# Botchan, Chapter 8

坊っちゃん · Natsume Sōseki · Botchan

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch08. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch08.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/botchan/<line id>.m4a.


赤シャツに勧められて釣に行った帰りから、山嵐を疑ぐり出した。  
Ever since I came back from that fishing trip Red Shirt talked me into, I'd started to suspect Porcupine.
無い事を種に下宿を出ろと云われた時は、いよいよ不埒な奴だと思った。  
When I was told to clear out of my lodgings over some invented pretext, I thought he really was a low blackguard.
> Passive «れる/られる»: «云われた» is the passive past of «云う» ('to say'): «言う→言われる→言われた». It puts Botchan on the receiving end of the accusation — 'was told', not 'said' — the classic shape of the passive when someone is affected by another's action.
ところが会議の席では案に相違して滔々と生徒厳罰論を述べたから、おや変だなと首を捩った。  
But then, at the faculty meeting, against all my expectations, he'd argued on and on for strict punishment of the students, and I cocked my head, thinking, huh, that's odd.
萩野の婆さんから、山嵐が、うらなり君のために赤シャツと談判をしたと聞いた時は、それは感心だと手を拍った。  
When I heard from old Hagino that Porcupine had gone and had it out with Red Shirt on Uranari's behalf, I clapped my hands and thought, now that's admirable of him.
この様子ではわる者は山嵐じゃあるまい、赤シャツの方が曲ってるんで、好加減な邪推を実しやかに、しかも遠廻しに、おれの頭の中へ浸み込ましたのではあるまいかと迷ってる矢先へ、野芹川の土手で、マドンナを連れて散歩なんかしている姿を見たから、それ以来赤シャツは曲者だと極めてしまった。  
Just when I was starting to wonder — the way it looked, the bad one couldn't be Porcupine, it must be Red Shirt who was crooked, maybe planting some baseless suspicion in my head, making it sound plausible and doing it by roundabout means — right at that point I saw him strolling along the bank of the Nozeri River with Madonna, and from then on I was sure Red Shirt was a shady character.
曲者だか何だかよくは分らないが、ともかくも善い男じゃない。  
Whether he was a shady character or not I couldn't quite say, but in any case he was no good man.
表と裏とは違った男だ。  
He was one man on the outside and another underneath.
> «表と裏» — front and back: «表» (surface, front) and «裏» (reverse, back) form a set idiom for a person's public face versus private truth — 'two-faced'. It is the chapter's verdict on Red Shirt in four characters.
人間は竹のように真直でなくっちゃ頼もしくない。  
A man ought to be straight as bamboo, or he isn't worth trusting.
真直なものは喧嘩をしても心持ちがいい。  
Even when you quarrel with a straightforward man, it leaves a good feeling.
赤シャツのようなやさしいのと、親切なのと、高尚なのと、琥珀のパイプとを自慢そうに見せびらかすのは油断が出来ない、めったに喧嘩も出来ないと思った。  
Someone like Red Shirt, showing off his gentleness and kindness and refinement and his amber pipe — you couldn't let your guard down around a man like that, and you could hardly ever quarrel with him properly, I thought.
喧嘩をしても、回向院の相撲のような心持ちのいい喧嘩は出来ないと思った。  
Even if you did quarrel with him, it wouldn't be the satisfying kind of quarrel you get at the Ekōin sumo ring, I thought.
そうなると一銭五厘の出入で控所全体を驚ろかした議論の相手の山嵐の方がはるかに人間らしい。  
That being so, Porcupine — my sparring partner in that one-sen-five-rin argument that had startled the whole staff room — was by far the more human of the two.
> «一銭五厘» いっせんごりん (issen gorin): One sen five rin — a coin fraction worth almost nothing, the price of a bowl of shaved ice from an earlier chapter's quarrel. Botchan and Porcupine are still not speaking over it; the sum is trivial, the pride is not.
会議の時に金壺眼をぐりつかせて、おれを睨めた時は憎い奴だと思ったが、あとで考えると、それも赤シャツのねちねちした猫撫声よりはましだ。  
When he glared at me at the meeting, rolling his deep-set eyes as he glared at me, I thought he was a hateful fellow; but afterward even that seemed better than Red Shirt’s cloying, coaxing voice.
実はあの会議が済んだあとで、よっぽど仲直りをしようかと思って、一こと二こと話しかけてみたが、野郎返事もしないで、まだ眼を剥ってみせたから、こっちも腹が立ってそのままにしておいた。  
The truth is, after that meeting was over, I'd thought of making up with him and tried a word or two, but the fellow wouldn't even answer, just glared at me again, so I got angry too and left it at that.

それ以来山嵐はおれと口を利かない。  
Since then Porcupine hasn't spoken a word to me.
机の上へ返した一銭五厘はいまだに机の上に乗っている。  
The one sen five rin I put back on his desk is still sitting there on the desk.
ほこりだらけになって乗っている。  
It's sitting there covered in dust.
おれは無論手が出せない、山嵐は決して持って帰らない。  
I certainly can't touch it, and Porcupine absolutely won't take it back.
この一銭五厘が二人の間の墻壁になって、おれは話そうと思っても話せない、山嵐は頑として黙ってる。  
That one sen five rin has become a wall between the two of us — I want to talk but can't bring myself to, and Porcupine just stubbornly keeps quiet.
おれと山嵐には一銭五厘が祟った。  
That one sen five rin has cursed the both of us.
しまいには学校へ出て一銭五厘を見るのが苦になった。  
In the end, going to school and seeing that coin became a torment.

山嵐とおれが絶交の姿となったに引き易えて、赤シャツとおれは依然として在来の関係を保って、交際をつづけている。  
In contrast to how Porcupine and I had broken off relations — Red Shirt and I have gone right on as before, keeping up our acquaintance.
野芹川で逢った翌日などは、学校へ出ると第一番におれの傍へ来て、君今度の下宿はいいですかのまたいっしょに露西亜文学を釣りに行こうじゃないかのといろいろな事を話しかけた。  
The day after we met at the Nozeri River, for instance, he came straight up to me the moment I got to school and started chattering about all sorts of things — was my new lodging any good, and shouldn't we go fishing for Russian literature together again sometime.
おれは少々憎らしかったから、昨夜は二返逢いましたねと云ったら、ええ停車場で――君はいつでもあの時分出掛けるのですか、遅いじゃないかと云う。  
I found it a little irritating, so I said we'd already met twice last night, and he said, oh yes, at the station — do you always go out that late, isn't that rather late?
野芹川の土手でもお目に懸りましたねと喰らわしてやったら、いいえ僕はあっちへは行かない、湯にはいって、すぐ帰ったと答えた。  
When I threw in that we also met on the bank of the Nozeri River, he answered, no, I never go that way, I just went to the bath and came straight home.
何もそんなに隠さないでもよかろう、現に逢ってるんだ。  
There was no need to hide it like that; I'd plainly seen him.
よく嘘をつく男だ。  
The man's a real liar.
これで中学の教頭が勤まるなら、おれなんか大学総長がつとまる。  
If a fellow like that can hold down the post of vice principal at a middle school, then I could be chancellor of a university.
> «つとまる» (勤まる) — a capability verb, not the potential: «勤まる» is a separate intransitive verb related to «勤める» ('to hold/serve in a post'), carrying an inherent capability nuance ('to be up to the job') — distinct from the regular potential «勤められる». Botchan's boast uses it sarcastically to say the bar for the post must be very low.
おれはこの時からいよいよ赤シャツを信用しなくなった。  
From that moment on I stopped trusting Red Shirt altogether.
信用しない赤シャツとは口をきいて、感心している山嵐とは話をしない。  
I go on talking with the Red Shirt I don't trust, and don't talk at all with the Porcupine I admire.
世の中は随分妙なものだ。  
The world's a strange enough place.

ある日の事赤シャツがちょっと君に話があるから、僕のうちまで来てくれと云うから、惜しいと思ったが温泉行きを欠勤して四時頃出掛けて行った。  
One day Red Shirt said he had a little something to discuss and asked me to come round to his house, so — much as I hated to give it up — I skipped my trip to the hot spring and set off around four o'clock.
赤シャツは一人ものだが、教頭だけに下宿はとくの昔に引き払って立派な玄関を構えている。  
Red Shirt is a bachelor, but being vice principal he'd long since given up lodgings and set himself up with a fine front entrance.
家賃は九円五拾銭だそうだ。  
The rent, they say, is nine yen fifty sen.
田舎へ来て九円五拾銭払えばこんな家へはいれるなら、おれも一つ奮発して、東京から清を呼び寄せて喜ばしてやろうと思ったくらいな玄関だ。  
It was the kind of entryway that made me think — if nine yen fifty sen buys a house like this out here in the country, maybe I ought to splurge myself and send for Kiyo from Tokyo, just to make her happy.
頼むと云ったら、赤シャツの弟が取次に出て来た。  
When I called out that I'd come, Red Shirt's younger brother came out to receive me.
この弟は学校で、おれに代数と算術を教わる至って出来のわるい子だ。  
This brother is a thoroughly poor student of mine at school, in algebra and arithmetic.
その癖渡りものだから、生れ付いての田舎者よりも人が悪るい。  
And being an outsider besides, he's got a nastier streak than any born-and-bred country boy.

赤シャツに逢って用事を聞いてみると、大将例の琥珀のパイプで、きな臭い烟草をふかしながら、こんな事を云った。  
When I met Red Shirt and asked what he wanted, the great man, puffing away at his usual amber pipe on some rank-smelling tobacco, said something like this.
「君が来てくれてから、前任者の時代よりも成績がよくあがって、校長も大いにいい人を得たと喜んでいるので――どうか学校でも信頼しているのだから、そのつもりで勉強していただきたい」  
"Ever since you came, the results have been a good deal better than under your predecessor, and the principal's delighted to have got such a good man — so, since the school is placing its trust in you, I do hope you'll keep at it with that in mind."

「へえ、そうですか、勉強って今より勉強は出来ませんが――」  
"Well, is that so. As for keeping at it, I'm not sure I can work any harder than I already am—"

「今のくらいで充分です。  
"What you're doing now is plenty.
ただ先だってお話しした事ですね、あれを忘れずにいて下さればいいのです」  
It's only that matter we talked about the other day — I'd just like you to keep that in mind, that's all."

「下宿の世話なんかするものあ剣呑だという事ですか」  
"You mean what you said about it being risky to trust a man who finds me lodgings?"

「そう露骨に云うと、意味もない事になるが――まあ善いさ――精神は君にもよく通じている事と思うから。  
"Put so bluntly it loses all its meaning — well, never mind — I think the spirit of it has already gotten through to you well enough.
そこで君が今のように出精して下されば、学校の方でも、ちゃんと見ているんだから、もう少しして都合さえつけば、待遇の事も多少はどうにかなるだろうと思うんですがね」  
So, if you go on applying yourself as you have been, the school is keeping a proper eye on things, and before too long, once things can be arranged, I imagine your treatment here could improve somewhat."

「へえ、俸給ですか。  
"Oh, you mean my pay.
俸給なんかどうでもいいんですが、上がれば上がった方がいいですね」  
I don't much care one way or the other about my pay, though of course going up is better than going down."

「それで幸い今度転任者が一人出来るから――もっとも校長に相談してみないと無論受け合えない事だが――その俸給から少しは融通が出来るかも知れないから、それで都合をつけるように校長に話してみようと思うんですがね」  
"As it happens, there's going to be a transfer of one man before long — though of course I can't promise anything until I've spoken with the principal — and out of that man's salary there might be some room to make an adjustment, so I thought I'd see about arranging things with the principal."

「どうも難有う。  
"Much obliged.
だれが転任するんですか」  
Who's being transferred?"

「もう発表になるから話しても差し支えないでしょう。  
"It'll be announced soon enough, so I don't suppose there's any harm in telling you now.
実は古賀君です」  
As a matter of fact, it's Koga."

「古賀さんは、だってここの人じゃありませんか」  
"Koga? But isn't he from around here?"

「ここの地の人ですが、少し都合があって――半分は当人の希望です」  
"He is a local man, but there are some circumstances — half of it's at his own wish."

「どこへ行くんです」  
"Where's he going?"

「日向の延岡で――土地が土地だから一級俸上って行く事になりました」  
"To Nobeoka, in Hyūga — since it's that kind of place, he'll go up a grade in pay."

「誰か代りが来るんですか」  
"Is someone coming to replace him?"

「代りも大抵極まってるんです。  
"The replacement is more or less settled already.
その代りの具合で君の待遇上の都合もつくんです」  
And it's on account of that replacement's arrangement that your own treatment can be worked out."

「はあ、結構です。  
"Well, that's fine.
しかし無理に上がらないでも構いません」  
But there is no need to force the raise through."

「とも角も僕は校長に話すつもりです。  
"In any case, I mean to speak to the principal about it.
それで校長も同意見らしいが、追っては君にもっと働いて頂だかなくってはならんようになるかも知れないから、どうか今からそのつもりで覚悟をしてやってもらいたいですね」  
And since the principal seems to be of the same mind, before long it may come to where we need you to work rather harder than you have, so I'd like you to be prepared for that, starting now."

「今より時間でも増すんですか」  
"Are my hours going to increase, then?"

「いいえ、時間は今より減るかも知れませんが――」  
"No, if anything your hours may go down—"

「時間が減って、もっと働くんですか、妙だな」  
"My hours go down, and I work harder? That's strange."

「ちょっと聞くと妙だが、――判然とは今言いにくいが――まあつまり、君にもっと重大な責任を持ってもらうかも知れないという意味なんです」  
"It does sound strange put that way — I can't say anything definite just yet — but, well, in short, it means you might be given rather more serious responsibility."

おれには一向分らない。  
None of this made the least sense to me.
今より重大な責任と云えば、数学の主任だろうが、主任は山嵐だから、やっこさんなかなか辞職する気遣いはない。  
If it means more serious responsibility than I have now, that would be head of the mathematics department, but Porcupine holds that post, and he's not the sort of man to go resigning it.
それに、生徒の人望があるから転任や免職は学校の得策であるまい。  
Besides, given how popular he is with the students, a transfer or a dismissal would hardly be to the school's advantage.
赤シャツの談話はいつでも要領を得ない。  
Red Shirt's talk never does come to the point.
要領を得なくっても用事はこれで済んだ。  
Whether it came to the point or not, that settled the business for the day.
それから少し雑談をしているうちに、うらなり君の送別会をやる事や、ついてはおれが酒を飲むかと云う問や、うらなり先生は君子で愛すべき人だと云う事や――赤シャツはいろいろ弁じた。  
After that we chatted a bit about other things — about holding a farewell party for Uranari, and whether I drank, and about what a gentleman Uranari was and how likable — Red Shirt went on about any number of things.
しまいに話をかえて君俳句をやりますかと来たから、こいつは大変だと思って、俳句はやりません、さようならと、そこそこに帰って来た。  
Finally he changed the subject and asked whether I composed haiku, and I thought, here we go — said I didn't do haiku, said goodbye, and made my escape.
発句は芭蕉か髪結床の親方のやるもんだ。  
Haiku is a business for the likes of Bashō or the master at the barbershop.
数学の先生が朝顔やに釣瓶をとられてたまるものか。  
A mathematics teacher can't very well have his well bucket snagged by morning glories.

帰ってうんと考え込んだ。  
I went home and turned it all over in my mind, hard.
世間には随分気の知れない男が居る。  
There really are some incomprehensible men in this world.
家屋敷はもちろん、勤める学校に不足のない故郷がいやになったからと云って、知らぬ他国へ苦労を求めに出る。  
To grow sick of one's hometown, where there's a house and land and a perfectly good school to work at, and go off looking for hardship in some strange province he's never even seen.
それも花の都の電車が通ってる所なら、まだしもだが、日向の延岡とは何の事だ。  
If it were at least somewhere with streetcars running through the flowering capital, that would be one thing, but what on earth was Nobeoka in Hyūga.
おれは船つきのいいここへ来てさえ、一ヶ月立たないうちにもう帰りたくなった。  
Even I, coming to a place as convenient as this with a good harbor, had already wanted to go home before a month was out.
延岡と云えば山の中も山の中も大変な山の中だ。  
Nobeoka, they say, is mountains upon mountains upon mountains, way out in the sticks.
赤シャツの云うところによると船から上がって、一日馬車へ乗って、宮崎へ行って、宮崎からまた一日車へ乗らなくっては着けないそうだ。  
According to what Red Shirt said, you land from the boat, ride a carriage for a whole day to Miyazaki, and from Miyazaki have to ride another whole day in a cart before you even arrive.
名前を聞いてさえ、開けた所とは思えない。  
Just hearing the name, you'd never take it for a civilized place.
猿と人とが半々に住んでるような気がする。  
It sounds to me like a place where monkeys and men live about half and half.
いかに聖人のうらなり君だって、好んで猿の相手になりたくもないだろうに、何という物数奇だ。  
Even a saint like Uranari surely wouldn't care to keep company with monkeys by choice — what a peculiar taste for hardship that would be.

ところへあいかわらず婆さんが夕食を運んで出る。  
Just then, as always, the old woman came in bringing dinner.
今日もまた芋ですかいと聞いてみたら、いえ今日はお豆腐ぞなもしと云った。  
I asked, is it potatoes again today, and she said, no, today it's tofu, zo na moshi.
> «ぞなもし» — Iyo dialect: A sentence-final flourish from the Iyo (Matsuyama-area) dialect Sōseki heard while teaching in Shikoku, roughly equivalent to «ですよ»/«だよ». The landlady uses it throughout the chapter, marking her as a local against Botchan's clipped Tokyo speech.
どっちにしたって似たものだ。  
Either way, it comes to about the same thing.

「お婆さん古賀さんは日向へ行くそうですね」  
"Ma'am, I hear Mr. Koga's going off to Hyūga."

「ほん当にお気の毒じゃな、もし」  
"Ah, truly, the poor man, mo shi."

「お気の毒だって、好んで行くんなら仕方がないですね」  
"Poor man, well, if he's going by his own wish, there's nothing to be done about it."

「好んで行くて、誰がぞなもし」  
"Going of his own free will? Who is?"

「誰がぞなもしって、当人がさ。  
"Who says so — why, the man himself.
古賀先生が物数奇に行くんじゃありませんか」  
Isn't Mr. Koga going off out of some peculiar taste for hardship?"

「そりゃあなた、大違いの勘五郎ぞなもし」  
"Why, you’re completely off the mark, you are."
> «大違いの勘五郎» — a punning idiom: «大違いの勘五郎» means 'way off the mark' — a set comic phrase that borrows a common Edo-period given name, Kangorō, «大違いの勘五郎» is a stock comic phrase meaning “way off the mark.” Kangorō is a mock personal name in the wordplay, not a real person here.. It has nothing to do with any real Kangorō.

「勘五郎かね。  
"Kangorō, is it.
だって今赤シャツがそう云いましたぜ。  
But Red Shirt just told me so himself, just now.
それが勘五郎なら赤シャツは嘘つきの法螺右衛門だ」  
If that's Kangorō, then Red Shirt's a liar and a regular Lord Windbag."
> «法螺右衛門» ほらえもん (Hora-emon): A mocking made-up name: «法螺» (hora, a conch shell, hence 'tall tale/lie') plus «‑右衛門» (‑emon), a common Edo-period male name suffix. Together it reads like 'Mr. Windbag' or 'Baron von Bluster'.

「教頭さんが、そうお云いるのはもっともじゃが、古賀さんのお往きともないのももっともぞなもし」  
"What the vice principal says is reasonable enough, but it is just as reasonable that Mr. Koga does not want to go., zo na moshi."

「そんなら両方もっともなんですね。  
"So they're both true, are they.
お婆さんは公平でいい。  
You're a fair-minded one, ma'am.
一体どういう訳なんですい」  
Just what is the reason for all this, then?"

「今朝古賀のお母さんが見えて、だんだん訳をお話したがなもし」  
"This morning Koga's mother came by and told me the whole story, ga na moshi."

「どんな訳をお話したんです」  
"What sort of story did she tell?"

「あそこもお父さんがお亡くなりてから、あたし達が思うほど暮し向が豊かになうてお困りじゃけれ、お母さんが校長さんにお頼みて、もう四年も勤めているものじゃけれ、どうぞ毎月頂くものを、今少しふやしておくれんかてて、あなた」  
"Ever since his father passed away over there, things haven't been half so well off as we'd have thought, and they've been in trouble, so his mother went and asked the principal — since he's already served four years — whether he mightn't raise a little what he gets paid each month, that sort of thing, you understand."
> «けれ» — Iyo dialect for «から»: The landlady's «‑けれ» is Iyo-dialect for standard «‑から» (because), stringing her long, run-on account together — distinct from the full «‑けれども» (although) she also uses elsewhere in the same speech.

「なるほど」  
"I see."

「校長さんが、ようまあ考えてみとこうとお云いたげな。  
"The principal is supposed to have said, well, let me think it over.
> «たげな» — dialect hearsay ending: «‑たげな» reports what someone else is said to have done, much like standard «‑たそうだ» (I hear that...). The landlady uses it throughout her retelling of the principal's words, since she wasn't there herself.
それでお母さんも安心して、今に増給のご沙汰があろぞ、今月か来月かと首を長くして待っておいでたところへ、校長さんがちょっと来てくれと古賀さんにお云いるけれ、行ってみると、気の毒だが学校は金が足りんけれ、月給を上げる訳にゆかん。  
So his mother felt easy about it, thinking, any day now word of the raise will come, waiting with her neck stretched out wondering if it'd be this month or next — and then the principal called Koga in for a moment, and when he went, the principal said, I'm sorry, but the school hasn't the money, so I can't raise your pay.
しかし延岡になら空いた口があって、そっちなら毎月五円余分にとれるから、お望み通りでよかろうと思うて、その手続きにしたから行くがええと云われたげな。――」  
But there happens to be an opening at Nobeoka, and there you could take in five yen extra every month, so I've gone ahead and arranged it that way, thinking that would suit what you wanted — go on and take it, he's supposed to have said. ——"

「じゃ相談じゃない、命令じゃありませんか」  
"Then it isn't a discussion at all, it's an order, isn't it?"

「さよよ。  
"Just so.
古賀さんはよそへ行って月給が増すより、元のままでもええから、ここに居りたい。  
Mr. Koga said he'd rather stay here on his old pay than go off somewhere else for more.
屋敷もあるし、母もあるからとお頼みたけれども、もうそう極めたあとで、古賀さんの代りは出来ているけれ仕方がないと校長がお云いたげな」  
He's got a house here, and his mother besides, he pleaded — but by then it had already been decided that way, and Koga's replacement was already arranged, so there was nothing for it, the principal is supposed to have said."

「へん人を馬鹿にしてら、面白くもない。  
"Well, that's making a fool of the man, it's no laughing matter.
じゃ古賀さんは行く気はないんですね。  
So Mr. Koga has no wish to go at all?
どうれで変だと思った。  
No wonder it struck me as odd.
五円ぐらい上がったって、あんな山の中へ猿のお相手をしに行く唐変木はまずないからね」  
There can hardly be a fool anywhere who'd go off to some mountain den like that to keep monkeys company, just for an extra five yen or so."

「唐変木て、先生なんぞなもし」  
"A fool — meaning the teacher himself, zo na moshi?"
> «唐変木» とうへんぼく (tōhenboku): A colorful Edo-period insult for a blockhead or numbskull — literally something like 'Chinese oddball wood'. Botchan flings it at the imaginary fool who'd choose Nobeoka's mountains over his old life.

「何でもいいでさあ、――全く赤シャツの作略だね。  
"Never mind who — the whole thing is Red Shirt's scheme, plain and simple.
よくない仕打だ。  
It's a rotten piece of business.
まるで欺撃ですね。  
It's practically a sneak attack.
それでおれの月給を上げるなんて、不都合な事があるものか。  
And then to have the nerve to raise my pay on top of it — how outrageous can a thing get?
上げてやるったって、誰が上がってやるものか」  
Raise it, he says — who's going to let himself be raised, I ask you?"

「先生は月給がお上りるのかなもし」  
"Is the teacher's pay going to be raised, then, na moshi?"

「上げてやるって云うから、断わろうと思うんです」  
"He said he'd raise it, so I mean to refuse it."

「何で、お断わりるのぞなもし」  
"Why ever would you refuse it, zo na moshi?"

「何でもお断わりだ。  
"Never mind why, I'm refusing it, that's all.
お婆さん、あの赤シャツは馬鹿ですぜ。  
Ma'am, that Red Shirt is a fool, I tell you.
卑怯でさあ」  
A coward, too."

「卑怯でもあんた、月給を上げておくれたら、大人しく頂いておく方が得ぞなもし。  
"Coward or not, sir, if they offer to raise your pay, the wise thing is to take it quietly and be glad of it, zo na moshi.
若いうちはよく腹の立つものじゃが、年をとってから考えると、も少しの我慢じゃあったのに惜しい事をした。  
When you're young you're quick to lose your temper over things, but when you get older and look back, you'll wish you'd shown a little more patience and regret it.
腹立てたためにこないな損をしたと悔むのが当り前じゃけれ、お婆の言う事をきいて、赤シャツさんが月給をあげてやろとお言いたら、難有うと受けておおきなさいや」  
It's only natural to regret losing out on account of a fit of temper, so listen to an old woman — if Mr. Red Shirt says he'll raise your pay, you take it with a nice much obliged, now."

「年寄の癖に余計な世話を焼かなくってもいい。  
"An old woman needn't go troubling herself over other people's business.
おれの月給は上がろうと下がろうとおれの月給だ」  
My pay is my own affair, whether it goes up or down."
> Volitional «‑ろう» + «と» for 'whether... or...': Pairing the volitional form of a verb with «と» ('上がろうと…下がろうと…') gives a concessive 'whether it goes up or down' — a compact way to wave off both possibilities at once.

婆さんはだまって引き込んだ。  
The old woman fell silent and withdrew.
爺さんは呑気な声を出して謡をうたってる。  
The old man was singing utai in his carefree voice.
謡というものは読んでわかる所を、やにむずかしい節をつけて、わざと分らなくする術だろう。  
Utai, I suppose, is the art of taking something that would be perfectly clear if you just read it, setting it to some needlessly difficult tune, and making it deliberately incomprehensible.
> «謡» うたい (utai): Utai is the chanted vocal recitation that accompanies Noh drama, traditionally practiced as a genteel hobby by older men. Botchan's landlord singing it every night, off-key and unasked, marks him as a relic of an older generation Botchan has no patience for.
あんな者を毎晩飽きずに唸る爺さんの気が知れない。  
I can't understand the old man's mind, droning away at that sort of thing every single night without ever tiring of it.
おれは謡どころの騒ぎじゃない。  
I was in no state to bother with utai.
月給を上げてやろうと云うから、別段欲しくもなかったが、入らない金を余しておくのももったいないと思って、よろしいと承知したのだが、転任したくないものを無理に転任させてその男の月給の上前を跳ねるなんて不人情な事が出来るものか。  
When he said he'd raise my pay, I didn't especially want it, but it seemed a waste to leave money lying around that I had no use for, so I'd said fine, I agreed — but now, forcing a transfer on a man who doesn't want to be transferred and skimming the difference off his salary to give it to me — how could such a heartless thing be done?
> «上前を跳ねる» うわまえをはねる — idiom: Literally 'to skim the top layer', this idiom means to dishonestly take a cut of money that passes through your hands — exactly what Botchan accuses Red Shirt of doing with Koga's forfeited raise.
当人がもとの通りでいいと云うのに延岡下りまで落ちさせるとは一体どう云う了見だろう。  
What on earth was the reasoning, making a man drop all the way down to Nobeoka when he himself said the old arrangement suited him fine?
太宰権帥でさえ博多近辺で落ちついたものだ。  
Even Dazai no Gon no Sochi settled down somewhere around Hakata.
河合又五郎だって相良でとまってるじゃないか。  
Even Kawai Matagorō stopped at Sagara, didn't he.
とにかく赤シャツの所へ行って断わって来なくっちあ気が済まない。  
In any case, I couldn't rest easy until I'd gone to Red Shirt's and refused it to his face.

小倉の袴をつけてまた出掛けた。  
I put on my Kokura hakama and set out again.
大きな玄関へ突っ立って頼むと云うと、また例の弟が取次に出て来た。  
I stood myself in that great entryway and called out that I'd come, and again the same younger brother came out to receive me.
おれの顔を見てまた来たかという眼付をした。  
He gave me a look that said, oh, back again, are you.
用があれば二度だって三度だって来る。  
If I've business, I'll come twice, three times over, if I have to.
よる夜なかだって叩き起さないとは限らない。  
I might even come knocking in the dead of night for all he knows.
教頭の所へご機嫌伺いにくるようなおれと見損ってるか。  
Does he take me for someone who comes calling on the vice principal just to pay his respects?
これでも月給が入らないから返しに来んだ。  
I've come this time precisely because I don't want the pay.
すると弟が今来客中だと云うから、玄関でいいからちょっとお目にかかりたいと云ったら奥へ引き込んだ。  
The brother said someone was visiting just now, so I said the entryway would do fine, I only wanted a word, and he withdrew to the back.
足元を見ると、畳付きの薄っぺらな、のめりの駒下駄がある。  
Looking down, I saw a thin pair of forward-tilting clogs with tatami-covered soles.
> «駒下駄» こまげた (koma-geta): A style of low wooden clog cut from a single block; the «のめり» (forward-tilting) variety here, thin and worn at a rakish slant, was associated with dandies and stage performers — Botchan's first clue about who is visiting inside.
奥でもう万歳ですよと云う声が聞える。  
From inside I heard a voice say, “That's it, then, banzai!”
お客とは野だだなと気がついた。  
I realized then that the visitor must be Toady.
野だでなくては、あんな黄色い声を出して、こんな芸人じみた下駄を穿くものはない。  
No one but Toady would speak in that shrill voice or wear such theatrical clogs.

しばらくすると、赤シャツがランプを持って玄関まで出て来て、まあ上がりたまえ、外の人じゃない吉川君だ、と云うから、いえここでたくさんです。  
After a while Red Shirt came out to the entryway carrying a lamp and said, come now, do step in, it's no stranger, it's only Yoshikawa — but I said, no, here will do quite well.
ちょっと話せばいいんです、と云って、赤シャツの顔を見ると金時のようだ。  
I said a word would be enough, and looking at Red Shirt's face, I saw it was flushed red as a Kintoki doll.
> «金時» きんとき (Kintoki): Sakata no Kintoki, the adult name of the folk hero Kintarō, is traditionally pictured with a bright red face. 'Red as Kintoki' is a stock comparison for a face flushed from drink or emotion — here, Red Shirt after sake with Noda.
野だ公と一杯飲んでると見える。  
It looked as if he had been drinking with Toady.

「さっき僕の月給を上げてやるというお話でしたが、少し考えが変ったから断わりに来たんです」  
"You said earlier you'd raise my pay, but I've had a change of mind, and I've come to refuse it."

赤シャツはランプを前へ出して、奥の方からおれの顔を眺めたが、とっさの場合返事をしかねて茫然としている。  
Red Shirt held the lamp out before him and peered at my face from farther inside, too taken aback for the moment to answer, and just stood there dazed.
増給を断わる奴が世の中にたった一人飛び出して来たのを不審に思ったのか、断わるにしても、今帰ったばかりで、すぐ出直してこなくってもよさそうなものだと、呆れ返ったのか、または双方合併したのか、妙な口をして突っ立ったままである。  
Whether it was because he found it odd that in all the world just one man had turned up to refuse a raise, or because he was appalled that, whatever the refusal, I'd only just left and had no business coming straight back to say so — or maybe both together — he stood there rooted to the spot with a strange look on his face.

「あの時承知したのは、古賀君が自分の希望で転任するという話でしたからで……」  
"When I agreed to it before, it was because I understood Koga was transferring by his own wish, and so..."

「古賀君は全く自分の希望で半ば転任するんです」  
"Koga really is transferring partly of his own wish."

「そうじゃないんです、ここに居たいんです。  
"That's not it at all — he wants to stay here.
元の月給でもいいから、郷里に居たいのです」  
Even on his old pay, he wants to stay in his own hometown."

「君は古賀君から、そう聞いたのですか」  
"Did you hear that from Koga himself?"

「そりゃ当人から、聞いたんじゃありません」  
"No, I didn't hear it from him directly."

「じゃ誰からお聞きです」  
"Then who did you hear it from?"

「僕の下宿の婆さんが、古賀さんのおっ母さんから聞いたのを今日僕に話したのです」  
"The old woman at my lodging house heard it from Koga's mother, and she told me about it today."

「じゃ、下宿の婆さんがそう云ったのですね」  
"So it's your landlady who said as much."

「まあそうです」  
"Well, yes."

「それは失礼ながら少し違うでしょう。  
"I'm afraid that's a bit off the mark.
あなたのおっしゃる通りだと、下宿屋の婆さんの云う事は信ずるが、教頭の云う事は信じないと云うように聞えるが、そういう意味に解釈して差支えないでしょうか」  
What you're saying comes down to trusting the word of your landlady over the word of the vice principal — may I take that to be what you mean?"
> Respectful «おっしゃる» (尊敬語): «おっしゃる» is the honorific (尊敬語) verb for «言う», used to elevate the listener's own speech. Even while cornering Botchan in an argument, Red Shirt keeps his keigo impeccable — cool, formal, and needling all at once.

おれはちょっと困った。  
I was rather at a loss.
文学士なんてものはやっぱりえらいものだ。  
A Bachelor of Letters really is a formidable thing.
> «文学士» ぶんがくし (bungakushi): 'Bachelor of Letters' — a Meiji-era university degree and a real title of prestige. Botchan's grudging awe of Red Shirt's argumentative skill is really awe at the credential behind it.
妙な所へこだわって、ねちねち押し寄せてくる。  
He fastens onto some odd little point and comes pressing at you, worrying it over and over.
おれはよく親父から貴様はそそっかしくて駄目だ駄目だと云われたが、なるほど少々そそっかしいようだ。  
My father was always telling me I was careless and no good, and it seems there's some truth to it after all.
婆さんの話を聞いてはっと思って飛び出して来たが、実はうらなり君にもうらなりのおっ母さんにも逢って詳しい事情は聞いてみなかったのだ。  
I'd heard the old woman's story, jumped up, and rushed straight out, without having actually spoken to either Uranari or his mother myself to get the details.
だからこう文学士流に斬り付けられると、ちょっと受け留めにくい。  
So when a Bachelor of Letters comes slashing at me like this, it is hard for me to parry him.

正面からは受け留めにくいが、おれはもう赤シャツに対して不信任を心の中で申し渡してしまった。  
Hard as it was to face him head-on, in my own mind I'd already handed down my verdict of no confidence in Red Shirt.
> «不信任» ふしんにん (fushinnin): 'No confidence' — a stiff, almost political-sounding compound (as in a parliamentary no-confidence motion) that Botchan borrows half-jokingly to describe his own private verdict on Red Shirt.
下宿の婆さんもけちん坊の欲張り屋に相違ないが、嘘は吐かない女だ、赤シャツのように裏表はない。  
My landlady may well be a stingy, grasping sort, but she's not a woman who tells lies — she isn't two-faced the way Red Shirt is.
おれは仕方がないから、こう答えた。  
Having no other choice, I answered like this.

「あなたの云う事は本当かも知れないですが――とにかく増給はご免蒙ります」  
"What you're saying may well be true — but in any case, I decline the raise."

「それはますます可笑しい。  
"That's odder still.
今君がわざわざお出になったのは増俸を受けるには忍びない、理由を見出したからのように聞えたが、その理由が僕の説明で取り去られたにもかかわらず増俸を否まれるのは少し解しかねるようですね」  
It sounded as though the very reason you troubled yourself to come here just now was that you couldn't bring yourself to accept the raise for a certain reason — and now that I've explained that reason away, your still refusing it strikes me as a little hard to make sense of."

「解しかねるかも知れませんがね。  
"It may well be hard to make sense of.
とにかく断わりますよ」  
In any case, I refuse it."

「そんなに否なら強いてとまでは云いませんが、そう二三時間のうちに、特別の理由もないのに豹変しちゃ、将来君の信用にかかわる」  
"If you're so set against it, I won't press you, but changing your mind so completely within two or three hours, without any particular reason, is going to affect your credibility later on."

「かかわっても構わないです」  
"It's fine if it does."

「そんな事はないはずです、人間に信用ほど大切なものはありませんよ。  
"That can't be so — there's nothing more important to a man than his credibility.
よしんば今一歩譲って、下宿の主人が……」  
Suppose, for argument's sake, that your landlord..."

「主人じゃない、婆さんです」  
"Not my landlord — my landlady."

「どちらでもよろしい。  
"Either one will do.
下宿の婆さんが君に話した事を事実としたところで、君の増給は古賀君の所得を削って得たものではないでしょう。  
Even granting as fact what your landlady told you, your raise wouldn't be coming out of any cut to Koga's own earnings.
古賀君は延岡へ行かれる。  
Koga is going to Nobeoka.
> «れる» as honorific, not passive: «行かれる» here is not the passive ('is gone to') but a mild honorific (尊敬語) form of «行く», showing polite respect toward Koga as Red Shirt describes his transfer — the same «れる/られる» ending doing different work depending on context.
その代りがくる。  
A replacement is coming.
その代りが古賀君よりも多少低給で来てくれる。  
The replacement will oblige us by coming for somewhat less than Koga was paid.
その剰余を君に廻わすと云うのだから、君は誰にも気の毒がる必要はないはずです。  
The surplus from that is what's being passed on to you, so you needn't feel sorry for anyone on that account.
古賀君は延岡でただ今よりも栄進される。  
Koga will actually be advancing in his career by going to Nobeoka.
新任者は最初からの約束で安くくる。  
The new man is coming in at a lower salary from the very start, by his own agreement.
それで君が上がられれば、これほど都合のいい事はないと思うですがね。  
And if your own pay rises as a result, I can't think of a more convenient arrangement all around.
いやなら否でもいいが、もう一返うちでよく考えてみませんか」  
If you still don't like it, that's fine, but won't you think it over once more at home?"

おれの頭はあまりえらくないのだから、いつもなら、相手がこういう巧妙な弁舌を揮えば、おやそうかな、それじゃ、おれが間違ってたと恐れ入って引きさがるのだけれども、今夜はそうは行かない。  
My head isn't a particularly clever one, and ordinarily, whenever the other man puts on this kind of skillful argument, I'll think, oh, is that so, well then, I suppose I was wrong, and back down in awe — but tonight it wasn't going to work that way.
ここへ来た最初から赤シャツは何だか虫が好かなかった。  
Something about Red Shirt had rubbed me the wrong way from the very first day I came here.
途中で親切な女みたような男だと思い返した事はあるが、それが親切でも何でもなさそうなので、反動の結果今じゃよっぽど厭になっている。  
There was a stretch where I'd reconsidered and thought him rather like a kind-hearted woman, but since that kindness had turned out to be nothing of the sort, the reaction had left me disliking him more than ever by now.
だから先がどれほどうまく論理的に弁論を逞くしようとも、堂々たる教頭流におれを遣り込めようとも、そんな事は構わない。  
So it made no difference how cleverly and logically he tried to make his case, or how grandly he tried to talk me down in his best vice-principal manner.
議論のいい人が善人とはきまらない。  
A man who argues well isn't necessarily a good man.
遣り込められる方が悪人とは限らない。  
A man who gets argued down isn't necessarily a bad one.
表向きは赤シャツの方が重々もっともだが、表向きがいくら立派だって、腹の中まで惚れさせる訳には行かない。  
On the surface Red Shirt's case was entirely reasonable, but however fine he looks on the surface, that cannot make me admire him in my heart.
金や威力や理屈で人間の心が買える者なら、高利貸でも巡査でも大学教授でも一番人に好かれなくてはならない。  
If money or power or clever reasoning could buy a man's heart, then moneylenders and policemen and university professors would be the best-loved men of all.
中学の教頭ぐらいな論法でおれの心がどう動くものか。  
What sort of logic does a middle-school vice principal think can move my heart?
人間は好き嫌いで働くものだ。  
A man acts on likes and dislikes.
論法で働くものじゃない。  
He doesn't act on logic.

「あなたの云う事はもっともですが、僕は増給がいやになったんですから、まあ断わります。  
"What you say may be perfectly reasonable, but I've simply gone off wanting the raise, so I'll refuse it, and that's that.
考えたって同じ事です。  
It comes to the same thing however you think it over.
さようなら」と云いすてて門を出た。  
“Goodbye,” I flung at him, and walked out through the gate.
頭の上には天の川が一筋かかっている。  
Overhead, the Milky Way hung in a single stripe across the sky.
---

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.