# Botchan, Chapter 7

坊っちゃん · Natsume Sōseki · Botchan

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch07. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch07.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/botchan/<line id>.m4a.


おれは即夜下宿を引き払った。  
I quit my lodgings that very night.
宿へ帰って荷物をまとめていると、女房が何か不都合でもございましたか、お腹の立つ事があるなら、云っておくれたら改めますと云う。  
When I got back and started packing my things, the landlady asked whether something had displeased me, and said that if there was anything I was angry about, she'd fix it if I just told her.
> «云う» = «言う»: «云う» is an older kanji spelling of «言う» (いう, iu), "to say." Sōseki uses it throughout the book; it reads and means exactly the same as the modern «言う».
どうも驚ろく。  
It floored me.
世の中にはどうして、こんな要領を得ない者ばかり揃ってるんだろう。  
Why is the world so full of people who can't get to the point?
出てもらいたいんだか、居てもらいたいんだか分りゃしない。  
I couldn't tell whether she wanted me out or wanted me to stay.
まるで気狂だ。  
Sheer lunacy.
こんな者を相手に喧嘩をしたって江戸っ子の名折れだから、車屋をつれて来てさっさと出てきた。  
It would shame an Edokko to pick a fight with someone like that, so I fetched a rickshaw man and cleared out at once.
> «江戸っ子» えどっこ (edokko): A born-and-bred child of old Edo (Tokyo) — proud, quick-tempered, and touchy about honor. Botchan invokes his «江戸っ子» identity whenever he explains why he won't stoop to something.

出た事は出たが、どこへ行くというあてもない。  
I'd walked out, all right, but I had nowhere in mind to go.
車屋が、どちらへ参りますと云うから、だまって尾いて来い、今にわかる、と云って、すたすたやって来た。  
The rickshaw man asked where to, so I told him to shut up and follow — he'd find out soon enough — and set off at a brisk clip.
面倒だから山城屋へ行こうかとも考えたが、また出なければならないから、つまり手数だ。  
It was such a bother that I thought of just going to the Yamashiroya, but I'd only have to leave there again too, so it came to the same trouble either way.
こうして歩いてるうちには下宿とか、何とか看板のあるうちを目付け出すだろう。  
Walking along like this, I figured I'd spot some house with a lodgings sign or the like.
そうしたら、そこが天意に叶ったわが宿と云う事にしよう。  
Whichever one I found, I decided, that would be the lodging heaven had ordained for me.
とぐるぐる、閑静で住みよさそうな所をあるいているうち、とうとう鍛冶屋町へ出てしまった。  
So thinking, I wandered round and round through quiet, likely-looking neighborhoods, until at last I came out at Kajiya-chō.
> «～てしまう» — completion/regret: «～てしまう» (here «出てしまった») marks an action carried through to a finishing point, often with a note of "and there was no helping it." Botchan wandered and, before he knew it, ended up in Kajiya-chō.
ここは士族屋敷で下宿屋などのある町ではないから、もっと賑やかな方へ引き返そうかとも思ったが、ふといい事を考え付いた。  
This was a district of samurai-family houses, not the sort of street that had lodging houses, so I thought of turning back toward somewhere livelier, when a good idea suddenly struck me.
おれが敬愛するうらなり君はこの町内に住んでいる。  
Uranari, whom I respected, lived right in this neighborhood.
うらなり君は土地の人で先祖代々の屋敷を控えているくらいだから、この辺の事情には通じているに相違ない。  
Since he was a local, with a family estate handed down from his ancestors, he was bound to know his way around these parts.
> «～に相違ない» — "must be": «に相違ない» is a firm, almost legalistic way to say "there is no doubt that…"/"must certainly." It shows up several times in this chapter as Botchan reasons out conclusions.
あの人を尋ねて聞いたら、よさそうな下宿を教えてくれるかも知れない。  
If I called on him and asked, he might well point me to a decent lodging.
幸一度挨拶に来て勝手は知ってるから、捜がしてあるく面倒はない。  
Luckily I'd called on him once before and already knew my way there, so I wouldn't have the bother of hunting for the place.
ここだろうと、いい加減に見当をつけて、ご免ご免と二返ばかり云うと、奥から五十ぐらいな年寄が古風な紙燭をつけて、出て来た。  
Guessing more or less that this must be the house, I called out "Excuse me, excuse me" a couple of times, and an old man of about fifty came out from within with an old-fashioned paper taper lit.
おれは若い女も嫌いではないが、年寄を見ると何だかなつかしい心持ちがする。  
I don't dislike young women, but the sight of an old person always stirs some fond feeling in me.
大方清がすきだから、その魂が方々のお婆さんに乗り移るんだろう。  
It's probably because I'm so fond of Kiyo that her spirit seems to have settled into every old woman I meet.
これは大方うらなり君のおっ母さんだろう。  
This, I guessed, would most likely be Uranari's mother.
切り下げの品格のある婦人だが、よくうらなり君に似ている。  
She was a dignified woman with her hair cut short in the old style, and she looked very much like Uranari.
まあお上がりと云うところを、ちょっとお目にかかりたいからと、主人を玄関まで呼び出して実はこれこれだが君どこか心当りはありませんかと尋ねてみた。  
She urged me to come in and sit, but I said I only wanted a quick word, and had the master called out to the entrance, where I explained the whole business and asked if he knew of anywhere.
うらなり先生それはさぞお困りでございましょう、としばらく考えていたが、この裏町に萩野と云って老人夫婦ぎりで暮らしているものがある、いつぞや座敷を明けておいても無駄だから、たしかな人があるなら貸してもいいから周旋してくれと頼んだ事がある。  
Uranari said that must be a real predicament, and thought it over a while, then told me there was an old couple named Hagino living alone down this back street, who'd once asked him to find them a trustworthy tenant, since it was a waste to leave a room sitting empty.
今でも貸すかどうか分らんが、まあいっしょに行って聞いてみましょうと、親切に連れて行ってくれた。  
He couldn't say whether they'd still rent it out, but he kindly offered to come along and ask, and took me there himself.

その夜から萩野の家の下宿人となった。  
From that very night I became a lodger in the Hagino house.
驚いたのは、おれがいか銀の座敷を引き払うと、翌日から入れ違いに野だが平気な顔をして、おれの居た部屋を占領した事だ。  
What astonished me was that the moment I cleared out of my room at the Ikagin's, Toady moved right in the very next day, cool as you please, and took over the very room I'd had.
さすがのおれもこれにはあきれた。  
Even I was floored by that.
世の中はいかさま師ばかりで、お互に乗せっこをしているのかも知れない。  
The world, it seems, is full of nothing but frauds, all of them putting one over on each other.
いやになった。  
It disgusted me.

世間がこんなものなら、おれも負けない気で、世間並にしなくちゃ、遣りきれない訳になる。  
If the world is like this, then unless I toughen up and play the same game myself, I'll never manage to get by.
巾着切の上前をはねなければ三度のご膳が戴けないと、事が極まればこうして、生きてるのも考え物だ。  
If it's really come to the point where you can't earn your three meals without skimming a cut off a pickpocket's takings, then living itself is something to think twice about.
と云ってぴんぴんした達者なからだで、首を縊っちゃ先祖へ済まない上に、外聞が悪い。  
But then, hanging myself while I'm fit and healthy would shame my ancestors, on top of looking bad to the world.
考えると物理学校などへはいって、数学なんて役にも立たない芸を覚えるよりも、六百円を資本にして牛乳屋でも始めればよかった。  
Thinking it over, instead of going into the Physics School and learning a useless skill like mathematics, I'd have done better to take my six hundred yen and start up a dairy.
そうすれば清もおれの傍を離れずに済むし、おれも遠くから婆さんの事を心配しずに暮される。  
That way Kiyo wouldn't have had to leave my side, and I wouldn't have to sit out here worrying about the old woman from so far away.
いっしょに居るうちは、そうでもなかったが、こうして田舎へ来てみると清はやっぱり善人だ。  
While we were living together I didn't think much of it, but now that I've come out here to the country, I can see Kiyo really is a good soul.
あんな気立のいい女は日本中さがして歩いたってめったにはない。  
You could search all Japan and rarely find another woman with a heart as good as hers.
婆さん、おれの立つときに、少々風邪を引いていたが今頃はどうしてるか知らん。  
She had a bit of a cold when I set out — I wonder how the old woman's doing by now.
先だっての手紙を見たらさぞ喜んだろう。  
She must have been delighted to get my last letter.
それにしても、もう返事がきそうなものだが――おれはこんな事ばかり考えて二三日暮していた。  
Still, a reply ought to be arriving by now — I spent two or three days doing nothing but thinking things like this.

気になるから、宿のお婆さんに、東京から手紙は来ませんかと時々尋ねてみるが、聞くたんびに何にも参りませんと気の毒そうな顔をする。  
Since it was on my mind, I'd ask the old landlady now and then whether a letter had come from Tokyo, but every time I asked she'd give me a sympathetic look and say nothing had come.
ここの夫婦はいか銀とは違って、もとが士族だけに双方共上品だ。  
This couple, unlike the Ikagins, were both refined, being originally of samurai stock.
爺さんが夜るになると、変な声を出して謡をうたうには閉口するが、いか銀のようにお茶を入れましょうと無暗に出て来ないから大きに楽だ。  
The old man singing Noh chants in that odd voice of an evening was a trial, but at least he didn't keep barging in for no reason with "Shall I bring you some tea?" the way the Ikagin did, which was a great relief.
お婆さんは時々部屋へ来ていろいろな話をする。  
The old woman would come to my room now and then and chat about all sorts of things.
どうして奥さんをお連れなさって、いっしょにお出でなんだのぞなもしなどと質問をする。  
She'd ask me things like why hadn't I brought my wife along with me.
> «ぞなもし» — Iyo (Shikoku) dialect: «ぞなもし» is a sentence-final flourish from the Iyo (present-day Ehime) dialect, roughly equivalent to «ですよ»/«のですよ». The landlady peppers nearly every line with it, marking her as a local against Botchan's Tokyo speech.
奥さんがあるように見えますかね。  
Do I look like I have a wife?
可哀想にこれでもまだ二十四ですぜと云ったらそれでも、あなた二十四で奥さんがおありなさるのは当り前ぞなもしと冒頭を置いて、どこの誰さんは二十でお嫁をお貰いたの、どこの何とかさんは二十二で子供を二人お持ちたのと、何でも例を半ダースばかり挙げて反駁を試みたには恐れ入った。  
I told her, poor thing that I am, I'm only twenty-four, but she opened with "Now at twenty-four it's only natural to have a wife," and went on to rattle off half a dozen examples — how so-and-so took a bride at twenty, how such-and-such a man already had two children by twenty-two — and I was quite overwhelmed by her argument.
それじゃ僕も二十四でお嫁をお貰いるけれ、世話をしておくれんかなと田舎言葉を真似て頼んでみたら、お婆さん正直に本当かなもしと聞いた。  
So I said, mimicking the local dialect, "Well then, seeing as I'm twenty-four too, won't you find me a bride?" and the old woman asked, quite in earnest, whether I really meant it.

「本当の本当のって僕あ、嫁が貰いたくって仕方がないんだ」  
"Really and truly — I want a wife so badly I can't stand it."
> «僕あ» = «僕は»: «僕あ» is a casual, spoken contraction of «僕は» — the topic particle «は» slurring into the vowel. It's typical of Botchan's brisk, unpolished way of talking.

「そうじゃろうがな、もし。  
"I daresay you would, sir.
> «じゃ» + «ろう» — dialect copula + conjecture: «じゃ» is the dialect equivalent of «だ», and «～ろう» adds conjecture ("probably/I'd guess"). Together, «じゃろう» ≈ standard «だろう», but marked as rural speech.
若いうちは誰もそんなものじゃけれ」  
Everyone's like that when they're young."
この挨拶には痛み入って返事が出来なかった。  
That reply left me so mortified I couldn't answer.

「しかし先生はもう、お嫁がおありなさるに極っとらい。  
"But surely, sir, you must already have a wife.
私はちゃんと、もう、睨らんどるぞなもし」  
I've got you figured out, I have."

「へえ、活眼だね。  
"My, what an eye you've got.
どうして、睨らんどるんですか」  
How ever did you figure that out?"
> «～んどる» — dialect for «～んでいる»: «睨らんどる» contracts «睨んでいる» ("I've got my eye on/I've sized you up"): «～ている» collapses to «～んどる» in this Shikoku speech, the same way Tokyo speech might slur it to «～んでる».

「どうしててて。  
"What do you mean, how?
東京から便りはないか、便りはないかてて、毎日便りを待ち焦がれておいでるじゃないかなもし」  
Every day you're pining for a letter, asking has one come from Tokyo, has one come — aren't you now, sir?"

「こいつあ驚いた。  
"Well, that's a shock.
大変な活眼だ」  
What a keen eye you've got."

「中りましたろうがな、もし」  
"I hit the mark, didn't I, sir."

「そうですね。  
"I suppose you did.
中ったかも知れませんよ」  
Maybe you hit it right on the nose."

「しかし今時の女子は、昔と違うて油断が出来んけれ、お気をお付けたがええぞなもし」  
"But girls nowadays aren't like they used to be — you can't let your guard down, so you'd best be careful, sir."

「何ですかい、僕の奥さんが東京で間男でもこしらえていますかい」  
"What's that supposed to mean — is my wife off in Tokyo carrying on with some other man?"

「いいえ、あなたの奥さんはたしかじゃけれど……」  
"No, no, your wife is trustworthy enough, but…"

「それで、やっと安心した。  
"Well, that's a relief.
それじゃ何を気を付けるんですい」  
Then what am I supposed to be careful about?"

「あなたのはたしか――あなたのはたしかじゃが――」  
"Yours is trustworthy — yours is trustworthy, but —"

「どこに不たしかなのが居ますかね」  
"And who exactly is untrustworthy, then?"

「ここ等にも大分居ります。  
"There's plenty of them around here.
先生、あの遠山のお嬢さんをご存知かなもし」  
Sir, do you know the young Miss Toyama?"

「いいえ、知りませんね」  
"No, I don't know her."

「まだご存知ないかなもし。  
"You don't know her yet.
ここらであなた一番の別嬪さんじゃがなもし。  
She's the prettiest girl around these parts, sir.
あまり別嬪さんじゃけれ、学校の先生方はみんなマドンナマドンナと言うといでるぞなもし。  
She's such a beauty that all the teachers at the school go around calling her Madonna, Madonna.
> «マドンナ» (Madonna): A katakana loanword from Italian madonna, familiar through Christian usage, meaning roughly "beautiful lady." It's the local teachers' nickname for Miss Toyama — Botchan first mistakes it for a geisha's stage name.
まだお聞きんのかなもし」  
Haven't you heard of her yet, sir?"

「うん、マドンナですか。  
"Hm, Madonna, is it.
僕あ芸者の名かと思った」  
I took it for a geisha's stage name."

「いいえ、あなた。  
"No, no, sir.
マドンナと云うと唐人の言葉で、別嬪さんの事じゃろうがなもし」  
'Madonna' is a foreign word, I believe, that means a beauty."

「そうかも知れないね。  
"Might well be.
驚いた」  
That surprises me."

「大方画学の先生がお付けた名ぞなもし」  
"It was most likely the drawing teacher who gave her that name, sir."

「野だがつけたんですかい」  
"Was it Toady who thought it up?"

「いいえ、あの吉川先生がお付けたのじゃがなもし」  
"No, it was that Mr. Yoshikawa who thought of it, sir."

「そのマドンナが不たしかなんですかい」  
"So this Madonna is the untrustworthy one, is she?"

「そのマドンナさんが不たしかなマドンナさんでな、もし」  
"That's right, she's an untrustworthy Madonna, that one, sir."

「厄介だね。  
"That's a nuisance.
渾名の付いてる女にゃ昔から碌なものは居ませんからね。  
There's never been a woman with a nickname who came to any good, since ancient times.
> «渾名» あだな (adana): A nickname. Here Botchan needles the landlady with an old superstition that nicknamed women never come to good ends; she picks up the thread in her next line with her own examples of infamous women.
そうかも知れませんよ」  
So it might well be true."

「ほん当にそうじゃなもし。  
"It's true enough, sir.
鬼神のお松じゃの、妲妃のお百じゃのてて怖い女が居りましたなもし」  
There's been fearsome women before — Kijin no Omatsu, or Dakki no Ohyaku, and the like, sir."

「マドンナもその同類なんですかね」  
"Is this Madonna one of that same breed, then?"

「そのマドンナさんがなもし、あなた。  
"That Madonna, sir, listen to this.
そらあの、あなたをここへ世話をしておくれた古賀先生なもし――あの方の所へお嫁に行く約束が出来ていたのじゃがなもし――」  
You know, that Mr. Koga who found this lodging for you — she'd had a promise to marry into his house, sir —"

「へえ、不思議なもんですね。  
"Well, that's a strange business.
あのうらなり君が、そんな艶福のある男とは思わなかった。  
I never took Uranari for a man who'd have that kind of romantic luck.
人は見懸けによらない者だな。  
You can't tell a man by his looks, can you.
> «見懸けによらない» — idiom: "You can't go by appearances": «見懸け» (looks) + «～によらない» ("doesn't depend on"). A stock idiom Botchan reaches for when Uranari turns out to have more going on than his mild face suggests.
ちっと気を付けよう」  
I'll have to keep an eye on him a bit."

「ところが、去年あすこのお父さんが、お亡くなりて、――それまではお金もあるし、銀行の株も持ってお出るし、万事都合がよかったのじゃが――それからというものは、どういうものか急に暮し向きが思わしくなくなって――つまり古賀さんがあまりお人が好過ぎるけれ、お欺されたんぞなもし。  
"Well, you see, sir, her father passed away last year — up till then they had money enough, and shares in a bank besides, and everything was going smoothly — but ever since then, somehow, their circumstances suddenly took a turn for the worse — the plain truth being that Mr. Koga is far too good-natured, and got taken in, sir.
> Honorific «お＋verb＋て»: «お亡くなりて» is a respectful (尊敬語) form built on «お + verb stem» used for someone else's actions — here softened further by the dialect's te-form ending, appropriate since the landlady is speaking of a death.
それや、これやでお輿入も延びているところへ、あの教頭さんがお出でて、是非お嫁にほしいとお云いるのじゃがなもし」  
What with one thing and another, the wedding kept being put off, and it was right then that the head teacher came along and declared he wanted her for his own wife, sir."

「あの赤シャツがですか。  
"That Red Shirt fellow, you mean?
ひどい奴だ。  
What a rotten piece of work.
どうもあのシャツはただのシャツじゃないと思ってた。  
I always thought there was more to that shirt than just being a shirt.
それから？」  
And then?"

「人を頼んで懸合うておみると、遠山さんでも古賀さんに義理があるから、すぐには返事は出来かねて――まあよう考えてみようぐらいの挨拶をおしたのじゃがなもし。  
"Well, they had someone go and speak on his behalf, and even the Toyamas, feeling they owed Mr. Koga something, couldn't give an answer right off — they only said something like 'let us think it over,' sir.
すると赤シャツさんが、手蔓を求めて遠山さんの方へ出入をおしるようになって、とうとうあなた、お嬢さんを手馴付けておしまいたのじゃがなもし。  
But then Mr. Red Shirt found himself some connection and started calling in and out of the Toyama house, and in the end, sir, he went and won the young lady clean over.
赤シャツさんも赤シャツさんじゃが、お嬢さんもお嬢さんじゃてて、みんなが悪るく云いますのよ。  
Red Shirt's to blame, but the young lady's no better, and everyone round here speaks ill of them both for it.
いったん古賀さんへ嫁に行くてて承知をしときながら、今さら学士さんがお出たけれ、その方に替えよてて、それじゃ今日様へ済むまいがなもし、あなた」  
Once you've agreed to marry Mr. Koga, to turn round now just because a university man's turned up and switch to him instead — well, you couldn't answer to Lord Today for that, could you, sir?, does it, sir."

「全く済まないね。  
"It certainly doesn't settle right.
今日様どころか明日様にも明後日様にも、いつまで行ったって済みっこありませんね」  
It wouldn't settle right with Not to Lord Today, nor Lord Tomorrow, nor Lord Day-After-Tomorrow — it'll never settle right, however long you go on."

「それで古賀さんにお気の毒じゃてて、お友達の堀田さんが教頭の所へ意見をしにお行きたら、赤シャツさんが、あしは約束のあるものを横取りするつもりはない。  
"So then, feeling sorry for Mr. Koga, his friend Mr. Hotta went to have it out with the head teacher, and Red Shirt told him: I have no intention of stealing away something that's already promised.
破約になれば貰うかも知れんが、今のところは遠山家とただ交際をしているばかりじゃ、遠山家と交際をするには別段古賀さんに済まん事もなかろうとお云いるけれ、堀田さんも仕方がなしにお戻りたそうな。  
If the engagement should fall through, I might take her, but for now I'm merely keeping company with the Toyama family, and there's nothing improper toward Mr. Koga in that — so he said, and Mr. Hotta had no choice but to come away.
赤シャツさんと堀田さんは、それ以来折合がわるいという評判ぞなもし」  
Ever since, they say Mr. Red Shirt and Mr. Hotta haven't been getting along, sir."

「よくいろいろな事を知ってますね。  
"You know an awful lot about all this.
どうして、そんな詳しい事が分るんですか。  
How do you come to know such detailed things?
感心しちまった」  
I'm quite impressed."

「狭いけれ何でも分りますぞなもし」  
"It's a small place, sir — everything gets known."

分り過ぎて困るくらいだ。  
It knows too much for its own good, if you ask me.
> «～過ぎる» — "too much": «過ぎる» attached to a verb stem (「分り過ぎる」) means "to do something to excess." Botchan complains the landlady's household knows too much for comfort.
この容子じゃおれの天麩羅や団子の事も知ってるかも知れない。  
At this rate the place probably knows all about my tempura and my dumplings too.
厄介な所だ。  
What a troublesome place.
しかしお蔭様でマドンナの意味もわかるし、山嵐と赤シャツの関係もわかるし大いに後学になった。  
Still, thanks to her I now understood what Madonna meant, and the whole business between Porcupine and Red Shirt, which was a great education.
ただ困るのはどっちが悪る者だか判然しない。  
The only trouble is I still can't make out plainly which of them is the villain.
おれのような単純なものには白とか黒とか片づけてもらわないと、どっちへ味方をしていいか分らない。  
For a simple soul like me, unless someone sorts it into black and white, I can't tell which side to take.

「赤シャツと山嵐たあ、どっちがいい人ですかね」  
"Between Red Shirt and Porcupine, which is the better man, would you say?"

「山嵐て何ぞなもし」  
"Whoever's this Porcupine, sir?"

「山嵐というのは堀田の事ですよ」  
"Porcupine — that's what I call Hotta."

「そりゃ強い事は堀田さんの方が強そうじゃけれど、しかし赤シャツさんは学士さんじゃけれ、働きはある方ぞな、もし。  
"Well, for sheer strength Mr. Hotta looks the stronger of the two, but Mr. Red Shirt's a university man, so he's the more capable one, sir.
それから優しい事も赤シャツさんの方が優しいが、生徒の評判は堀田さんの方がええというぞなもし」  
And for kindliness too, Mr. Red Shirt's the kinder, but among the pupils it's said Mr. Hotta has the better name, sir."

「つまりどっちがいいんですかね」  
"So which one, on the whole, is the better?"

「つまり月給の多い方が豪いのじゃろうがなもし」  
"On the whole, I'd say the one drawing the bigger salary is the greater man, sir."

これじゃ聞いたって仕方がないから、やめにした。  
There was no use asking further at this rate, so I gave it up.
それから二三日して学校から帰るとお婆さんがにこにこして、へえお待遠さま。  
Two or three days later, I came home from school to find the old woman all smiles: "Well now, you've been waiting a good while.
やっと参りました。  
It's finally arrived."
と一本の手紙を持って来てゆっくりご覧と云って出て行った。  
So saying, she brought in a single letter, told me to take my time reading it, and went out.
取り上げてみると清からの便りだ。  
I picked it up — it was word from Kiyo.
符箋が二三枚ついてるから、よく調べると、山城屋から、いか銀の方へ廻して、いか銀から、萩野へ廻って来たのである。  
There were two or three forwarding tags stuck to it, and looking closely, I saw it had gone from the Yamashiroya to the Ikagin's, and from the Ikagin's on to the Hagino house.
その上山城屋では一週間ばかり逗留している。  
On top of that, it had sat at the Yamashiroya for about a week.
宿屋だけに手紙まで泊るつもりなんだろう。  
Being an inn, I suppose even a letter meant to put up there for the night.
開いてみると、非常に長いもんだ。  
I opened it up, and it was an extraordinarily long thing.
坊っちゃんの手紙を頂いてから、すぐ返事をかこうと思ったが、あいにく風邪を引いて一週間ばかり寝ていたものだから、つい遅くなって済まない。  
It began: after receiving Botchan's letter I meant to answer right away, but unluckily I caught cold and was laid up about a week, so I'm sorry it's ended up so late.
その上今時のお嬢さんのように読み書きが達者でないものだから、こんなまずい字でも、かくのによっぽど骨が折れる。  
Besides, I'm not clever at reading and writing like the young ladies these days, so even writing out this poor hand takes me no end of trouble.
甥に代筆を頼もうと思ったが、せっかくあげるのに自分でかかなくっちゃ、坊っちゃんに済まないと思って、わざわざ下たがきを一返して、それから清書をした。  
I thought of asking my nephew to write it out for me, but since I was writing it especially for you, it seemed it wouldn't do right by Botchan unless I wrote it myself, so I made a rough draft first and then copied it out fair.
清書をするには二日で済んだが、下た書きをするには四日かかった。  
The fair copy took two days, but the rough draft took four.
読みにくいかも知れないが、これでも一生懸命にかいたのだから、どうぞしまいまで読んでくれ。  
It may be hard to read, but I wrote it with all my heart, so please read it through to the end.
という冒頭で四尺ばかり何やらかやら認めてある。  
That was how it opened, and there followed about four feet of this and that written out.
なるほど読みにくい。  
It really was hard to read, right enough.
字がまずいばかりではない、大抵平仮名だから、どこで切れて、どこで始まるのだか句読をつけるのによっぽど骨が折れる。  
It wasn't only that the writing was poor — it was mostly all in hiragana, so working out where one thing ended and the next began, and where to put the punctuation, was a great deal of trouble.
おれは焦っ勝ちな性分だから、こんな長くて、分りにくい手紙は、五円やるから読んでくれと頼まれても断わるのだが、この時ばかりは真面目になって、始から終まで読み通した。  
I'm the impatient sort by nature, and normally if someone offered me five yen to read a letter this long and confusing, I'd turn it down flat, but this once I settled myself down in earnest and read it clean through from start to finish.
読み通した事は事実だが、読む方に骨が折れて、意味がつながらないから、また頭から読み直してみた。  
I did read it through, that's a fact, but the reading was such hard going that the sense wouldn't hang together, so I went back and read it over again from the top.
部屋のなかは少し暗くなって、前の時より見にくく、なったから、とうとう椽鼻へ出て腰をかけながら鄭寧に拝見した。  
The room had grown a bit dim, harder to see by than before, so in the end I went out to the edge of the veranda, sat myself down, and read through it carefully.
すると初秋の風が芭蕉の葉を動かして、素肌に吹きつけた帰りに、読みかけた手紙を庭の方へなびかしたから、しまいぎわには四尺あまりの半切れがさらりさらりと鳴って、手を放すと、向うの生垣まで飛んで行きそうだ。  
Just then an early-autumn wind stirred the banana-plant leaves, and after brushing against my bare skin swept on to catch the letter I was in the middle of reading and send it fluttering toward the garden, so that by the end its the half-sheet, more than four feet long rustled and rattled, and if I'd let go it looked ready to fly clean over to the hedge across the way.
おれはそんな事には構っていられない。  
I couldn't be bothered with any of that.
坊っちゃんは竹を割ったような気性だが、ただ肝癪が強過ぎてそれが心配になる。  
Botchan, it went on, has a straightforward temper, like a piece of split bamboo, but his temper's altogether too quick, and that's what worries me.
――ほかの人に無暗に渾名なんか、つけるのは人に恨まれるもとになるから、やたらに使っちゃいけない、もしつけたら、清だけに手紙で知らせろ。  
— Pinning nicknames on other people without a thought only breeds grudges, so you mustn't go using them carelessly; if you do give someone one, be sure to write and tell only me.
――田舎者は人がわるいそうだから、気をつけてひどい目に遭わないようにしろ。  
— They say country folk have bad hearts, so mind you're careful not to come to any harm.
――気候だって東京より不順に極ってるから、寝冷をして風邪を引いてはいけない。  
— The climate is bound to be more unsettled than Tokyo's, so don't catch a chill in your sleep and come down with a cold.
坊っちゃんの手紙はあまり短過ぎて、容子がよくわからないから、この次にはせめてこの手紙の半分ぐらいの長さのを書いてくれ。  
Botchan's letters are always far too short, so I can't get a proper picture of how things are — next time, please write at least half as long as this letter of mine.
――宿屋へ茶代を五円やるのはいいが、あとで困りゃしないか、田舎へ行って頼りになるはお金ばかりだから、なるべく倹約して、万一の時に差支えないようにしなくっちゃいけない。  
— Giving the inn five yen for a tip was all very well, but won't it leave you short later on? Out in the country, money is the only thing you can rely on, so you must economize as much as you can, so as not to be caught short if something happens.
――お小遣がなくて困るかも知れないから、為替で十円あげる。  
— You might well be short of pocket money, so I'm sending ten yen by money order.
――先だって坊っちゃんからもらった五十円を、坊っちゃんが、東京へ帰って、うちを持つ時の足しにと思って、郵便局へ預けておいたが、この十円を引いてもまだ四十円あるから大丈夫だ。  
— As for the fifty yen you gave me before, I've kept it deposited at the post office, meaning it to go toward setting up a household when you come back to Tokyo, and even after taking out this ten yen there's still forty yen left, so there's no need to worry.
――なるほど女と云うものは細かいものだ。  
— Women, I thought, really do attend to the smallest things.

おれが椽鼻で清の手紙をひらつかせながら、考え込んでいると、しきりの襖をあけて、萩野のお婆さんが晩めしを持ってきた。  
While I sat at the edge of the veranda, letting Kiyo's letter flutter in my hand and turning it all over in my mind, the old Hagino woman slid open the partition and brought in my supper.
まだ見てお出でるのかなもし。  
"Still reading it, are you, sir?"
えっぽど長いお手紙じゃなもし、と云ったから、ええ大事な手紙だから風に吹かしては見、吹かしては見るんだと、自分でも要領を得ない返事をして膳についた。  
"That's a mighty long letter, sir," she said, and I answered, not making much sense even to myself, "Yes, it's an important letter, so I let the wind blow on it a while, then read some more, then let it blow again," and sat down to my tray.
見ると今夜も薩摩芋の煮つけだ。  
I looked, and it was stewed sweet potato again tonight.
ここのうちは、いか銀よりも鄭寧で、親切で、しかも上品だが、惜しい事に食い物がまずい。  
This house was more courteous than the Ikagin's, and kind, and refined besides, but the pity of it was the food was terrible.
昨日も芋、一昨日も芋で今夜も芋だ。  
Sweet potato yesterday, sweet potato the day before, and sweet potato again tonight.
おれは芋は大好きだと明言したには相違ないが、こう立てつづけに芋を食わされては命がつづかない。  
I had, it's true, declared outright that I loved sweet potato, but fed it day after day like this, I doubt my life will hold out.
うらなり君を笑うどころか、おれ自身が遠からぬうちに、芋のうらなり先生になっちまう。  
Far from having any right to laugh at Uranari, I'll be turning into a sweet-potato-pale Uranari myself before long.
> «うらなり» (uranari): Literally a gourd or melon that ripens late on the vine, small and pale from lack of sun — hence Uranari's nickname. Botchan's joke that he'll become "the potato Uranari" plays directly on that pale, undernourished image.
清ならこんな時に、おれの好きな鮪のさし身か、蒲鉾のつけ焼を食わせるんだが、貧乏士族のけちん坊と来ちゃ仕方がない。  
If it were Kiyo, at a time like this she'd feed me tuna sashimi or grilled fish-cake, the things I like, but there's no help for it with these stingy, impoverished samurai types.
どう考えても清といっしょでなくっちあ駄目だ。  
However I look at it, it's no good unless I'm together with Kiyo.
もしあの学校に長くでも居る模様なら、東京から召び寄せてやろう。  
If it looks like I'll be staying on long at this school, I'll send for her to come out from Tokyo.
天麩羅蕎麦を食っちゃならない、団子を食っちゃならない、それで下宿に居て芋ばかり食って黄色くなっていろなんて、教育者はつらいものだ。  
Mustn't eat tempura soba, mustn't eat dumplings, and on top of that sit in your lodgings eating nothing but sweet potato till you turn sallow — being an educator is a hard lot.
禅宗坊主だって、これよりは口に栄耀をさせているだろう。  
Even a Zen monk, I'd wager, treats his palate better than this.
――おれは一皿の芋を平げて、机の抽斗から生卵を二つ出して、茶碗の縁でたたき割って、ようやく凌いだ。  
— I finished off my plate of sweet potato, took two raw eggs out of my desk drawer, cracked them on the rim of my rice bowl, and just barely got by.
生卵ででも営養をとらなくっちあ一週二十一時間の授業が出来るものか。  
If I don't get some nourishment somehow, even from raw eggs, how am I supposed to manage twenty-one hours of teaching a week?

今日は清の手紙で湯に行く時間が遅くなった。  
Today Kiyo's letter had made me late for my bath.
しかし毎日行きつけたのを一日でも欠かすのは心持ちがわるい。  
Still, it felt wrong to skip even a single day of a habit I'd kept up every day.
汽車にでも乗って出懸けようと、例の赤手拭をぶら下げて停車場まで来ると二三分前に発車したばかりで、少々待たなければならぬ。  
Thinking I might take the train, I set off, I set off with my usual red hand-towel dangling, but when I reached the station the train had left just two or three minutes before, and I had to wait a while.
ベンチへ腰を懸けて、敷島を吹かしていると、偶然にもうらなり君がやって来た。  
I sat myself on a bench and was puffing away at a Shikishima when, by chance, Uranari came along.
おれはさっきの話を聞いてから、うらなり君がなおさら気の毒になった。  
Since hearing what I had earlier, I felt all the more sorry for Uranari.
平常から天地の間に居候をしているように、小さく構えているのがいかにも憐れに見えたが、今夜は憐れどころの騒ぎではない。  
The way he'd always carried himself so meekly, as if he were merely a lodger sponging on heaven and earth, had always struck me as pitiful enough, but tonight it went far beyond mere pity.
出来るならば月給を倍にして、遠山のお嬢さんと明日から結婚さして、一ヶ月ばかり東京へでも遊びにやってやりたい気がした矢先だから、やお湯ですか、さあ、こっちへお懸けなさいと威勢よく席を譲ると、うらなり君は恐れ入った体裁で、いえ構うておくれなさるな、と遠慮だか何だかやっぱり立ってる。  
I was just in the mood, if it were possible, to double his salary, marry him off to the young Miss Toyama starting tomorrow, and send him off to enjoy himself in Tokyo for a month, so when I called out heartily, "Off to the bath too? Come, sit here," and offered him my seat, Uranari, looking quite overcome, said "No, please don't trouble yourself," and — whether out of modesty or something else — simply went on standing.
少し待たなくっちゃ出ません、草臥れますからお懸けなさいとまた勧めてみた。  
"It'll be a bit of a wait before the next one leaves — you'll tire yourself, so do sit down," I pressed him again.
実はどうかして、そばへ懸けてもらいたかったくらいに気の毒でたまらない。  
The truth was, I felt so sorry for him that I wanted, by whatever means, to get him to sit down beside me.
それではお邪魔を致しましょうとようやくおれの云う事を聞いてくれた。  
"Well then, if you don't mind," he said at last, and finally did as I asked.
世の中には野だみたように生意気な、出ないで済む所へ必ず顔を出す奴もいる。  
There are men in this world, like Toady, so cheeky they'll always show their face where they've no need to.
山嵐のようにおれが居なくっちゃ日本が困るだろうと云うような面を肩の上へ載せてる奴もいる。  
There are others, like Porcupine, who carry a face on their shoulders as if to say Japan itself would be lost without them.
そうかと思うと、赤シャツのようにコスメチックと色男の問屋をもって自ら任じているのもある。  
And then again there's one like Red Shirt, who fancies himself a regular wholesaler of hair-cream and ladies' men.
教育が生きてフロックコートを着ればおれになるんだと云わぬばかりの狸もいる。  
There's even the Badger, who all but announces that if education itself came alive and put on a frock coat, it would turn into him.
皆々それ相応に威張ってるんだが、このうらなり先生のように在れどもなきがごとく、人質に取られた人形のように大人しくしているのは見た事がない。  
Every one of them swaggers about after his own fashion, but I'd never before seen a man as quiet and unassuming as this Uranari, present yet as good as absent, meek as a doll held hostage.
顔はふくれているが、こんな結構な男を捨てて赤シャツに靡くなんて、マドンナもよっぼど気の知れないおきゃんだ。  
His face may be puffy, but for Madonna to throw over so fine a man as this and go swooning after Red Shirt — she must be a flighty piece with precious little sense.
赤シャツが何ダース寄ったって、これほど立派な旦那様が出来るもんか。  
Gather up a dozen Red Shirts together, and could you make even one husband as fine as this?

「あなたはどっか悪いんじゃありませんか。  
"Isn't something wrong with you somewhere?
大分たいぎそうに見えますが……」  
You look rather worn out…"
「いえ、別段これという持病もないですが……」  
"No, I've no particular ailment to speak of, but…"

「そりゃ結構です。  
"Well, that's good.
からだが悪いと人間も駄目ですね」  
If your body's no good, a man's no good either."

「あなたは大分ご丈夫のようですな」  
"You look to be in pretty fine health yourself, sir."

「ええ瘠せても病気はしません。  
"Oh, thin as I am, I never get sick.
病気なんてものあ大嫌いですから」  
I can't stand the idea of being ill."

うらなり君は、おれの言葉を聞いてにやにやと笑った。  
Uranari heard what I said and grinned.

ところへ入口で若々しい女の笑声が聞えたから、何心なく振り返ってみるとえらい奴が来た。  
Just then a young woman's laugh sounded from the entrance, and when I turned round without much thought, in walked a real stunner.
色の白い、ハイカラ頭の、背の高い美人と、四十五六の奥さんとが並んで切符を売る窓の前に立っている。  
A fair-skinned beauty, tall, with her hair done up in the fashionable style, stood beside a lady of about forty-five or forty-six, both of them in front of the ticket window.
おれは美人の形容などが出来る男でないから何にも云えないが全く美人に相違ない。  
I'm not the sort of man who can describe a beauty properly, and I can't put it into words, but she was without question a beauty.
何だか水晶の珠を香水で暖ためて、掌へ握ってみたような心持ちがした。  
It gave me a feeling somehow like holding a crystal bead warmed with perfume in the palm of my hand.
年寄の方が背は低い。  
The older woman was shorter.
しかし顔はよく似ているから親子だろう。  
But their faces were so alike they must have been mother and daughter.
おれは、や、来たなと思う途端に、うらなり君の事は全然忘れて、若い女の方ばかり見ていた。  
The moment I thought, "ah, here she is," I forgot all about Uranari and did nothing but stare at the young woman.
すると、うらなり君が突然おれの隣から、立ち上がって、そろそろ女の方へ歩き出したんで、少し驚いた。  
Then Uranari suddenly got up from beside me and began walking slowly toward the women, which startled me a little.
マドンナじゃないかと思った。  
I thought — could this be Madonna?
三人は切符所の前で軽く挨拶している。  
The three of them exchanged a light greeting there before the ticket window.
遠いから何を云ってるのか分らない。  
I was too far off to make out what they were saying.

停車場の時計を見るともう五分で発車だ。  
I looked at the station clock — only five minutes left before departure.
早く汽車がくればいいがなと、話し相手が居なくなったので待ち遠しく思っていると、また一人あわてて場内へ馳け込んで来たものがある。  
I was wishing the train would hurry up and come, feeling the wait all the longer now that I had no one to talk to, when someone else came dashing flustered into the station.
見れば赤シャツだ。  
I looked — it was Red Shirt.
何だかべらべら然たる着物へ縮緬の帯をだらしなく巻き付けて、例の通り金鎖りをぶらつかしている。  
He had on some flimsy-looking kimono with a crepe sash wound sloppily round it, and as usual let that gold chain dangle.
あの金鎖りは贋物である。  
That gold chain of his is a fake.
赤シャツは誰も知るまいと思って、見せびらかしているが、おれはちゃんと知ってる。  
Red Shirt shows it off thinking no one's the wiser, but I know full well.
赤シャツは馳け込んだなり、何かきょろきょろしていたが、切符売下所の前に話している三人へ慇懃にお辞儀をして、何か二こと、三こと、云ったと思ったら、急にこっちへ向いて、例のごとく猫足にあるいて来て、や君も湯ですか、僕は乗り後れやしないかと思って心配して急いで来たら、まだ三四分ある。  
The instant he dashed in he glanced about restlessly, then made a deep, courteous bow to the three of them talking before the ticket office, and after saying what seemed like two or three words, suddenly turned this way, came padding over with that soft cat's-tread of his as always, and said, "Ah, you're off to the bath too? I hurried over worrying I might miss the train, but there's still three or four minutes."
> «猫足» ねこあし (nekoashi): "Cat's feet" — a soft, stealthy way of walking. Botchan uses it to mock Red Shirt's ingratiating, noiseless approach.
あの時計はたしかかしらんと、自分の金側を出して、二分ほどちがってると云いながら、おれの傍へ腰を卸した。  
"I wonder if that clock's accurate," he said, taking out his own gold watch, remarking that it was off by about two minutes, and sat himself down beside me.
女の方はちっとも見返らないで杖の上に顋をのせて、正面ばかり眺めている。  
The young woman didn't so much as glance our way, resting her chin on the top of her cane and gazing straight ahead.
年寄の婦人は時々赤シャツを見るが、若い方は横を向いたままである。  
The older woman looked over at Red Shirt now and then, but the young one kept her face turned aside the whole time.
いよいよマドンナに違いない。  
Now I was sure of it — she had to be Madonna.

やがて、ピューと汽笛が鳴って、車がつく。  
Presently the whistle gave a shriek, and the train pulled in.
待ち合せた連中はぞろぞろ吾れ勝に乗り込む。  
The crowd that had been waiting piled aboard in a scramble, each pushing to be first.
赤シャツはいの一号に上等へ飛び込んだ。  
Red Shirt was the very first to leap into a first-class car.
上等へ乗ったって威張れるどころではない、住田まで上等が五銭で下等が三銭だから、わずか二銭違いで上下の区別がつく。  
Riding first class is hardly anything to swagger about — first class to Sumita costs five sen and third costs three, so a mere two-sen difference is all that separates the classes.
こういうおれでさえ上等を奮発して白切符を握ってるんでもわかる。  
You can tell as much from the fact that even a fellow like me splurges on first class and holds a white ticket.
> «白切符» しろきっぷ (shirokippu): The white ticket marking first class on the Meiji-era local railway, as opposed to cheaper third class — a small marker of status Botchan needles at even while buying one himself.
もっとも田舎者はけちだから、たった二銭の出入でもすこぶる苦になると見えて、大抵は下等へ乗る。  
Mind you, country folk are stingy, and even a mere two sen seems to weigh heavily on them, so most of them ride third class.
赤シャツのあとからマドンナとマドンナのお袋が上等へはいり込んだ。  
After Red Shirt, Madonna and Madonna's mother climbed into first class as well.
うらなり君は活版で押したように下等ばかりへ乗る男だ。  
Uranari was a man who always rode third class, as if it were printed in his very nature.
先生、下等の車室の入口へ立って、何だか躊躇の体であったが、おれの顔を見るや否や思いきって、飛び込んでしまった。  
There he stood at the entrance to the third-class car looking rather hesitant, but the moment he caught sight of my face, he screwed up his courage and jumped straight in.
おれはこの時何となく気の毒でたまらなかったから、うらなり君のあとから、すぐ同じ車室へ乗り込んだ。  
At that moment I felt so unaccountably sorry for him that I climbed straight into the same car right after him.
上等の切符で下等へ乗るに不都合はなかろう。  
There's no harm, surely, in riding third class on a first-class ticket.

温泉へ着いて、三階から、浴衣のなりで湯壺へ下りてみたら、またうらなり君に逢った。  
Once at the hot springs, I came down from the third floor in my bathrobe to the bathing pool, and there I ran into Uranari again.
おれは会議や何かでいざと極まると、咽喉が塞がって饒舌れない男だが、平常は随分弁ずる方だから、いろいろ湯壺のなかでうらなり君に話しかけてみた。  
I'm the sort of man whose throat closes up and can't say a word when it comes to the crucial point, at a meeting or the like, but ordinarily I'm quite the talker, so I tried making all kinds of conversation with Uranari there in the bath.
何だか憐れぽくってたまらない。  
He struck me as so pitiable I couldn't bear it.
こんな時に一口でも先方の心を慰めてやるのは、江戸っ子の義務だと思ってる。  
At a time like this, it's an Edokko's duty to offer even one word of comfort to the man's heart, or so I believe.
ところがあいにくうらなり君の方では、うまい具合にこっちの調子に乗ってくれない。  
But unluckily, Uranari, for his part, wouldn't play along with my tune no matter how I tried.
何を云っても、えとかいえとかぎりで、しかもそのえといえが大分面倒らしいので、しまいにはとうとう切り上げて、こっちからご免蒙った。  
Whatever I said, all I got back was "yes" or "no," and even those seemed to cost him a good deal of effort, so in the end I gave it up and excused myself first.

湯の中では赤シャツに逢わなかった。  
I didn't run into Red Shirt in the bath.
もっとも風呂の数はたくさんあるのだから、同じ汽車で着いても、同じ湯壺で逢うとは極まっていない。  
Mind you, there were plenty of baths there, so even arriving on the same train hardly meant we'd end up in the same pool.
別段不思議にも思わなかった。  
I didn't think it especially odd.
風呂を出てみるといい月だ。  
Coming out of the bath, I found a fine moon out.
町内の両側に柳が植って、柳の枝が丸るい影を往来の中へ落している。  
Willows were planted on both sides of the street, and their branches cast round shadows onto the road.
少し散歩でもしよう。  
I thought I might take a little stroll.
北へ登って町のはずれへ出ると、左に大きな門があって、門の突き当りがお寺で、左右が妓楼である。  
Heading north to the edge of town, I came upon a great gate on the left, with a temple standing straight beyond it, and brothels lining either side.
山門のなかに遊廓があるなんて、前代未聞の現象だ。  
A pleasure quarter inside a temple gate — that's a thing unheard of before.
ちょっとはいってみたいが、また狸から会議の時にやられるかも知れないから、やめて素通りにした。  
I wanted to go in and have a look, but the Badger might get after me about it at some meeting again, so I gave it up and passed straight by.
門の並びに黒い暖簾をかけた、小さな格子窓の平屋はおれが団子を食って、しくじった所だ。  
The little single-story shop next to the gate, with the black curtain hung out front and the small lattice window, was the very place where I'd eaten dumplings and gotten myself into trouble.
丸提灯に汁粉、お雑煮とかいたのがぶらさがって、提灯の火が、軒端に近い一本の柳の幹を照らしている。  
A round paper lantern with "sweet bean soup, rice-cake soup" written on it hung there, its flame lighting up the trunk of a willow tree standing close by the eaves.
食いたいなと思ったが我慢して通り過ぎた。  
I thought I'd like to have some, but held myself back and walked on past.

食いたい団子の食えないのは情ない。  
Not being able to eat the dumplings I want to eat is a sorry thing.
しかし自分の許嫁が他人に心を移したのは、なお情ないだろう。  
But surely more sorry still is having your own betrothed give her heart to another man.
うらなり君の事を思うと、団子は愚か、三日ぐらい断食しても不平はこぼせない訳だ。  
Thinking of Uranari, dumplings are nothing — I ought not to complain even if I fasted three whole days.
本当に人間ほどあてにならないものはない。  
Truly, there's nothing so unreliable as a human being.
あの顔を見ると、どうしたって、そんな不人情な事をしそうには思えないんだが――うつくしい人が不人情で、冬瓜の水膨れのような古賀さんが善良な君子なのだから、油断が出来ない。  
Looking at her face, I couldn't for the life of me imagine her capable of anything so heartless — but there it is: the beautiful one turns out heartless, while Koga, puffy as a bloated winter melon, turns out the true gentleman, so you can never let your guard down.
> «冬瓜の水膨れ» とうがんのみずぶくれ (tōgan no mizubukure): "A swollen winter melon" — an unflattering simile for someone's puffy, waterlogged-looking face, aimed here at the mild-mannered Koga (Uranari).
淡泊だと思った山嵐は生徒を煽動したと云うし。  
Porcupine, whom I'd taken for a straightforward man, is said to have stirred up the students.
生徒を煽動したのかと思うと、生徒の処分を校長に逼るし。  
No sooner do I think he stirred them up than I hear he's pressing the principal to discipline them.
厭味で練りかためたような赤シャツが存外親切で、おれに余所ながら注意をしてくれるかと思うと、マドンナを胡魔化したり、胡魔化したのかと思うと、古賀の方が破談にならなければ結婚は望まないんだと云うし。  
Red Shirt, who seems kneaded through and through out of insincerity, turns out unexpectedly kind, giving me indirect warnings for my own good — and then no sooner do I think that than he's deceiving Madonna, and no sooner do I think he's deceived her than word comes that he won't press for the marriage unless Koga's engagement first breaks off.
いか銀が難癖をつけて、おれを追い出すかと思うと、すぐ野だ公が入れ替ったり――どう考えてもあてにならない。  
No sooner does the Ikagin pick some fault to drive me out than Toady moves right in after me — however I look at it, none of it can be relied on.
こんな事を清にかいてやったら定めて驚く事だろう。  
If I wrote all this to Kiyo, she'd surely be amazed.
箱根の向うだから化物が寄り合ってるんだと云うかも知れない。  
She might well say it's because this is beyond Hakone that all the monsters have gathered together here.

おれは、性来構わない性分だから、どんな事でも苦にしないで今日まで凌いで来たのだが、ここへ来てからまだ一ヶ月立つか、立たないうちに、急に世のなかを物騒に思い出した。  
By nature I'm the sort who doesn't let things trouble me, and I'd got through life so far without fretting over anything, but here it hadn't even been a full month since I came to this place before I suddenly began to feel the world had turned dangerous.
別段際だった大事件にも出逢わないのに、もう五つ六つ年を取ったような気がする。  
Nothing particularly dramatic had actually happened to me, and yet I felt as though I'd aged five or six years already.
早く切り上げて東京へ帰るのが一番よかろう。  
The best thing, surely, would be to wrap things up quickly and go back to Tokyo.
などとそれからそれへ考えて、いつか石橋を渡って野芹川の堤へ出た。  
Turning thoughts like these over one after another, I found I had crossed the stone bridge and come out onto the bank of the Noseri River before I knew it.
川と云うとえらそうだが実は一間ぐらいな、ちょろちょろした流れで、土手に沿うて十二丁ほど下ると相生村へ出る。  
Calling it a river makes it sound grander than it is — really it's just a trickle about six feet across — and following the bank down for some twelve chō brings you out at Aioi village.
村には観音様がある。  
The village has a statue of Kannon.

温泉の町を振り返ると、赤い灯が、月の光の中にかがやいている。  
Looking back at the hot-springs town, red lights glimmered in the light of the moon.
太鼓が鳴るのは遊廓に相違ない。  
The drums sounding must be from the pleasure quarter.
川の流れは浅いけれども早いから、神経質の水のようにやたらに光る。  
The river ran shallow but swift, and glittered restlessly, like water with nerves of its own.
ぶらぶら土手の上をあるきながら、約三丁も来たと思ったら、向うに人影が見え出した。  
Ambling along the top of the bank, I'd gone about three chō, I reckoned, when a human figure came into view up ahead.
月に透かしてみると影は二つある。  
Peering through the moonlight, I made out that there were two shadows.
温泉へ来て村へ帰る若い衆かも知れない。  
They might be young fellows coming back from the hot springs to the village.
それにしては唄もうたわない。  
And yet, if that were so, they weren't singing any songs.
存外静かだ。  
They were surprisingly quiet.

だんだん歩いて行くと、おれの方が早足だと見えて、二つの影法師が、次第に大きくなる。  
As I walked on, my pace seemed the quicker, for the two shadow-figures kept growing steadily larger.
一人は女らしい。  
One of them looked to be a woman.
おれの足音を聞きつけて、十間ぐらいの距離に逼った時、男がたちまち振り向いた。  
Catching the sound of my footsteps, when I'd closed to about ten ken, the man suddenly turned around.
月は後からさしている。  
The moon was shining from behind me.
その時おれは男の様子を見て、はてなと思った。  
At that moment, seeing the look of the man, I thought — now, what's this?
男と女はまた元の通りにあるき出した。  
The man and woman set off walking again just as before.
おれは考えがあるから、急に全速力で追っ懸けた。  
I had a notion of my own, so I suddenly gave chase at full speed.
先方は何の気もつかずに最初の通り、ゆるゆる歩を移している。  
They, sensing nothing, kept moving along leisurely just as they had at first.
今は話し声も手に取るように聞える。  
By now I could even make out their voices as plainly as if I held them in my hand.
土手の幅は六尺ぐらいだから、並んで行けば三人がようやくだ。  
The bank was about six feet wide, so three people walking abreast was as much as it could hold.
おれは苦もなく後ろから追い付いて、男の袖を擦り抜けざま、二足前へ出した踵をぐるりと返して男の顔を覗き込んだ。  
I caught up from behind without any trouble, and brushing past the man's sleeve, took two steps on ahead, spun round on my heel, and peered straight into the man's face.
> «～ざま» — "just as/in the act of": «～ざま» attached to a verb stem marks an action happening at the very moment of another movement — here, "brushing past just as he stepped by," a compact, literary way to stage the confrontation on the riverbank.
月は正面からおれの五分刈の頭から顋の辺りまで、会釈もなく照す。  
The moon shone full in my face from the front, lighting up everything from my close-cropped head down to my chin without any ceremony.
男はあっと小声に云ったが、急に横を向いて、もう帰ろうと女を促がすが早いか、温泉の町の方へ引き返した。  
The man gave a small startled cry, but turned his face quickly aside, and no sooner had he urged the woman, "let's be getting back now," than he turned and hurried back toward the hot-springs town.

赤シャツは図太くて胡魔化すつもりか、気が弱くて名乗り損なったのかしら。  
Was Red Shirt too brazen and meaning to bluff it out, or too faint-hearted to give his name — I couldn't tell which.
ところが狭くて困ってるのは、おればかりではなかった。  
But it turned out I wasn't the only one troubled by how small this place was.
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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.