# Botchan, Chapter 9

坊っちゃん · Natsume Sōseki · Botchan

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch09. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch09.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/botchan/<line id>.m4a.


うらなり君の送別会のあるという日の朝、学校へ出たら、山嵐が突然、君先だってはいか銀が来て、君が乱暴して困るから、どうか出るように話してくれと頼んだから、真面目に受けて、君に出てやれと話したのだが、あとから聞いてみると、あいつは悪るい奴で、よく偽筆へ贋落款などを押して売りつけるそうだから、全く君の事も出鱈目に違いない。  
On the morning of the day set for Uranari's farewell dinner, when I got to school, Porcupine suddenly told me the whole story: the other day Ikagin had come to him complaining that I was running wild and asking him to persuade me to move out, and Porcupine, taking it seriously, had told me to move out for the man's sake — but he'd since learned that the man was a crook who liked to forge seals on fake paintings and sell them off, so his tale about me was surely just as much a fabrication.
> Forged seals on fake art: «贋落款» がんらっかん (gan-rakkan) — a forged artist's seal/signature stamped on a painting to pass it off as genuine. Ikagin's trade was faking such seals to sell counterfeit art.
君に懸物や骨董を売りつけて、商売にしようと思ってたところが、君が取り合わないで儲けがないものだから、あんな作りごとをこしらえて胡魔化したのだ。  
He'd been hoping to make some money selling you hanging scrolls and antiques, and since you wouldn't bite and there was nothing in it for him, he cooked up that whole story to fool me.
僕はあの人物を知らなかったので君に大変失敬した勘弁したまえと長々しい謝罪をした。  
'I didn't know what kind of man he was, so I did you a great disservice — forgive me,' he said, and went on apologizing at tedious length.
> «たまえ» — a man's mild command: «たまえ» (from «給え») softens an imperative into a request one gentleman makes of another: «勘弁したまえ» = 'forgive me, would you'. It sounds brisk but polite — common in Meiji men's speech, never used to a superior.

おれは何とも云わずに、山嵐の机の上にあった、一銭五厘をとって、おれの蝦蟇口のなかへ入れた。  
Without a word, I picked up the one sen and five rin sitting on Porcupine's desk and dropped it into my coin purse.
> «蝦蟇口» がまぐち (gamaguchi): Literally 'toad's mouth' — a metal-clasp coin purse whose hinge gapes open like a toad's jaw. Botchan carries his money in one throughout the book.
山嵐は君それを引き込めるのかと不審そうに聞くから、うんおれは君に奢られるのが、いやだったから、是非返すつもりでいたが、その後だんだん考えてみると、やっぱり奢ってもらう方がいいようだから、引き込ますんだと説明した。  
Porcupine looked at me suspiciously and asked whether I was really taking that back, so I explained: yes — I'd hated the idea of him treating me, and meant to pay him back no matter what, but the more I thought it over since, the more it seemed better just to let him treat me after all, so I was taking it back.
山嵐は大きな声をしてアハハハと笑いながら、そんなら、なぜ早く取らなかったのだと聞いた。  
Porcupine let out a loud 'Ahahaha' and asked why on earth I hadn't taken it back sooner.
実は取ろう取ろうと思ってたが、何だか妙だからそのままにしておいた。  
To tell the truth, I'd kept meaning to take it, but it felt somehow awkward, so I'd left it where it was.
近来は学校へ来て一銭五厘を見るのが苦になるくらいいやだったと云ったら、君はよっぽど負け惜しみの強い男だと云うから、君はよっぽど剛情張りだと答えてやった。  
When I said that lately just coming to school and seeing that one-and-a-half-sen piece had gotten to be a real torment, he said I must be a terribly sore loser, so I shot back that he himself was terribly pig-headed.
> «剛情張り» ごうじょうばり (gōjōbari): 'Stubborn to the point of pig-headedness' — Botchan turns Porcupine's own insult (負け惜しみ, 'sore loser') back on him with this term.
それから二人の間にこんな問答が起った。  
And from there the following exchange took place between us.

「君は一体どこの産だ」  
'Just where are you from, anyway?'

「おれは江戸っ子だ」  
'I'm an Edo boy, born and bred.'

「うん、江戸っ子か、道理で負け惜しみが強いと思った」  
'Ha, an Edo boy — no wonder you're such a sore loser.'
> «道理で» — 'no wonder': «道理で» + a claim already made = 'that explains it / no wonder'. It retroactively justifies an impression: Porcupine decides Botchan's stubbornness is now explained by his being from Edo.

「きみはどこだ」  
'And where are you from?'

「僕は会津だ」  
'I'm from Aizu.'

「会津っぽか、強情な訳だ。  
'An Aizu man — no wonder you're so stubborn.'
> «会津っぽ» — an Aizu man: Aizu domain fought for the shogunate and was crushed in the 1868 Boshin War; its people had a Meiji-era reputation for grim, unbending pride — the stereotype Botchan is teasing Porcupine with here.
今日の送別会へ行くのかい」  
'Are you going to today's farewell party?'

「行くとも、君は？」  
'Of course I'm going — what about you?'

「おれは無論行くんだ。  
'I'm going too, naturally.'
古賀さんが立つ時は、浜まで見送りに行こうと思ってるくらいだ」  
'When Koga leaves I even mean to see him off all the way to the harbor.'

「送別会は面白いぜ、出て見たまえ。  
'Farewell parties are good fun — you should come and see.'
今日は大いに飲むつもりだ」  
'I plan to drink plenty today.'

「勝手に飲むがいい。  
'Drink all you like.'
おれは肴を食ったら、すぐ帰る。  
'I'll eat the snacks and go straight home.'
酒なんか飲む奴は馬鹿だ」  
'Anyone who drinks liquor is a fool.'

「君はすぐ喧嘩を吹き懸ける男だ。  
'You're a man who's always itching to pick a fight.'
なるほど江戸っ子の軽跳な風を、よく、あらわしてる」  
'You really do show the flightiness of an Edo boy.'

「何でもいい、送別会へ行く前にちょっとおれのうちへお寄り、話しがあるから」  
'Never mind that — before the farewell party, stop by my place for a bit, I have something to talk about.'

山嵐は約束通りおれの下宿へ寄った。  
Porcupine came by my lodgings as promised.
おれはこの間から、うらなり君の顔を見る度に気の毒でたまらなかったが、いよいよ送別の今日となったら、何だか憐れっぽくって、出来る事なら、おれが代りに行ってやりたい様な気がしだした。  
For some time now, every time I'd seen Uranari's face I'd felt sorry for him past bearing, and now that the day of his farewell had actually come, it struck me as so pitiful that I found myself half-wishing I could go to Nobeoka in his place, if such a thing were possible.
それで送別会の席上で、大いに演説でもしてその行を盛にしてやりたいと思うのだが、おれのべらんめえ調子じゃ、到底物にならないから、大きな声を出す山嵐を雇って、一番赤シャツの荒肝を挫いでやろうと考え付いたから、わざわざ山嵐を呼んだのである。  
So I wanted to make a fine speech at the farewell party and send him off properly, but with my Tokyo back-alley way of talking it would never come to anything, and it occurred to me to hire Porcupine, with his loud voice, to help crush Red Shirt's nerve for good measure — which was exactly why I'd gone to the trouble of calling him over.
> «べらんめえ調子» — Edo shitamachi speech: The rough, rapid-fire, insult-studded speech style of Tokyo's old downtown (shitamachi) craftsmen and tradesmen — Botchan's own native register, which he says is too coarse to carry weight in a formal speech.

おれはまず冒頭としてマドンナ事件から説き出したが、山嵐は無論マドンナ事件はおれより詳しく知っている。  
I opened, for a start, with the whole Madonna business, though of course Porcupine already knew far more about it than I did.
おれが野芹川の土手の話をして、あれは馬鹿野郎だと云ったら、山嵐は君はだれを捕まえても馬鹿呼わりをする。  
When I told him about the business on the Nozeri River embankment and said the man was a fool, Porcupine said I called everybody I ran into a fool.
今日学校で自分の事を馬鹿と云ったじゃないか。  
'Didn't you call yourself a fool at school today?'
自分が馬鹿なら、赤シャツは馬鹿じゃない。  
'If you're a fool, then Red Shirt isn't one.'
自分は赤シャツの同類じゃないと主張した。  
He insisted he was nothing like Red Shirt himself.
それじゃ赤シャツは腑抜けの呆助だと云ったら、そうかもしれないと山嵐は大いに賛成した。  
When I said, well then, Red Shirt must be a spineless half-wit, Porcupine agreed heartily that he supposed so.
> «腑抜けの呆助» — a spineless fool: «腑抜け» (funuke, 'gutless') + «呆助» (hōsuke) — «呆助» is itself the full noun meaning 'a fool/simpleton' (built with the common mock-name suffix «-助», as in 与太郎-type derisive names), not merely a suffix; here it's modified by «腑抜けの» ('gutless [fool]') — a two-part put-down Botchan lands on Red Shirt, escalating from Botchan's own plain «馬鹿» ('fool'), which Porcupine had just accused him of slinging at everyone.
山嵐は強い事は強いが、こんな言葉になると、おれより遥かに字を知っていない。  
Porcupine is tough enough, but when it comes to words like these, he knows far fewer characters than I do.
会津っぽなんてものはみんな、こんな、ものなんだろう。  
I suppose that's just how Aizu men are, every one of them.

それから増給事件と将来重く登用すると赤シャツが云った話をしたら山嵐はふふんと鼻から声を出して、それじゃ僕を免職する考えだなと云った。  
Next I told him about the raise business and how Red Shirt had said I'd be given weighty positions in the future, and Porcupine gave a snort through his nose and said, 'So he means to have me dismissed, does he.'
免職するつもりだって、君は免職になる気かと聞いたら、誰がなるものか、自分が免職になるなら、赤シャツもいっしょに免職させてやると大いに威張った。  
When I asked whether, even if that was the plan, he actually meant to let himself get fired, he swaggered that no one was going to fire him — if he went, he'd take Red Shirt down with him.
> Causative + «てやる»: «させる» (causative, 'make/let [someone] do') plus the benefactive «てやる» ('do [something] for/to someone', often with a hint of spite here) — 'I'll have him fired right along with me,' said with swagger rather than kindness.
どうしていっしょに免職させる気かと押し返して尋ねたら、そこはまだ考えていないと答えた。  
When I pressed him on just how he meant to bring Red Shirt down with him, he admitted he hadn't worked that part out yet.
山嵐は強そうだが、智慧はあまりなさそうだ。  
Porcupine looks tough enough, but he doesn't seem to have much in the way of brains.
おれが増給を断わったと話したら、大将大きに喜んでさすが江戸っ子だ、えらいと賞めてくれた。  
When I told him I'd turned down the raise, the big fellow was delighted and praised me — 'That's an Edo boy for you, well done.'

うらなりが、そんなに厭がっているなら、なぜ留任の運動をしてやらなかったと聞いてみたら、うらなりから話を聞いた時は、既にきまってしまって、校長へ二度、赤シャツへ一度行って談判してみたが、どうする事も出来なかったと話した。  
When I asked why, if Uranari hated the transfer so much, he hadn't campaigned to keep him on, he told me that by the time he'd heard the story from Uranari it was already settled, and though he'd gone and argued with the principal twice and Red Shirt once, there had been nothing to be done.
それについても古賀があまり好人物過ぎるから困る。  
The trouble, on top of that, is that Koga is simply too good-natured a man.
赤シャツから話があった時、断然断わるか、一応考えてみますと逃げればいいのに、あの弁舌に胡魔化されて、即席に許諾したものだから、あとからお母さんが泣きついても、自分が談判に行っても役に立たなかったと非常に残念がった。  
When Red Shirt first raised the matter, he could have simply refused outright, or at least dodged it by saying he'd think it over, but instead he let himself be talked round by all that fine speechmaking and agreed on the spot, so that afterward, however his mother pleaded and however Porcupine went and argued on his behalf, it did no good at all — and Porcupine lamented this bitterly.

今度の事件は全く赤シャツが、うらなりを遠ざけて、マドンナを手に入れる策略なんだろうとおれが云ったら、無論そうに違いない。  
When I said this whole affair was surely nothing but a scheme of Red Shirt's to push Uranari out of the way and get his hands on Madonna, he said of course it must be.
あいつは大人しい顔をして、悪事を働いて、人が何か云うと、ちゃんと逃道を拵えて待ってるんだから、よっぽど奸物だ。  
'That man wears such a mild face while he does his dirty work, and always has an escape route ready the moment anyone objects — he's a proper schemer.'
あんな奴にかかっては鉄拳制裁でなくっちゃ利かないと、瘤だらけの腕をまくってみせた。  
'Nothing works on a fellow like that except a fist to the face,' he said, and rolled up his sleeve to show me his lumpy, muscled arm.
> «鉄拳制裁» てっけんせいさい (tekken seisai): 'Iron-fist punishment' — vigilante physical justice outside any formal process. Porcupine's blunt answer to schemers like Red Shirt who can't be touched through proper channels.
おれはついでだから、君の腕は強そうだな柔術でもやるかと聞いてみた。  
Since we were on the subject, I asked whether his arm looked so strong because he practiced jujitsu.
すると大将二の腕へ力瘤を入れて、ちょっと攫んでみろと云うから、指の先で揉んでみたら、何の事はない湯屋にある軽石の様なものだ。  
At that, the big fellow flexed the muscle of his upper arm and told me to give it a squeeze, so I poked it with my fingertips — and it was nothing more than something like the pumice stone you find at the public bathhouse.

おれはあまり感心したから、君そのくらいの腕なら、赤シャツの五人や六人は一度に張り飛ばされるだろうと聞いたら、無論さと云いながら、曲げた腕を伸ばしたり、縮ましたりすると、力瘤がぐるりぐるりと皮のなかで廻転する。  
I was so impressed that I asked whether, with an arm like that, he could send five or six Red Shirts flying at once, and he said 'of course' while bending and straightening his arm, and the muscle turned round and round under the skin.
すこぶる愉快だ。  
It was quite delightful to watch.
山嵐の証明する所によると、かんじん綯りを二本より合せて、この力瘤の出る所へ巻きつけて、うんと腕を曲げると、ぷつりと切れるそうだ。  
According to Porcupine, if you twisted two lengths of paper cord together, wound them around the spot where that muscle bulged, and bent your arm hard, the cord would snap clean in two.
> «かんじん綯り» かんじんより (kanjin-yori): A thin cord twisted from washi paper, traditionally used for tying documents and as a hair-tie (motoyui) — tough enough that snapping it barehanded, as Porcupine claims to do, is a genuine feat of strength.
かんじんよりなら、おれにも出来そうだと云ったら、出来るものか、出来るならやってみろと来た。  
When I said that if it was only paper cord, I figured I could do it too, he shot back that there was no way I could, and told me to go ahead and try if I thought I could.
切れないと外聞がわるいから、おれは見合せた。  
Since it would look bad if I failed to snap it, I let the matter drop.

君どうだ、今夜の送別会に大いに飲んだあと、赤シャツと野だを撲ってやらないかと面白半分に勧めてみたら、山嵐はそうだなと考えていたが、今夜はまあよそうと云った。  
Half in fun, I proposed that How about it? After plenty of drinking at tonight's farewell party, why don't we thrash Red Shirt and Toady? — Porcupine thought it over and said, 'let's see,' but decided we'd better let it go for tonight.
なぜと聞くと、今夜は古賀に気の毒だから――それにどうせ撲るくらいなら、あいつらの悪るい所を見届けて現場で撲らなくっちゃ、こっちの落度になるからと、分別のありそうな事を附加した。  
When I asked why, he added, with a show of good sense, that it would be hard on Koga tonight of all nights — and besides, if we were going to beat them at all, we ought to catch them red-handed and do it on the spot, or the fault would fall on us.
山嵐でもおれよりは考えがあると見える。  
Even Porcupine, it seemed, thought things through more than I did.

じゃ演説をして古賀君を大いにほめてやれ、おれがすると江戸っ子のぺらぺらになって重みがなくていけない。  
'Then make a speech and praise Koga to the skies' — 'if I do it, it'll come out in that glib Edo-boy chatter and carry no weight at all.'
> «ぺらぺら» — glib, rattling on: A mimetic word for fluent, rapid speech, often faintly disparaging — Botchan uses it to describe his own Edo chatter as all surface and no gravity.
そうして、きまった所へ出ると、急に溜飲が起って咽喉の所へ、大きな丸が上がって来て言葉が出ないから、君に譲るからと云ったら、妙な病気だな、じゃ君は人中じゃ口は利けないんだね、困るだろう、と聞くから、何そんなに困りゃしないと答えておいた。  
And what's more, whenever I have to stand up in front of people, some kind of heartburn suddenly rises, a great lump comes up in my throat, and I can't get a word out, so I told him I'd leave it to him; he said that was a strange sort of ailment, and asked whether that meant I couldn't speak in front of a crowd at all, must be awkward — to which I answered that it wasn't so very awkward as all that.

そうこうするうち時間が来たから、山嵐と一所に会場へ行く。  
While we talked the time came around, so Porcupine and I set off together for the venue.
会場は花晨亭といって、当地で第一等の料理屋だそうだが、おれは一度も足を入れた事がない。  
The venue was a place called Kashintei, said to be the finest restaurant in these parts, though I myself had never once set foot in it.
もとの家老とかの屋敷を買い入れて、そのまま開業したという話だが、なるほど見懸からして厳めしい構えだ。  
The story goes that they bought up some former chief retainer's mansion and opened for business just as it stood, and sure enough, the place has a forbiddingly grand look about it.
家老の屋敷が料理屋になるのは、陣羽織を縫い直して、胴着にする様なものだ。  
A chief retainer's mansion turning into a restaurant is rather like taking a general's campaign coat and stitching it down into a padded vest.

二人が着いた頃には、人数ももう大概揃って、五十畳の広間に二つ三つ人間の塊が出来ている。  
By the time the two of us arrived, most of the guests were already there, and two or three clusters of people had formed in the fifty-mat great hall.
五十畳だけに床は素敵に大きい。  
Being fifty mats, the alcove was splendidly large to match.
おれが山城屋で占領した十五畳敷の床とは比較にならない。  
The alcove in the fifteen-mat room I'd taken over at the Yamashiroya was nothing compared with it.
尺を取ってみたら二間あった。  
When I measured it out, it came to two ken across.
右の方に、赤い模様のある瀬戸物の瓶を据えて、その中に松の大きな枝が挿してある。  
On the right stood a porcelain vase with a red pattern on it, with a big pine branch stuck in it.
松の枝を挿して何にする気か知らないが、何ヶ月立っても散る気遣いがないから、銭が懸らなくって、よかろう。  
I have no idea what good sticking in a pine branch is supposed to do, but since it won't drop its needles no matter how many months go by, at least it doesn't cost anyone any money, so I suppose that's all for the best.
あの瀬戸物はどこで出来るんだと博物の教師に聞いたら、あれは瀬戸物じゃありません、伊万里ですと云った。  
When I asked the natural-history teacher where that porcelain was made, he told me it wasn't Seto ware at all, it was Imari.
> «瀬戸物» せともの vs «伊万里» いまり: «瀬戸物» (setomono) properly means ware from the kilns of Seto, but Edo speech had already flattened it into a generic word for 'pottery' — which sets up the joke: Botchan uses the word generically while the teacher hears the specific ware name, from a different kiln region entirely.
伊万里だって瀬戸物じゃないかと、云ったら、博物はえへへへへと笑っていた。  
When I said Imari was Seto ware too, wasn't it, the natural-history man just laughed, 'eh-heh-heh-heh.'
あとで聞いてみたら、瀬戸で出来る焼物だから、瀬戸と云うのだそうだ。  
I asked around afterward, and it turns out 'Seto ware' means ware actually made in the town of Seto — that's the whole reason for the name.
おれは江戸っ子だから、陶器の事を瀬戸物というのかと思っていた。  
Being an Edo boy, I'd always assumed 'setomono' was just the general word for anything made of pottery.
床の真中に大きな懸物があって、おれの顔くらいな大きさな字が二十八字かいてある。  
In the middle of the alcove hung a large scroll, with twenty-eight characters written on it, each about the size of my own face.
どうも下手なものだ。  
It struck me as remarkably poor work.
あんまり不味いから、漢学の先生に、なぜあんなまずいものを麗々と懸けておくんですと尋ねたところ、先生はあれは海屋といって有名な書家のかいた者だと教えてくれた。  
Since it looked so bad, I asked the Chinese-classics teacher why on earth they'd hang up such a clumsy thing so proudly, and he informed me it was the work of a famous calligrapher named Kaioku.
海屋だか何だか、おれは今だに下手だと思っている。  
Kaioku or whoever he was, I still think it's badly done to this day.

やがて書記の川村がどうかお着席をと云うから、柱があって靠りかかるのに都合のいい所へ坐った。  
Presently the clerk Kawamura called out for everyone please to take their seats, so I sat down in a spot where there happened to be a post handy to lean against.
海屋の懸物の前に狸が羽織、袴で着席すると、左に赤シャツが同じく羽織袴で陣取った。  
The Badger sat down before the Kaioku scroll in his haori and hakama, and to his left Red Shirt planted himself, likewise dressed in haori and hakama.
> «羽織» haori, «袴» hakama: The formal Japanese men's outfit of the day: a «袴» (divided or skirt-like trouser) under a «羽織» (a short overcoat), worn here by the Badger and Red Shirt for the banquet's formality.
右の方は主人公だというのでうらなり先生、これも日本服で控えている。  
On the right, as guest of honor, sat Uranari, also waiting in Japanese dress.
おれは洋服だから、かしこまるのが窮屈だったから、すぐ胡坐をかいた。  
I was in Western clothes, and sitting properly was cramped, so I sat cross-legged at once.
> «胡坐» あぐら (agura): Sitting cross-legged, as opposed to the formal kneeling «正座» (seiza). Botchan, in Western trousers, can't manage seiza and drops straight into agura — a small class/culture clash played for comedy.
隣りの体操教師は黒ずぼんで、ちゃんとかしこまっている。  
Next to me the gymnastics teacher, in black trousers, was sitting up properly and correctly.
体操の教師だけにいやに修行が積んでいる。  
Being a gymnastics man, he'd evidently put in a great deal of practice at just that sort of thing.
やがてお膳が出る。  
Presently the trays were brought out.
徳利が並ぶ。  
Sake flasks were lined up.
幹事が立って、一言開会の辞を述べる。  
The organizer stood and said a few words to open the proceedings.
それから狸が立つ。  
Then the Badger rose.
赤シャツが起つ。  
Red Shirt rose.
ことごとく送別の辞を述べたが、三人共申し合せたようにうらなり君の、良教師で好人物な事を吹聴して、今回去られるのはまことに残念である、学校としてのみならず、個人として大いに惜しむところであるが、ご一身上のご都合で、切に転任をご希望になったのだから致し方がないという意味を述べた。  
Every one of them made a farewell speech, and all three, as if by arrangement, went on about what a fine teacher and good-natured man Uranari was, saying it was truly a shame he was leaving, a great loss both to the school and to them personally, but since he had, for reasons of his own, earnestly wished for the transfer, there was nothing to be done about it.
こんな嘘をついて送別会を開いて、それでちっとも恥かしいとも思っていない。  
To tell such a lie and hold a farewell party over it, and not feel the least bit ashamed — that's really something.
ことに赤シャツに至って三人のうちで一番うらなり君をほめた。  
Red Shirt, in particular, praised Uranari more than either of the other two.
この良友を失うのは実に自分にとって大なる不幸であるとまで云った。  
He even went so far as to say that losing so fine a friend was, for him personally, a truly great misfortune.
しかもそのいい方がいかにも、もっともらしくって、例のやさしい声を一層やさしくして、述べ立てるのだから、始めて聞いたものは、誰でもきっとだまされるに極ってる。  
And the way he put it sounded so utterly plausible, delivered in that soft voice of his made softer still, that anyone hearing him for the first time would certainly be taken in.
マドンナも大方この手で引掛けたんだろう。  
No doubt Madonna herself had been reeled in the very same way.
赤シャツが送別の辞を述べ立てている最中、向側に坐っていた山嵐がおれの顔を見てちょっと稲光をさした。  
While Red Shirt was in the middle of delivering his farewell speech, Porcupine, seated across from me, looked my way and flashed me a quick lightning-glare.
おれは返電として、人指し指でべっかんこうをして見せた。  
By way of answering signal, I pulled down my lower eyelid with my forefinger and stuck out my tongue at him..

赤シャツが座に復するのを待ちかねて、山嵐がぬっと立ち上がったから、おれは嬉しかったので、思わず手をぱちぱちと拍った。  
The moment Red Shirt sat back down, unable to wait any longer, Porcupine rose abruptly to his feet, and I was so pleased that I clapped my hands together without meaning to.
すると狸を始め一同がことごとくおれの方を見たには少々困った。  
At that, the Badger and everyone else all turned to look at me, which was rather awkward.
山嵐は何を云うかと思うとただ今校長始めことに教頭は古賀君の転任を非常に残念がられたが、私は少々反対で古賀君が一日も早く当地を去られるのを希望しております。  
I wondered what Porcupine would say, and he began: just now, the principal, and the vice-principal above all, expressed how greatly they regretted Koga's transfer, but he himself took a somewhat different view — he hoped that Koga would leave this place at the very earliest possible date.
> Respectful passive «られる»: «られる» attached to «残念がる» ('to feel regret') here works as mild honorific respect toward the principal and vice-principal, not a true passive — 'the principal... felt regret' rendered deferentially, part of the speech's mock-formal register.
延岡は僻遠の地で、当地に比べたら物質上の不便はあるだろう。  
Nobeoka is a remote and out-of-the-way place, and compared with here there will surely be material inconveniences.
が、聞くところによれば風俗のすこぶる淳朴な所で、職員生徒ことごとく上代樸直の気風を帯びているそうである。  
But he was told it is a place of exceedingly simple, honest customs, where every last member of staff and student carries the plain, upright spirit of ancient times.
心にもないお世辞を振り蒔いたり、美しい顔をして君子を陥れたりするハイカラ野郎は一人もないと信ずるからして、君のごとき温良篤厚の士は必ずその地方一般の歓迎を受けられるに相違ない。  
Believing as he did that there was not one fashionable rascal there who scatters insincere flattery about, or who wears a handsome face while entrapping honest men, he was certain that a gentle and deeply sincere man such as Koga would surely receive the warm welcome of the whole region.
吾輩は大いに古賀君のためにこの転任を祝するのである。  
He himself heartily congratulated Koga on this transfer.
終りに臨んで君が延岡に赴任されたら、その地の淑女にして、君子の好逑となるべき資格あるものを択んで一日も早く円満なる家庭をかたち作って、かの不貞無節なるお転婆を事実の上において慚死せしめん事を希望します。  
In closing, he hoped that once Koga took up his post in Nobeoka, he would choose from among the ladies there one truly fit to be a gentleman's good match, and build, at the earliest possible date, a happy household of his own — so that a certain faithless, unprincipled, headstrong girl might, by the plain fact of it, die of shame.
えへんえへんと二つばかり大きな咳払いをして席に着いた。  
He gave a couple of great throat-clearings — ahem, ahem — and sat back down.
おれは今度も手を叩こうと思ったが、またみんながおれの面を見るといやだから、やめにしておいた。  
I meant to clap again, but since I didn't want everyone turning to stare at me a second time, I let it go.
山嵐が坐ると今度はうらなり先生が起った。  
Once Porcupine sat down, this time it was Uranari's turn to rise.
先生はご鄭寧に、自席から、座敷の端の末座まで行って、慇懃に一同に挨拶をした上、今般は一身上の都合で九州へ参る事になりましたについて、諸先生方が小生のためにこの盛大なる送別会をお開き下さったのは、まことに感銘の至りに堪えぬ次第で――ことにただ今は校長、教頭その他諸君の送別の辞を頂戴して、大いに難有く服膺する訳であります。  
Ever so politely, he walked all the way from his own seat down to the lowest seat at the far end of the room, bowed courteously to everyone present, and said that as he was, owing to personal circumstances, to be going off to Kyushu, the fact that all the teachers had opened so grand a farewell party on his behalf had left him profoundly moved — and that having just now received the farewell remarks of the principal, the vice-principal, and all the rest of them, he was taking them most gratefully to heart.
> Formal negative «ぬ» + humble register: «堪えぬ» uses the literary negative «ぬ» (= «ない») and «次第» ('the situation is such that'), part of the stiff, humble-formal speech register Uranari uses throughout his own farewell remarks — a marked contrast with Porcupine's blunt talk.
私はこれから遠方へ参りますが、なにとぞ従前の通りお見捨てなくご愛顧のほどを願います。  
He was to travel a long way from here now, but he begged that they would not abandon him, and would continue to favor him with their kindness just as before.
とへえつく張って席に戻った。  
After groveling like that, he went back to his seat.
うらなり君はどこまで人が好いんだか、ほとんど底が知れない。  
Just how far Uranari's good nature runs is almost past knowing.
自分がこんなに馬鹿にされている校長や、教頭に恭しくお礼を云っている。  
Here he was, bowing his thanks respectfully to the very principal and vice-principal who were making such a fool of him.
それも義理一遍の挨拶ならだが、あの様子や、あの言葉つきや、あの顔つきから云うと、心から感謝しているらしい。  
If it had been mere formal courtesy that would be one thing, but judging from his manner, his choice of words, his very expression, he seemed to be thanking them from the bottom of his heart.
こんな聖人に真面目にお礼を云われたら、気の毒になって、赤面しそうなものだが狸も赤シャツも真面目に謹聴しているばかりだ。  
You'd think that being thanked in earnest by such a saint of a man would make anyone feel so sorry for him that his face would burn, but the Badger and Red Shirt only went on listening solemnly, straight-faced.

挨拶が済んだら、あちらでもチュー、こちらでもチュー、という音がする。  
Once the speeches were done, a slurping sound started up — chuu here, chuu there.
> Onomatopoeia for slurping soup: «チュー» mimics the sound of sipping soup noisily — perfectly normal table manners at a Japanese banquet, though Botchan (used to Edo manners) finds the food itself inedible.
おれも真似をして汁を飲んでみたがまずいもんだ。  
I tried imitating them and drank some of the soup myself, and it was dreadful stuff.
口取に蒲鉾はついてるが、どす黒くて竹輪の出来損ないである。  
There was fish cake among the appetizers, but it was a dingy blackish color, like a failed attempt at chikuwa.
刺身も並んでるが、厚くって鮪の切り身を生で食うと同じ事だ。  
Sashimi was set out too, but it was cut so thick it was no different from eating a raw slab of tuna.
それでも隣り近所の連中はむしゃむしゃ旨そうに食っている。  
Even so, the people around me were munching away as if it were delicious.
大方江戸前の料理を食った事がないんだろう。  
I suppose they'd simply never eaten proper Edo-style cooking.

そのうち燗徳利が頻繁に往来し始めたら、四方が急に賑やかになった。  
Before long the warmed sake flasks began going back and forth all over the place, and things suddenly grew lively on every side.
野だ公は恭しく校長の前へ出て盃を頂いてる。  
Old Toady went up respectfully before the principal to receive a cup.
いやな奴だ。  
What a repulsive fellow.
うらなり君は順々に献酬をして、一巡周るつもりとみえる。  
Uranari was going around exchanging cups with everyone in turn, evidently meaning to make a full circuit of the room.
はなはだご苦労である。  
A great deal of trouble to go to, if you ask me.
うらなり君がおれの前へ来て、一つ頂戴致しましょうと袴のひだを正して申し込まれたから、おれも窮屈にズボンのままかしこまって、一盃差し上げた。  
When Uranari came before me, straightened the pleats of his hakama, and asked, most properly, to be allowed a cup, I too sat up as stiffly as I could manage in my trousers and offered him one.
> Passive as honorific: «申し込まれた» — the passive «れる» form again lends a note of respect to Uranari's request, softening what is literally 'was asked' into something closer to 'was so good as to ask'.
せっかく参って、すぐお別れになるのは残念ですね。  
'It's a shame,' I said, 'that It's a shame that, when I've only just arrived here, we'll be parting so soon..'
ご出立はいつです、是非浜までお見送りをしましょうと云ったら、うらなり君はいえご用多のところ決してそれには及びませんと答えた。  
When I asked when he was leaving and said I really must see him off all the way to the harbor, Uranari answered that no, I was surely far too busy, there was no need at all for that.
うらなり君が何と云ったって、おれは学校を休んで送る気でいる。  
Whatever Uranari might say, I fully intend to skip school and see him off.

それから一時間ほどするうちに席上は大分乱れて来る。  
After that, within about an hour, the gathering had grown quite disorderly.
まあ一杯、おや僕が飲めと云うのに……などと呂律の巡りかねるのも一人二人出来て来た。  
'Oh, have one more'; 'Hey, I'm telling you to drink.' ... voices like these came thick and slurred from one or two men whose tongues had already given out on them.
> «呂律が回らない» — slurred speech: An idiom, «呂律» originally referred to the ryō and ritsu pitch systems; the idiom means that someone is slurring or cannot articulate properly. — used for speech so drunk or exhausted it slurs. «呂律» (roretsu) originally referred to musical pitch-modes, later narrowed to this one idiom.
少々退屈したから便所へ行って、昔風な庭を星明りにすかして眺めていると山嵐が来た。  
Growing a little bored, I went to the privy, and while I stood looking out at the old-fashioned garden by starlight, Porcupine came up.
どうださっきの演説はうまかったろう。  
'Well, wasn't that a fine speech of mine just now?'
と大分得意である。  
he said, looking mightily pleased with himself.
大賛成だが一ヶ所気に入らないと抗議を申し込んだら、どこが不賛成だと聞いた。  
When I said I agreed with it heartily but there was one point I didn't much care for, he asked what part I objected to.

「美しい顔をして人を陥れるようなハイカラ野郎は延岡に居らないから……と君は云ったろう」  
'You said there wasn't a single fashionable rascal in Nobeoka who wears a handsome face while entrapping people, didn't you...'

「うん」  
'That's right.'

「ハイカラ野郎だけでは不足だよ」  
'"Fashionable rascal" alone doesn't go far enough.'

「じゃ何と云うんだ」  
'Then what should I have said?'

「ハイカラ野郎の、ペテン師の、イカサマ師の、猫被りの、香具師の、モモンガーの、岡っ引きの、わんわん鳴けば犬も同然な奴とでも云うがいい」  
'You should have said: fashionable rascal, con man, swindler, wolf-in-sheep's-clothing, carnival huckster, bogeyman, police informer — a fellow who's no better than a dog, and barks like one too.'
> «岡っ引き» おかっぴき (okappiki): An Edo-period unofficial deputy who informed for and assisted the town magistrate's police — by Meiji times a byword for a sneaky, morally compromised snitch, one link in Porcupine's chain of insults.

「おれには、そう舌は廻らない。  
'My tongue doesn't run to anything like that.'
君は能弁だ。  
'You've got a real gift for talk.'
第一単語を大変たくさん知ってる。  
'For one thing, you know an awful lot of words.'
それで演舌が出来ないのは不思議だ」  
'It's a wonder you can't manage a speech, with all that.'

「なにこれは喧嘩のときに使おうと思って、用心のために取っておく言葉さ。  
'Oh, these are just words I keep in reserve for when I'm picking a fight.'
演舌となっちゃ、こうは出ない」  
'Once it's a speech, none of it comes out the same way.'

「そうかな、しかしぺらぺら出るぜ。  
'Is that so — well, it certainly came pouring out just now.'
もう一遍やって見たまえ」  
'Try it again, let's hear.'

「何遍でもやるさいいか。  
'I'll say it as many times as you like — listen.'
> Sentence-final «さ»: «さ» tacked onto a plain-form verb is one of Botchan's and Porcupine's rough, masculine sentence-enders — casual, assertive, and specifically male in this register («やるさ» ≈ 'I'll do it, that's all').
――ハイカラ野郎のペテン師の、イカサマ師の……」  
'—fashionable rascal, con man, swindler...'
と云いかけていると、椽側をどたばた云わして、二人ばかり、よろよろしながら馳け出して来た。  
He'd just started in on it when, with a great clattering of feet along the veranda, a couple of men came stumbling and staggering toward us.

「両君そりゃひどい、――逃げるなんて、――僕が居るうちは決して逃さない、さあのみたまえ。  
'Well, gentlemen, that's a fine thing — running off on us — I won't let you get away while I'm around, come on and drink up.'
――いかさま師？  
'A swindler, was it?'
――面白い、いかさま面白い。  
'How rich — how rich indeed.'
――さあ飲みたまえ」  
'Now, drink up.'

とおれと山嵐をぐいぐい引っ張って行く。  
And with that they hauled Porcupine and me along by main force.
実はこの両人共便所に来たのだが、酔ってるもんだから、便所へはいるのを忘れて、おれ等を引っ張るのだろう。  
Truth is, the two of them had come to use the privy themselves, but being so drunk, they'd forgotten all about going in and were simply dragging us off instead.
酔っ払いは目の中る所へ用事を拵えて、前の事はすぐ忘れてしまうんだろう。  
I suppose a drunk man invents himself a new errand out of whatever crosses his eye, and forgets the last one on the spot.

「さあ、諸君、いかさま師を引っ張って来た。  
'Here now, everyone, I've dragged in the swindler.'
さあ飲ましてくれたまえ。  
'Come, someone pour him a drink.'
いかさま師をうんと云うほど、酔わしてくれたまえ。  
'Get the swindler good and drunk, as much as he can take.'
君逃げちゃいかん」  
'You mustn't run off now.'

と逃げもせぬ、おれを壁際へ圧し付けた。  
And though I hadn't the least intention of running off, he pinned me against the wall.
諸方を見廻してみると、膳の上に満足な肴の乗っているのは一つもない。  
Looking around the room, there wasn't a single tray with any decent food still on it.
自分の分を奇麗に食い尽して、五六間先へ遠征に出た奴もいる。  
Some fellows had cleaned their own trays completely bare and gone off raiding five or six ken, about ten yards, down the room.
校長はいつ帰ったか姿が見えない。  
The principal was nowhere to be seen — he must have slipped away at some point.

ところへお座敷はこちら？  
Just then, 'Is the party in here?'
　と芸者が三四人はいって来た。  
came the voice, and three or four geisha stepped in.
おれも少し驚ろいたが、壁際へ圧し付けられているんだから、じっとしてただ見ていた。  
I was a little startled myself, but being pinned against the wall as I was, I just stayed put and watched.
すると今まで床柱へもたれて例の琥珀のパイプを自慢そうに啣えていた、赤シャツが急に起って、座敷を出にかかった。  
At that, Red Shirt, who up till then had been leaning against the alcove post smugly puffing on his usual amber pipe, suddenly stood up and made to leave the room.
向うからはいって来た芸者の一人が、行き違いながら、笑って挨拶をした。  
One of the geisha coming in the other way passed him with a smiling greeting.
その一人は一番若くて一番奇麗な奴だ。  
She was the youngest and prettiest of the lot.
遠くで聞えなかったが、おや今晩はぐらい云ったらしい。  
I couldn't hear from that distance, but it seemed to be something like 'Oh, good evening.'
赤シャツは知らん顔をして出て行ったぎり、顔を出さなかった。  
Red Shirt walked straight out with a face that pretended not to know her, and never showed himself again.
大方校長のあとを追懸けて帰ったんだろう。  
I suppose he'd gone chasing after the principal, back home.

芸者が来たら座敷中急に陽気になって、一同が鬨の声を揚げて歓迎したのかと思うくらい、騒々しい。  
Once the geisha arrived the whole room turned suddenly festive, so noisy it was as if everyone had let out a war-cry of welcome.
そうしてある奴はなんこを攫む。  
One fellow One fellow started playing nanko, guessing the hidden sticks..
その声の大きな事、まるで居合抜の稽古のようだ。  
The shouting was so loud it might have been a sword-drawing drill.
こっちでは拳を打ってる。  
Over here, someone was Over here, they were playing a hand game of ken..
よっ、はっ、と夢中で両手を振るところは、ダーク一座の操人形よりよっぽど上手だ。  
The way they threw up both hands, shouting 'yo!' and 'ha!' in a frenzy, was far more skillful than any of Dark's troupe of puppets.
向うの隅ではおいお酌だ、と徳利を振ってみて、酒だ酒だと言い直している。  
Over in the corner someone called, 'Hey, pour me one,' shook an empty flask, and corrected himself: 'Sake — bring the sake.'
どうもやかましくて騒々しくってたまらない。  
It was altogether too loud and unbearably rowdy.
そのうちで手持無沙汰に下を向いて考え込んでるのはうらなり君ばかりである。  
The only one sitting with his head down, looking idle and lost in thought amid it all, was Uranari.
自分のために送別会を開いてくれたのは、自分の転任を惜んでくれるんじゃない。  
This farewell party thrown in his own honor wasn't held because anyone regretted his transfer.
みんなが酒を呑んで遊ぶためだ。  
It was only so that everyone could drink and amuse themselves.
自分独りが手持無沙汰で苦しむためだ。  
It was so that he alone could sit there suffering, at loose ends.
こんな送別会なら、開いてもらわない方がよっぽどましだ。  
With a farewell party like this, it would have been far better not to have one at all.

しばらくしたら、めいめい胴間声を出して何か唄い始めた。  
After a while, each man began bellowing out some song of his own in a booming voice.
おれの前へ来た一人の芸者が、あんた、なんぞ、唄いなはれ、と三味線を抱えたから、おれは唄わない、貴様唄ってみろと云ったら、金や太鼓でねえ、迷子の迷子の三太郎と、どんどこ、どんのちゃんちきりん。  
A geisha who'd come to sit before me picked up her shamisen and said, 'Go on, sing us something,' so I told her I wasn't singing, let her sing instead — and she launched into: 'With gongs and drums, hey — lost, lost little Santarō, dondoko, don no chan chikirin.'
叩いて廻って逢われるものならば、わたしなんぞも、金や太鼓でどんどこ、どんのちゃんちきりんと叩いて廻って逢いたい人がある、と二た息にうたって、おおしんどと云った。  
'If beating a drum and going round could bring us together, why, I too have someone I long to meet, and I'd go round beating gongs and drums, dondoko, don no chan chikirin' — she sang it through in two breaths and said, 'Oh, that's tiring.'
おおしんどなら、もっと楽なものをやればいいのに。  
If it was so tiring, she might as well have picked something easier.

すると、いつの間にか傍へ来て坐った、野だが、鈴ちゃん逢いたい人に逢ったと思ったら、すぐお帰りで、お気の毒さまみたようでげすと相変らず噺し家みたような言葉使いをする。  
At that, Toady, who'd sat himself down beside her without my noticing, chimed in — 'Now, Suzu-chan, just when you finally meet the one you long for, off he goes right away, terribly sorry for you, I'm sure' — still talking in that comic-storyteller's manner of his.
知りまへんと芸者はつんと済ました。  
'Don't know what you mean,' the geisha said, and turned up her nose.
野だは頓着なく、たまたま逢いは逢いながら……と、いやな声を出して義太夫の真似をやる。  
Toady paid no mind at all, and in a grating voice launched into an imitation of gidayū chanting: 'though by chance we meet, we meet...'
> «義太夫» ぎだゆう (gidayū): A dramatic chanted narration style (developed for bunraku puppet theater) with a distinctive strained, declamatory voice — which is exactly why Toady's amateur imitation of it sounds so grating.
おきなはれやと芸者は平手で野だの膝を叩いたら野だは恐悦して笑ってる。  
'Oh, stop it,' the geisha said, and slapped Toady's knee with the flat of her hand, and Toady, thoroughly delighted, only laughed.
この芸者は赤シャツに挨拶をした奴だ。  
This was the same geisha who'd greeted Red Shirt earlier.
芸者に叩かれて笑うなんて、野だもおめでたい者だ。  
Laughing at being slapped by a geisha — Toady really is a blessedly simple fool.
鈴ちゃん僕が紀伊の国を踴るから、一つ弾いて頂戴と云い出した。  
'Suzu-chan, I'll dance the Kii-no-kuni for you, so give us a tune,' he announced.
野だはこの上まだ踴る気でいる。  
Toady, on top of everything, still meant to go on dancing.

向うの方で漢学のお爺さんが歯のない口を歪めて、そりゃ聞えません伝兵衛さん、お前とわたしのその中は……とまでは無事に済したが、それから？  
Off in the distance, the old Chinese-classics teacher twisted his toothless mouth and got as far as, 'Oh, I can't hear you, Denbei-san, you and I, between us...' without mishap, but then, 'and then?'
　と芸者に聞いている。  
he asked the geisha.
爺さんなんて物覚えのわるいものだ。  
Old men really do have terrible memories.
一人が博物を捕まえて近頃こないなのが、でけましたぜ、弾いてみまほうか。  
One of the geisha caught hold of the natural-history teacher and said, 'There's a new one out lately, want me to play it for you?'
よう聞いて、いなはれや――花月巻、白いリボンのハイカラ頭、乗るは自転車、弾くはヴァイオリン、半可の英語でぺらぺらと、I am glad to see you と唄うと、博物はなるほど面白い、英語入りだねと感心している。  
'Listen carefully now' — and she sang: 'Kagetsu-maki hairdo, white ribbon, fashionable head, rides a bicycle, plays the violin, rattles off half-baked English — "I am glad to see you"' — and the natural-history man, quite impressed, said, well now, that's clever, English and all.
> «ハイカラ» (haikara): From English 'high collar' — Meiji slang for anything fashionably Westernized, whether in dress, manner, or affectation. The geisha's song mocks a fashionably Westernized young woman who wears a Kagetsu-maki coiffure, rides a bicycle, plays the violin, and drops English phrases. who rides a bicycle and drops English phrases.

山嵐は馬鹿に大きな声を出して、芸者、芸者と呼んで、おれが剣舞をやるから、三味線を弾けと号令を下した。  
Porcupine, in a ridiculously loud voice, kept calling out 'Geisha! Geisha!' and issued the order that he was going to perform a sword-dance, so someone had better play the shamisen.
芸者はあまり乱暴な声なので、あっけに取られて返事もしない。  
His voice was so rough that the geisha were too taken aback even to answer.
山嵐は委細構わず、ステッキを持って来て、踏破千山万岳烟と真中へ出て独りで隠し芸を演じている。  
Porcupine paid this no mind whatsoever, fetched a walking stick, strode out into the middle of the room, and began performing his party trick all alone, declaiming 'I have crossed a thousand mountains, ten thousand peaks wreathed in mist.'
> «剣舞» けんぶ (kenbu): A dramatic solo sword-dance performed to recited classical-Chinese-style poetry (here, «踏破千山万岳烟») — a standard party trick for men who fancy themselves cultured, which Porcupine clearly does.
ところへ野だがすでに紀伊の国を済まして、かっぽれを済まして、棚の達磨さんを済して丸裸の越中褌一つになって、棕梠箒を小脇に抱い込んで、日清談判破裂して……と座敷中練りあるき出した。  
Meanwhile Toady, having already finished his Kii-no-kuni, finished his kappore, finished 'Daruma-san on the shelf,' had stripped down to nothing but a loincloth, and now tucked a palm-bark broom under his arm and went parading around the whole room chanting 'the Sino-Japanese negotiations have broken down...'
> «越中褌» えっちゅうふんどし (etchū fundoshi): A style of Japanese loincloth, the standard men's undergarment of the day — Toady strips down to just this, which is why his drunken parade around the room reads as genuinely, comically indecent.
まるで気違いだ。  
The man was a perfect lunatic.

おれはさっきから苦しそうに袴も脱がず控えているうらなり君が気の毒でたまらなかったが、なんぼ自分の送別会だって、越中褌の裸踴まで羽織袴で我慢してみている必要はあるまいと思ったから、そばへ行って、古賀さんもう帰りましょうと退去を勧めてみた。  
I'd been feeling sorry past bearing for Uranari, who all this while had sat there looking miserable, still in his hakama, sitting quietly apart, and I thought that however much this was his own farewell party, there was no need for him to sit there enduring even a stripped-down loincloth dance in full formal dress, so I went over and urged him to leave, saying, 'Koga-san, let's go home now.'
するとうらなり君は今日は私の送別会だから、私が先へ帰っては失礼です、どうぞご遠慮なくと動く景色もない。  
But Uranari said that since this was his own farewell party, it would be discourteous of him to leave ahead of everyone else, please don't mind him — and showed no sign of budging at all.
なに構うもんですか、送別会なら、送別会らしくするがいいです、あの様をご覧なさい。  
'What does it matter,' I said, 'if it's a farewell party, they ought to at least act like one — just look at that.'
気狂会です。  
'It's a madhouse.'
さあ行きましょうと、進まないのを無理に勧めて、座敷を出かかるところへ、野だが箒を振り振り進行して来て、やご主人が先へ帰るとはひどい。  
'Come, let's go' — and I pressed him, reluctant as he was, and just as we were making for the door, Toady came marching up waving his broom about and said, 'Well now, isn't it a shame, the guest of honor running off first.'
日清談判だ。  
'The Sino-Japanese negotiations.'
帰せないと箒を横にして行く手を塞いだ。  
'Can't let him go home,' he said, and held the broom crosswise, blocking our way.
おれはさっきから肝癪が起っているところだから、日清談判なら貴様はちゃんちゃんだろうと、いきなり拳骨で、野だの頭をぽかりと喰わしてやった。  
My temper had already been rising for a while, so I said, 'If it's the Sino-Japanese negotiations, then you must be the Chinaman,' and gave Toady's head a good crack with my fist, just like that.
> A period ethnic slur, in period voice: «ちゃんちゃん» was a derogatory Meiji-era term for Chinese people, current amid the era's Sino-Japanese War sentiment. Botchan uses it as a crude jab at Toady's mock 'negotiations' routine — a real but ugly period usage, kept here for historical accuracy, not endorsement.
野だは二三秒の間毒気を抜かれた体で、ぼんやりしていたが、おやこれはひどい。  
Toady stood there dazed for a couple of seconds, all the wind knocked out of him, then said, 'Well, now, that's a rotten trick.'
お撲ちになったのは情ない。  
'How shameful of you to hit me.'
この吉川をご打擲とは恐れ入った。  
'To lay hands on me, Yoshikawa, no less — I'm quite overcome.'
いよいよもって日清談判だ。  
'This really is the Sino-Japanese negotiations now.'
とわからぬ事をならべているところへ、うしろから山嵐が何か騒動が始まったと見てとって、剣舞をやめて、飛んできたが、このていたらくを見て、いきなり頸筋をうんと攫んで引き戻した。  
While he went on stringing together this nonsense, Porcupine, seeing from behind that some kind of commotion had started, broke off his sword-dance and came running over, and taking in the whole sorry scene, seized Toady hard by the scruff of the neck and hauled him back.
日清……いたい。  
'Sino-Japan— ow.'
いたい。  
'Ow.'
どうもこれは乱暴だと振りもがくところを横に捩ったら、すとんと倒れた。  
'This is outrageous,' he cried, struggling to shake free, and when Porcupine gave him a sideways wrench, he went down flat with a thump.
> Mimetic adverb for a sudden fall: «すとんと» is a mimetic (giongo) word for something dropping suddenly and completely — here, Toady hitting the floor the instant Porcupine wrenches him off balance.
あとはどうなったか知らない。  
What happened after that, I have no idea.
途中でうらなり君に別れて、うちへ帰ったら十一時過ぎだった。  
I parted from Uranari partway home, and by the time I got back it was past eleven o'clock.
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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.