wherever Red Shirt goes, none of that surprised me — but two of them alone would have done fine, so why bother inviting me, of all the unsociable people?
大方高慢ちきな釣道楽で、自分の釣るところをおれに見せびらかすつもりかなんかで誘ったに違いない。  
No doubt it was some conceited fishing hobby of his, and he'd invited me only to show off his fishing to me.
そんな事で見せびらかされるおれじゃない。  
I'm not the sort to be impressed by that kind of showing off.
鮪の二匹や三匹釣ったって、びくともするもんか。  
Even if he hauled in two or three tuna, it wouldn't rattle me one bit.
おれだって人間だ、いくら下手だって糸さえ卸しゃ、何かかかるだろう、ここでおれが行かないと、赤シャツの事だから、下手だから行かないんだ、嫌いだから行かないんじゃないと邪推するに相違ない。  
I'm human too — however poor a hand I am, if I just drop a line something is bound to bite; and if I refused to go, Red Shirt being the kind of man he is, would be sure to twist it into "he didn't come because he's bad at it," not "he didn't come because he doesn't care for it."
おれはこう考えたから、行きましょうと答えた。  
Thinking all this over, I answered that I would go.
それから、学校をしまって、一応うちへ帰って、支度を整えて、停車場で赤シャツと野だを待ち合せて浜へ行った。  
After that I finished at school, went home once to get ready, and met Red Shirt and Toady at the station to go down to the beach.
船頭は一人で、船は細長い東京辺では見た事もない恰好である。  
There was one boatman, and the boat had a long, slender shape I'd never seen anywhere around Tokyo.
さっきから船中見渡すが釣竿が一本も見えない。  
Looking around the boat, I hadn't spotted a single fishing rod.
釣竿なしで釣が出来るものか、どうする了見だろうと、野だに聞くと、沖釣には竿は用いません、糸だけでげすと顋を撫でて黒人じみた事を云った。  
I asked Toady how one could possibly fish without a rod, and what he had in mind, and he stroked his chin and said, in that show-off way of his, that out at sea you don't use rods, just line.
> «げす» — Meiji shitamachi slang: «げす» is a Meiji-era downtown (shitamachi) colloquial contraction of «でございます»/«です», used by flashy, showy speakers like Toady. It marks him as putting on affected big-city speech.
こう遣り込められるくらいならだまっていればよかった。  
Better to have kept my mouth shut than get put in my place like that.

船頭はゆっくりゆっくり漕いでいるが熟練は恐しいもので、見返えると、浜が小さく見えるくらいもう出ている。  
The boatman rowed on slow and steady, but his skill was frightening — looking back, the shore already looked small, we were that far out.
高柏寺の五重の塔が森の上へ抜け出して針のように尖がってる。  
The five-storied pagoda of Kōhaku-ji poked up above the trees, sharp as a needle.
向側を見ると青嶋が浮いている。  
Looking the other way, Blue Island floated on the water.
これは人の住まない島だそうだ。  
They say nobody lives on it.
よく見ると石と松ばかりだ。  
Looking closely, it's nothing but rock and pine.
なるほど石と松ばかりじゃ住めっこない。  
No wonder — with nothing but rocks and pines, of course nobody could live there.
> «なるほど»: «なるほど» — 'indeed', 'I see', 'sure enough'; a common interjection agreeing with or confirming a point just made.
赤シャツは、しきりに眺望していい景色だと云ってる。  
Red Shirt kept gazing at it, saying what a fine view it was.
野だは絶景でげすと云ってる。  
Toady said it was a superb view.
絶景だか何だか知らないが、いい心持ちには相違ない。  
Superb or not, I couldn't say, but it certainly felt good.
ひろびろとした海の上で、潮風に吹かれるのは薬だと思った。  
Out on that wide open sea, being blown by the salt wind — I thought it was as good as medicine.
いやに腹が減る。  
I was awfully hungry.
「あの松を見たまえ、幹が真直で、上が傘のように開いてターナーの画にありそうだね」と赤シャツが野だに云うと、野だは「全くターナーですね。どうもあの曲り具合ったらありませんね。ターナーそっくりですよ」と心得顔である。  
"Look at that pine — the trunk dead straight, the top spread out like an umbrella, it looks like something out of a Turner," Red Shirt said to Toady, and Toady said, "Just like a Turner. That bend in it, really, nothing like it — it's the very image of a Turner," with a knowing look on his face.
ターナーとは何の事だか知らないが、聞かないでも困らない事だから黙っていた。  
I had no idea what a Turner was, but since not knowing wouldn't trouble me any, I kept quiet.
舟は島を右に見てぐるりと廻った。  
The boat circled round with the island on our right.
波は全くない。  
There wasn't a wave anywhere.
これで海だとは受け取りにくいほど平だ。  
It was so flat it hardly seemed like the sea at all.
赤シャツのお陰ではなはだ愉快だ。  
Thanks to Red Shirt, it was turning into quite a pleasant outing.
出来る事なら、あの島の上へ上がってみたいと思ったから、あの岩のある所へは舟はつけられないんですかと聞いてみた。  
If it were possible I'd have liked to climb up onto that island, so I asked whether the boat could be brought in to that rocky spot.
つけられん事もないですが、釣をするには、あまり岸じゃいけないですと赤シャツが異議を申し立てた。  
Red Shirt objected, saying it could be done, but you shouldn't fish too close to shore.
おれは黙ってた。  
I said nothing.
すると野だがどうです教頭、これからあの島をターナー島と名づけようじゃありませんかと余計な発議をした。  
Then Toady put in his unnecessary suggestion: "What do you say, Vice-Principal, shall we call that island Turner Island from now on?"
赤シャツはそいつは面白い、吾々はこれからそう云おうと賛成した。  
Red Shirt agreed, saying that was a fine idea, that from now on they'd call it that.
この吾々のうちにおれもはいってるなら迷惑だ。  
If I was included in that “we,” I wanted no part of it.
おれには青嶋でたくさんだ。  
Blue Island is plenty good enough a name for me.
あの岩の上に、どうです、ラフハエルのマドンナを置いちゃ。  
"What do you say we put a Raphael Madonna up on that rock?"
いい画が出来ますぜと野だが云うと、マドンナの話はよそうじゃないかホホホホと赤シャツが気味の悪るい笑い方をした。  
Toady said what a fine picture that would make, and Red Shirt said, "Let's leave the Madonna out of it," laughing that creepy laugh of his — ho ho ho ho.
なに誰も居ないから大丈夫ですと、ちょっとおれの方を見たが、わざと顔をそむけてにやにやと笑った。  
"No one's around, so it's quite all right," he said, glancing at me for a moment, then deliberately turning his face away and smirking.
おれは何だかやな心持ちがした。  
Something about it left me with a bad feeling.
マドンナだろうが、小旦那だろうが、おれの関係した事でないから、勝手に立たせるがよかろうが、人に分らない事を言って分らないから聞いたって構やしませんてえような風をする。  
Whether it's the Madonna or the young master or whoever, it's no business of mine, so they could go on setting her up wherever they liked — but he said things nobody could understand, then acted as if it did not matter if I heard because I would not understand.
下品な仕草だ。  
It was a low, vulgar way to carry on.
これで当人は私も江戸っ子でげすなどと云ってる。  
And here the man goes around calling himself an Edo boy, of all things.
> «江戸っ子»: «江戸っ子» えどっこ (Edokko) — 'child of Edo', a proud term for someone born and raised in old Tokyo (Edo), stereotyped as quick-tempered, generous, and plainspoken. Both Botchan and Toady claim the label, but Botchan doubts Toady's version of it.
マドンナと云うのは何でも赤シャツの馴染の芸者の渾名か何かに違いないと思った。  
I figured "Madonna" must be the nickname of some geisha Red Shirt is friendly with, or something of the sort.
なじみの芸者を無人島の松の木の下に立たして眺めていれば世話はない。  
To have his favorite geisha stand under a pine tree on a deserted island and gaze at her — what an easy life.
それを野だが油絵にでもかいて展覧会へ出したらよかろう。  
And then Toady would paint it in oils and put it up at an exhibition, no doubt.

ここいらがいいだろうと船頭は船をとめて、錨を卸した。  
"This spot looks about right," said the boatman, stopping the boat and dropping anchor.
幾尋あるかねと赤シャツが聞くと、六尋ぐらいだと云う。  
"How many fathoms here?" asked Red Shirt, and the boatman said about six fathoms.
六尋ぐらいじゃ鯛はむずかしいなと、赤シャツは糸を海へなげ込んだ。  
"Six fathoms will make sea bream tricky," Red Shirt said, and cast his line into the water.
大将鯛を釣る気と見える、豪胆なものだ。  
The fellow seemed bent on catching sea bream — quite the bold ambition.
野だは、なに教頭のお手際じゃかかりますよ。  
Toady said, "No, with your skill, Vice-Principal, you'll get one."
それになぎですからとお世辞を云いながら、これも糸を繰り出して投げ入れる。  
"And besides, the sea's dead calm," he flattered, and let out his own line and cast it in.
何だか先に錘のような鉛がぶら下がってるだけだ。  
All I could see was something like a lead sinker dangling at the end.
浮がない。  
There was no float.
浮がなくって釣をするのは寒暖計なしで熱度をはかるようなものだ。  
Fishing without a float is like taking a temperature without a thermometer.
> «寒暖計»: «寒暖計» かんだんけい (kandankei) — thermometer, literally 'cold-warm-measuring instrument'; Botchan's simile mocks fishing without a float as absurd as this.
おれには到底出来ないと見ていると、さあ君もやりたまえ糸はありますかと聞く。  
I couldn't imagine how it was done, and while I was watching, Red Shirt said, "Come now, you try it too — do you have line?"
糸はあまるほどあるが、浮がありませんと云ったら、浮がなくっちゃ釣が出来ないのは素人ですよ。  
I said I had line to spare but no float, and he said anyone who can't fish without a float is an amateur.
こうしてね、糸が水底へついた時分に、船縁の所で人指しゆびで呼吸をはかるんです、食うとすぐ手に答える。  
"Do it like this — when the line reaches the bottom, you gauge the vibrations with your forefinger at the gunwale; the moment it bites, it answers straight to your hand."
――そらきた、と先生急に糸をたぐり始めるから、何かかかったと思ったら何にもかからない、餌がなくなってたばかりだ。  
"There — got one," he said, and suddenly began reeling in fast, and I thought something had caught, but nothing had — the bait was simply gone.
いい気味だ。  
Served him right.
教頭、残念な事をしましたね、今のはたしかに大ものに違いなかったんですが、どうも教頭のお手際でさえ逃げられちゃ、今日は油断ができませんよ。  
"Vice-Principal, what a shame — that was surely a big one just now, but if even your skill lets one get away, there's no being careless today."
しかし逃げられても何ですね。  
"Still, even getting away is something."
浮と睨めくらをしている連中よりはましですね。  
"Better than the ones who just stare down a float."
ちょうど歯どめがなくっちゃ自転車へ乗れないのと同程度ですからねと野だは妙な事ばかり喋舌る。  
"It is just like being unable to ride a bicycle unless it has a brake.," Toady rattled on with all this nonsense.
> «歯どめ»: «歯どめ» はどめ (hadome) — a brake or stopper (literally 'tooth-stop'); here, a bicycle brake, in Toady's strained comparison.
よっぽど撲りつけてやろうかと思った。  
I very nearly wanted to belt him one.
おれだって人間だ、教頭ひとりで借り切った海じゃあるまいし。  
I'm human too — the vice-principal hasn't rented out the whole sea for himself.
広い所だ。  
It's a wide place.
鰹の一匹ぐらい義理にだって、かかってくれるだろうと、どぼんと錘と糸を抛り込んでいい加減に指の先であやつっていた。  
Even a single bonito ought to bite out of decency at least, I thought, and I flung my sinker and line in with a plop and worked it idly with my fingertips.

しばらくすると、何だかぴくぴくと糸にあたるものがある。  
After a while something began tugging faintly at my line, twitch, twitch.
おれは考えた。  
I thought to myself.
こいつは魚に相違ない。  
This has to be a fish.
生きてるものでなくっちゃ、こうぴくつく訳がない。  
Nothing but a living thing would twitch like that.
しめた、釣れたとぐいぐい手繰り寄せた。  
Got it — a bite! — and I hauled it in hand over hand.
おや釣れましたかね、後世恐るべしだと野だがひやかすうち、糸はもう大概手繰り込んでただ五尺ばかりほどしか、水に浸いておらん。  
"Oh, did you catch one? The younger generation is a force to reckon with.," Toady jeered while the line, already mostly hauled in, had only some five feet or so still in the water.
船縁から覗いてみたら、金魚のような縞のある魚が糸にくっついて、右左へ漾いながら、手に応じて浮き上がってくる。  
Peering over the gunwale, I saw a striped fish, something like a goldfish, stuck on the line, swaying side to side and rising up as I pulled.
面白い。  
How interesting.
水際から上げるとき、ぽちゃりと跳ねたから、おれの顔は潮水だらけになった。  
As I brought it up out of the water it flopped, splashing salt water all over my face.
ようやくつらまえて、針をとろうとするがなかなか取れない。  
I finally got hold of it and tried to take out the hook, but it wouldn't come loose easily.
捕まえた手はぬるぬるする。  
My hand, once I'd caught it, went all slimy.
大いに気味がわるい。  
It was thoroughly unpleasant.
面倒だから糸を振って胴の間へ擲きつけたら、すぐ死んでしまった。  
Fed up with it, I shook the line and flung the thing down onto the floorboards, and it died at once.
赤シャツと野だは驚ろいて見ている。  
Red Shirt and Toady watched, looking startled.
おれは海の中で手をざぶざぶと洗って、鼻の先へあてがってみた。  
I washed my hands vigorously in the sea and held them up to my nose.
まだ腥臭い。  
They still smelled fishy.
もう懲り懲りだ。  
I'd had quite enough.
何が釣れたって魚は握りたくない。  
I never wanted to hold another fish, whatever I caught.
魚も握られたくなかろう。  
No doubt the fish didn't want to be held either.
そうそう糸を捲いてしまった。  
I wound up my line right then and there.

一番槍はお手柄だがゴルキじゃ、と野だがまた生意気を云うと、ゴルキと云うと露西亜の文学者みたような名だねと赤シャツが洒落た。  
"First catch, well done — but it's just a Gorki," Toady said with his usual cheek, and Red Shirt joked, "Gorki — sounds like the name of some Russian man of letters."
そうですね、まるで露西亜の文学者ですねと野だはすぐ賛成しやがる。  
"Just so, it really does sound like a Russian man of letters," Toady agreed at once.
ゴルキが露西亜の文学者で、丸木が芝の写真師で、米のなる木が命の親だろう。  
Gorki is a Russian man of letters, Maruki is a photographer in Shiba, and the rice-bearing tree is the source of life.
一体この赤シャツはわるい癖だ。  
This Red Shirt has a bad habit, really.
誰を捕まえても片仮名の唐人の名を並べたがる。  
Whoever he's talking to, he loves lining up katakana names for foreigners.
人にはそれぞれ専門があったものだ。  
Every man has his own field of expertise.
おれのような数学の教師にゴルキだか車力だか見当がつくものか、少しは遠慮するがいい。  
A math teacher like me can hardly be expected to know Gorki from a cart-puller — he ought to hold back a little.
云うならフランクリンの自伝だとかプッシング、ツー、ゼ、フロントだとか、おれでも知ってる名を使うがいい。  
If he wants to name-drop, he should use names even I know, like Franklin's autobiography, or Pushing to the Front.
赤シャツは時々帝国文学とかいう真赤な雑誌を学校へ持って来て難有そうに読んでいる。  
Red Shirt sometimes brings a bright red magazine called something like Imperial Literature to school and reads it as if it were a great treasure.
> «帝国文学»: «帝国文学» ていこくぶんがく (Teikoku Bungaku, 'Imperial Literature') was an actual literary magazine published out of Tokyo Imperial University from 1895; Botchan treats Red Shirt's borrowed erudition from it as secondhand and faintly ridiculous.
山嵐に聞いてみたら、赤シャツの片仮名はみんなあの雑誌から出るんだそうだ。  
I asked Porcupine about it, and apparently every one of Red Shirt's katakana names comes straight out of that magazine.
帝国文学も罪な雑誌だ。  
Imperial Literature is a sinful sort of magazine.

それから赤シャツと野だは一生懸命に釣っていたが、約一時間ばかりのうちに二人で十五六上げた。  
After that Red Shirt and Toady kept fishing with all their might, and in about an hour the two of them had pulled up fifteen or sixteen.
可笑しい事に釣れるのも、釣れるのも、みんなゴルキばかりだ。  
Funnily enough, everything they caught, one after another, was nothing but Gorki.
鯛なんて薬にしたくってもありゃしない。  
There wasn't a single sea bream to be had for love or money.
今日は露西亜文学の大当りだと赤シャツが野だに話している。  
"Today's a real windfall for Russian literature," Red Shirt said to Toady.
あなたの手腕でゴルキなんですから、私なんぞがゴルキなのは仕方がありません。  
"If even a man of your skill catches nothing but Gorki, there is no helping it if that is all a fellow like me can catch."
当り前ですなと野だが答えている。  
"Naturally," Toady answered.
船頭に聞くとこの小魚は骨が多くって、まずくって、とても食えないんだそうだ。  
I asked the boatman, and apparently this little fish has too many bones, tastes bad, and is quite inedible.
ただ肥料には出来るそうだ。  
It's only good for fertilizer, apparently.
赤シャツと野だは一生懸命に肥料を釣っているんだ。  
So Red Shirt and Toady were fishing fertilizer for all they were worth.
気の毒の至りだ。  
What a pitiful thing.
おれは一匹で懲りたから、胴の間へ仰向けになって、さっきから大空を眺めていた。  
One fish had been quite enough for me, so I lay on my back on the floorboards and had been gazing up at the wide sky for some time.
釣をするよりこの方がよっぽど洒落ている。  
This was a great deal more elegant than fishing.

すると二人は小声で何か話し始めた。  
Then the two of them began talking together in low voices.
おれにはよく聞えない、また聞きたくもない。  
I couldn't make it out well, and anyway I had no wish to listen.
おれは空を見ながら清の事を考えている。  
I lay looking up at the sky, thinking about Kiyo.
金があって、清をつれて、こんな奇麗な所へ遊びに来たらさぞ愉快だろう。  
If I had money and could bring Kiyo to a lovely place like this, how pleasant it would be.
いくら景色がよくっても野だなどといっしょじゃつまらない。  
However fine the scenery, it's no fun at all with the likes of Toady along.
清は皺苦茶だらけの婆さんだが、どんな所へ連れて出たって恥ずかしい心持ちはしない。  
Kiyo is a wrinkled old woman, but I've never once felt embarrassed to take her anywhere.
野だのようなのは、馬車に乗ろうが、船に乗ろうが、凌雲閣へのろうが、到底寄り付けたものじゃない。  
A man like Toady just wouldn't do — whether riding in a carriage, a boat, or up the Ryōunkaku tower, I could never keep company with a man like him..
おれが教頭で、赤シャツがおれだったら、やっぱりおれにへけつけお世辞を使って赤シャツを冷かすに違いない。  
If I were vice-principal and Red Shirt were me, no doubt he'd come flattering up to me too, just to mock Red Shirt behind his back.
江戸っ子は軽薄だと云うがなるほどこんなものが田舎巡りをして、私は江戸っ子でげすと繰り返していたら、軽薄は江戸っ子で、江戸っ子は軽薄の事だと田舎者が思うに極まってる。  
People say Edo folk are shallow, and sure enough, when a man like this goes touring the provinces repeating "I'm an Edo boy" over and over, the country folk are bound to conclude that shallowness is the Edo way, and being an Edo boy means being shallow.
> «と云うが» — concessive quotation: «と云うが» ('they say X, but...') introduces the common saying that Edo people are shallow, which Botchan then explains by pointing to the impression Toady creates in the provinces. Botchan uses the frame to argue that Edo pride in being unshallow is itself undercut by people like Toady.
こんな事を考えていると、何だか二人がくすくす笑い出した。  
While I was thinking all this, the two of them suddenly burst into snickering.
笑い声の間に何か云うが途切れ途切れでとんと要領を得ない。  
Something was said between the bursts of laughter, but it came in fits and starts and I couldn't make head or tail of it.

「え？　どうだか……」「……全くです……知らないんですから……罪ですね」「まさか……」「バッタを……本当ですよ」  
"Eh? I wonder..." "...quite so... since he doesn't know... it's a shame" "Surely not..." "The grasshoppers... it's true."

おれは外の言葉には耳を傾けなかったが、バッタと云う野だの語を聴いた時は、思わずきっとなった。  
I paid no attention to the rest of what was said, but the moment I heard Toady's word "grasshoppers" I couldn't help but stiffen.
野だは何のためかバッタと云う言葉だけことさら力を入れて、明瞭におれの耳にはいるようにして、そのあとをわざとぼかしてしまった。  
For some reason Toady put special weight on just that one word, "grasshoppers," making sure it reached my ears clearly, and then deliberately let the rest trail off into a mumble.
おれは動かないでやはり聞いていた。  
I stayed still and went on listening all the same.

「また例の堀田が……」「そうかも知れない……」「天麩羅……ハハハハハ」「……煽動して……」「団子も？」  
"That Hotta fellow again..." "Could well be..." "Tempura... ha ha ha ha ha" "...stirred them up..." "The dumplings too?"

言葉はかように途切れ途切れであるけれども、バッタだの天麩羅だの、団子だのというところをもって推し測ってみると、何でもおれのことについて内所話しをしているに相違ない。  
The words came in such scattered fragments, but going by "grasshoppers," "tempura," and "dumplings," there was no doubt they were whispering about me behind my back.
> «内所話»: «内所話» ないしょばなし (naisho-banashi) — a private, whispered conversation meant not to be overheard; 'secret talk.'
話すならもっと大きな声で話すがいい、また内所話をするくらいなら、おれなんか誘わなければいい。  
If they were going to talk, they might as well speak up; and if they were only going to whisper, they shouldn't have invited me along in the first place.
いけ好かない連中だ。  
What a disagreeable pair.
バッタだろうが雪踏だろうが、非はおれにある事じゃない。  
Grasshoppers or straw sandals, whichever it was, the fault isn't mine.
校長がひとまずあずけろと云ったから、狸の顔にめんじてただ今のところは控えているんだ。  
The principal told me to leave it in his hands for now, and out of deference to the Badger's face I've simply been holding back.
> «狸» — the principal's nickname: «狸» たぬき (tanuki), literally the raccoon dog, is Botchan's private nickname for the principal, rendered here as "the Badger" — a stock figure in folklore for a sly, wily creature that shapeshifts and deceives, which is exactly how Botchan sees him.
野だの癖に入らぬ批評をしやがる。  
And here's Toady, of all people, tossing out uncalled-for criticism.
毛筆でもしゃぶって引っ込んでるがいい。  
He'd do better to chew on his writing brush and keep quiet.
おれの事は、遅かれ早かれ、おれ一人で片付けてみせるから、差支えはないが、また例の堀田がとか煽動してとか云う文句が気にかかる。  
Sooner or later I'll settle the whole business myself, so there's no real trouble there, but that phrase about "that Hotta fellow again" and "stirred them up" nags at me.
堀田がおれを煽動して騒動を大きくしたと云う意味なのか、あるいは堀田が生徒を煽動しておれをいじめたと云うのか方角がわからない。  
I couldn't tell whether it meant Hotta had stirred me up to make the trouble bigger, or that Hotta had stirred up the students to bully me.
青空を見ていると、日の光がだんだん弱って来て、少しはひやりとする風が吹き出した。  
As I looked up at the blue sky, the sunlight gradually weakened and a slightly chilly wind began to blow.
線香の烟のような雲が、透き徹る底の上を静かに伸して行ったと思ったら、いつしか底の奥に流れ込んで、うすくもやを掛けたようになった。  
Clouds like incense smoke drifted quietly along above the clear depths, and before I knew it they had flowed down into those depths and settled into a thin haze.

もう帰ろうかと赤シャツが思い出したように云うと、ええちょうど時分ですね。  
"Shall we head back?" Red Shirt said, as if just remembering, and Toady said, "Yes, just about time."
今夜はマドンナの君にお逢いですかと野だが云う。  
"Will you be seeing your Madonna tonight?" Toady said.
赤シャツは馬鹿あ云っちゃいけない、間違いになると、船縁に身を倚たした奴を、少し起き直る。  
Red Shirt said, "Don't talk nonsense, people will get the wrong idea," and straightened up a little from where he'd been leaning against the gunwale.
エヘヘヘヘ大丈夫ですよ。  
"Eh heh heh heh, it's quite all right."
聞いたって……と野だが振り返った時、おれは皿のような眼を野だの頭の上へまともに浴びせ掛けてやった。  
As Toady turned back saying, "Even if he hears..." I fixed him with a stare like a pair of saucers, straight at the top of his head.
> «〜たって» — even-if concession: «〜たって» is a colloquial contraction of «〜ても/〜たとしても» ('even if'). Toady’s unfinished «聞いたって……» means “even if he hears...” and trails off when he turns and notices Botchan staring at him.
野だはまぼしそうに引っ繰り返って、や、こいつは降参だと首を縮めて、頭を掻いた。  
Toady flinched as though dazzled, tumbling back, saying, "Ah, I surrender," and shrank his neck down, scratching his head.
何という猪口才だろう。  
What an impudent little man.

船は静かな海を岸へ漕ぎ戻る。  
The boat rowed quietly back to shore over the calm sea.
君釣はあまり好きでないと見えますねと赤シャツが聞くから、ええ寝ていて空を見る方がいいですと答えて、吸いかけた巻烟草を海の中へたたき込んだら、ジュと音がして艪の足で掻き分けられた浪の上を揺られながら漾っていった。  
Red Shirt asked whether I didn't much care for fishing, and I answered that I'd rather lie back and look at the sky, and I flicked the half-smoked cigarette I'd lit into the sea, where it hissed and floated along, bobbing on the waves the oar's blade stirred up.
「君が来たんで生徒も大いに喜んでいるから、奮発してやってくれたまえ」と今度は釣にはまるで縁故もない事を云い出した。  
"The students are all very pleased that you've come, so do give it your best," he said, bringing up something that had nothing at all to do with fishing.
「あんまり喜んでもいないでしょう」「いえ、お世辞じゃない。全く喜んでいるんです、ね、吉川君」「喜んでるどころじゃない。大騒ぎです」と野だはにやにやと笑った。  
"I doubt they're all that pleased." "No, it's not flattery. They're genuinely pleased, aren't they, Yoshikawa?" "Pleased is putting it mildly. There's quite a stir," Toady said, grinning.
こいつの云う事は一々癪に障るから妙だ。  
It was strange how every single thing this fellow said got on my nerves.
「しかし君注意しないと、険呑ですよ」と赤シャツが云うから「どうせ険呑です。こうなりゃ険呑は覚悟です」と云ってやった。  
"Still, you'll want to be careful, it could get dangerous," Red Shirt said, and I answered, "Dangerous either way — if it comes to that, I'm prepared for danger."
実際おれは免職になるか、寄宿生をことごとくあやまらせるか、どっちか一つにする了見でいた。  
In truth I had it in mind to either get myself dismissed or make every last boarding student apologize, one or the other.
「そう云っちゃ、取りつきどころもないが――実は僕も教頭として君のためを思うから云うんだが、わるく取っちゃ困る」「教頭は全く君に好意を持ってるんですよ。僕も及ばずながら、同じ江戸っ子だから、なるべく長くご在校を願って、お互に力になろうと思って、これでも蔭ながら尽力しているんですよ」と野だが人間並の事を云った。  
"Put that way, there's no taking hold of it anywhere — but really, as vice-principal, I say this for your own good, don't take it the wrong way." "The headmaster genuinely has your interests at heart. For my part too, though I can't do much, being a fellow Edo man myself, I hope you'll stay on as long as possible, and we can help each other along — I've even been quietly doing what I can behind the scenes," Toady said, putting on his best show of humanity.
> «僕» — a soft first person: «僕» ぼく (boku) is a first-person pronoun with a soft, cultivated air, used here twice in the same passage: once by Red Shirt (「実は僕も教頭として…」) and once by Toady (「僕も及ばずながら…」). It's part of the affected gentleness Botchan mocks throughout the chapter, in contrast to his own blunt «おれ».
野だのお世話になるくらいなら首を縊って死んじまわあ。  
I'd rather hang myself than be beholden to the likes of Toady.

「それでね、生徒は君の来たのを大変歓迎しているんだが、そこにはいろいろな事情があってね。君も腹の立つ事もあるだろうが、ここが我慢だと思って、辛防してくれたまえ。決して君のためにならないような事はしないから」  
"So you see, the students are quite delighted you've come, but there are various circumstances involved. You may well have cause to be angry, but bear with it here, be patient, won't you. I'll never do anything against your interests."

「いろいろの事情た、どんな事情です」  
"What sort of various circumstances, exactly?"

「それが少し込み入ってるんだが、まあだんだん分りますよ。僕が話さないでも自然と分って来るです、ね吉川君」  
"That's rather complicated, but it'll gradually become clear. It'll come to you naturally, even without my telling you, won't it, Yoshikawa?"

「ええなかなか込み入ってますからね。一朝一夕にゃ到底分りません。しかしだんだん分ります、僕が話さないでも自然と分って来るです」と野だは赤シャツと同じような事を云う。  
"Yes, it really is quite complicated. It can't be understood overnight, but it will gradually become clear — you'll come to understand it naturally, even without being told," Toady said, echoing Red Shirt's very words.

「そんな面倒な事情なら聞かなくてもいいんですが、あなたの方から話し出したから伺うんです」  
"If it's such a troublesome business I needn't hear it, but since you brought it up yourself, I'm asking."

「そりゃごもっともだ。こっちで口を切って、あとをつけないのは無責任ですね。それじゃこれだけの事を云っておきましょう。あなたは失礼ながら、まだ学校を卒業したてで、教師は始めての、経験である。ところが学校というものはなかなか情実のあるもので、そう書生流に淡泊には行かないですからね」  
"Quite right, of course. It would be irresponsible of me to open the subject and not follow through. Very well, let me just say this much. You, if I may say so, have only just graduated and this is your very first experience as a teacher. But a school is a place full of complicated personal interests, and things don't run along as simply as a student's plain thinking."
> «である» in Red Shirt's speech: Red Shirt slides into the stiff, essay-like «である» copula even in conversation — part of his affected, faux-erudite manner that Botchan finds so grating.

「淡泊に行かなければ、どんな風に行くんです」  
"If it doesn't run along simply, how does it run, then?"

「さあ君はそう率直だから、まだ経験に乏しいと云うんですがね……」  
"Well, you're so forthright that — that's just what I mean, you're still short on experience..."

「どうせ経験には乏しいはずです。履歴書にもかいときましたが二十三年四ヶ月ですから」  
"Of course I'm short on experience. I even wrote it in my résumé — twenty-three years and four months."

「さ、そこで思わぬ辺から乗ぜられる事があるんです」  
"There, that's exactly where you get taken advantage of from an unexpected quarter."

「正直にしていれば誰が乗じたって怖くはないです」  
"If a man behaves honestly, he needn't fear anyone taking advantage of him."

「無論怖くはない、怖くはないが、乗ぜられる。現に君の前任者がやられたんだから、気を付けないといけないと云うんです」  
"Of course you needn't fear it — you needn't, but it happens all the same. In fact your predecessor was caught out that way, so I say you should be careful."
> Passive «乗ぜられる»: «乗ぜられる» is the passive of «乗ずる» ('to take advantage of'), formed with «られる»: 'to be taken advantage of.' Red Shirt uses the passive to describe Botchan's predecessor as a victim acted upon, without naming who did it.

野だが大人しくなったなと気が付いて、ふり向いて見ると、いつしか艫の方で船頭と釣の話をしている。  
Noticing that Toady had gone quiet, I turned to look and found him already back at the stern, talking fishing with the boatman.
野だが居ないんでよっぽど話しよくなった。  
With Toady out of earshot it was a good deal easier to talk.

「僕の前任者が、誰れに乗ぜられたんです」  
"What happened to my predecessor — who took advantage of him?"

「だれと指すと、その人の名誉に関係するから云えない。また判然と証拠のない事だから云うとこっちの落度になる。とにかく、せっかく君が来たもんだから、ここで失敗しちゃ僕等も君を呼んだ甲斐がない。どうか気を付けてくれたまえ」  
"Naming who would compromise that person's reputation, so I can't say. And besides, without clear proof, to say so would put the blame on me. In any case, now that you've gone to the trouble of coming here, it would be a shame for us if you failed after we called you all this way. Please do be careful."

「気を付けろったって、これより気の付けようはありません。わるい事をしなけりゃ好いんでしょう」  
"However much you tell me to be careful, there's no more careful I can be than this. All I need to do is not do anything wrong, isn't that so?"

赤シャツはホホホホと笑った。  
Red Shirt laughed his "ho ho ho ho."
別段おれは笑われるような事を云った覚えはない。  
I couldn't recall having said anything that deserved being laughed at.
今日ただ今に至るまでこれでいいと堅く信じている。  
To this very day I still firmly believe I was right.
考えてみると世間の大部分の人はわるくなる事を奨励しているように思う。  
Thinking it over, it seems most people in the world encourage each other to turn crooked.
わるくならなければ社会に成功はしないものと信じているらしい。  
They seem to believe no one succeeds in society without becoming a little corrupt.
たまに正直な純粋な人を見ると、坊っちゃんだの小僧だのと難癖をつけて軽蔑する。  
Whenever they come across an honest, pure-hearted person, they find fault with him, calling him a "young master" or a “brat,” and look down on him.
> «坊っちゃん» as an insult: «坊っちゃん» ぼっちゃん (bocchan) — normally an affectionate 'young master/sonny,' but here used dismissively, to mean a naive, sheltered simpleton who doesn't know how the world works. It's the very word that titles the novel, turned into a taunt against its narrator.
それじゃ小学校や中学校で嘘をつくな、正直にしろと倫理の先生が教えない方がいい。  
If that's so, ethics teachers in primary and middle schools would do better not to teach children not to lie and to be honest.
いっそ思い切って学校で嘘をつく法とか、人を信じない術とか、人を乗せる策を教授する方が、世のためにも当人のためにもなるだろう。  
They might as well go the whole way and teach, for everyone's good, methods for lying at school, techniques for distrusting others, and strategies for taking people in.
赤シャツがホホホホと笑ったのは、おれの単純なのを笑ったのだ。  
When Red Shirt laughed his "ho ho ho ho," he was laughing at how simple I am.
単純や真率が笑われる世の中じゃ仕様がない。  
If a world laughs at simplicity and sincerity, there's nothing to be done about it.
清はこんな時に決して笑った事はない。  
Kiyo never once laughed at me at a time like this.
大いに感心して聞いたもんだ。  
She always listened with great admiration.
清の方が赤シャツよりよっぽど上等だ。  
Kiyo is a far finer person than Red Shirt.

「無論悪るい事をしなければ好いんですが、自分だけ悪るい事をしなくっても、人の悪るいのが分らなくっちゃ、やっぱりひどい目に逢うでしょう。世の中には磊落なように見えても、淡泊なように見えても、親切に下宿の世話なんかしてくれても、めったに油断の出来ないのがありますから……。大分寒くなった。もう秋ですね、浜の方は靄でセピヤ色になった。いい景色だ。おい、吉川君どうだい、あの浜の景色は……」と大きな声を出して野だを呼んだ。  
"Of course it's fine so long as you don't do anything wrong yourself, but even if you personally do nothing wrong, if you can't tell when others are up to no good, you'll surely come to grief all the same. In this world there are people who, however open-hearted or easygoing they look, however kindly they see to your lodgings, are the very ones you can least afford to let your guard down with... It's turned quite cold. Autumn's really here now — look, the shore's gone sepia with the mist. What a fine sight. Hey, Yoshikawa, what do you say, that view of the shore..." he called out loudly to Toady.
なあるほどこりゃ奇絶ですね。  
"Well now, that really is a marvel."
時間があると写生するんだが、惜しいですね、このままにしておくのはと野だは大いにたたく。  
"If I had the time I'd sketch it — a shame to leave it just as it is," Toady said, laying it on thick.

港屋の二階に灯が一つついて、汽車の笛がヒューと鳴るとき、おれの乗っていた舟は磯の砂へざぐりと、舳をつき込んで動かなくなった。  
A single light came on in the second floor of the Minatoya, and just as a train whistle let out a hoot, the boat I was riding in ran its prow grating up into the sandy beach and came to a stop.
お早うお帰りと、かみさんが、浜に立って赤シャツに挨拶する。  
"Back early, aren’t you?," the innkeeper's wife said, standing on the shore, greeting Red Shirt.
おれは船端から、やっと掛声をして磯へ飛び下りた。  
I jumped down from the side of the boat onto the beach at last, with a heave-ho.
---

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.