Botchan 1732 Studios

Japanese · Botchan

十一

Chapter 11

321 sentences · 20 notes

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  1. 1

    When I woke up the next morning, my whole body ached unbearably.

    あくる日the next dayあくる日 · nouncompound with 眼
    眼eyes眼 · nounsubject of 覚め
    が(subject)が · particleparticle marking 眼
    覚めwoke覚める · verbadverbial clause on 痛く
    てandて · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of 覚め
    みる(try)みる · verbpart of the phrase て
    とwhenと · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of 覚め
    身体body身体 · nouncompound with 中
    中all over中 · nounoblique complement of 痛く
    痛くached痛い · adjectiveadverbial clause on たまら
    てandて · subordinating conjunctionintroduces the clause of 痛く
    たまらstand itたまる · verbmain verb of the sentence
    ないcan'tない · auxiliary verbauxiliary of たまら

  2. I suppose it hit me this hard because I hadn't gotten in a fight in ages.

  3. I was lying in bed thinking I couldn't really brag about this, when the old woman brought in the Shikoku Shimbun and set it down by my pillow.

  4. Truth be told, even looking at the newspaper felt like a chore, but I told myself a man couldn't let a little thing like this beat him, forced myself onto my stomach, and opened it to page two while still lying down — and there I got a shock.

  5. Yesterday's fight was right there in print.

  6. That the fight was in the paper didn't surprise me, but it went on to say that a certain middle-school teacher named Hotta, together with a certain conceited fellow recently posted from Tokyo, had incited the well-behaved students to raise this disturbance, and moreover the pair had been on the scene directing the students and had wantonly inflicted violence on the normal-school boys — and then it appended an opinion like this.

  7. This prefecture's middle school has long been the envy of the whole country for its good and gentle spirit, but now, because of two shallow young rascals, our school's standing has been damaged, and having suffered this disgrace before the whole city, we cannot but rise up in righteous indignation and demand that responsibility be taken.

  8. We trust that before we ourselves take action, the authorities will mete out a fitting punishment upon these scoundrels, so as to leave them no room ever again to set foot in the world of education.

  9. And on top of that they'd put a black dot under every single character, thinking they had taught us a lesson.

  10. Lying there in bed I said 'eat shit' and sprang bolt upright.

  11. Strange to say, all the joints that had been aching so badly went light, as if I'd forgotten the pain, the instant I jumped up.

  12. 2

    I balled up the newspaper and flung it into the garden, but even that didn't satisfy me, so I went to the trouble of carrying it to the privy and throwing it away there.

  13. Newspapers will tell any reckless lie.

  14. If you ask what tells the biggest whoppers in this world, nothing out-blusters a newspaper.

  15. They'd gone and said all the things I ought to have been the one to say.

  16. And what's this about 'a certain conceited fellow recently posted from Tokyo'?

  17. Is there anyone in this whole world actually named 'Certain Fellow'?

  18. Think about it.

  19. Even I have a perfectly respectable surname and given name.

  20. If they want to see my genealogy, I'll show them every last ancestor going back to Tada no Manjū.

  21. — When I washed my face, my cheek suddenly started to hurt.

  22. I told the old woman to hand me a mirror, and she asked whether I'd seen this morning's paper.

  23. I'd read it and thrown it in the privy.

  24. When I told her to go fish it out if she wanted it, she backed away in surprise.

  25. Looking at my face in the mirror, the cut was still there just as it had been yesterday.

  26. Even so, this face matters to me — to have it cut up, and then on top of that be called 'a certain conceited fellow,' some nameless 'Certain,' is more than I can stomach.

  27. 3

    Being told I'd cowered from today's paper and stayed home from school would be a disgrace for life, so I ate my rice and reported in as the very first one there.

  28. Every single one who came in took one look at my face and laughed.

  29. What's so funny about it?

  30. It's not as if you lot made this face for me.

  31. Presently Toady came in and said, well, quite the feat yesterday — an honorable wound, was it — teasing me nastily, perhaps thinking this was payback for the punch I gave him at the farewell party, so I told him to hold his tongue and go lick his paintbrush instead.

  32. To which he said, why, I stand humbled.

  33. But he added, it must hurt something awful, so I said whether it hurts or not, it's my own face.

  34. I bellowed at him that I'd be damned if I needed his sympathy, and he went off to his own seat across the way, still eyeing my face, whispering something to the history teacher next to him, and laughing.

  35. 4

    Then Porcupine reported in.

  36. As for Porcupine's nose, it had swollen up purple, looking like it might ooze pus if you dug into it.

  37. Maybe it's just vanity, but he looked to have taken it far worse than my own face had.

  38. Porcupine and I sit at neighboring desks, close friends that we are, and on top of it our desks sit right opposite the doorway, which was our bad luck.

  39. Two odd faces bunched together.

  40. Whenever the other fellows got bored they were sure to stare our way.

  41. They'd say aloud what a shame, but in their hearts they surely thought, what fools.

  42. Otherwise there'd be no reason for them to whisper together like that and snicker.

  43. When I stepped into the classroom the students greeted me with applause.

  44. Two or three of them even shouted 'hurrah for the teacher.'

  45. I couldn't tell whether it was rousing cheer or plain mockery.

  46. With Porcupine and me the focus of every eye like this, only Red Shirt came over as usual and said, what a dreadful misfortune this has been.

  47. I feel simply terrible for you two.

  48. I've talked it over with the principal about the newspaper article and already arranged to demand a correction, so you needn't worry.

  49. It's because my younger brother went and invited Hotta out that this whole thing happened, and I really am terribly sorry.

  50. So I intend to do everything I can about this matter, please don't hold it against me — he strung together half-apologetic words like these.

  51. The principal came out of his office during third period and said, what a bother, the newspaper has written this up.

  52. He looked somewhat worried, saying he hoped it wouldn't turn into a mess.

  53. I myself had no worries at all — if they meant to fire me, I'd simply hand in my resignation before they got the chance.

  54. But since I'd done nothing wrong, to withdraw of my own accord would only make the blustering newspapermen more insufferable, so I decided the right thing was to make the paper print a correction and, out of sheer stubbornness, keep right on in my post.

  55. On my way home I thought of going to argue it out with the newspaper myself, but since I was told the school had already arranged for a retraction, I let it drop.

  56. 5

    Porcupine and I, finding a free moment, explained the plain truth of it to the principal and the vice-principal.

  57. The principal and vice-principal concluded, no doubt, that the newspaper bore some grudge against the school and had deliberately run that article.

  58. Red Shirt went around the staff room, one man at a time, defending our conduct.

  59. In particular he went around broadcasting, as though it were his own fault, that it was his younger brother who had lured Porcupine out.

  60. Everyone said it was entirely the newspaper's fault, outrageous, and that the two of us had truly suffered a misfortune.

  61. 6

    On the way home Porcupine warned me, that Red Shirt smells fishy, watch out or you'll get done in.

  62. I said he'd smelled fishy from the start, it wasn't as though he'd only gone bad today, and Porcupine told me, haven't you caught on yet, yesterday he deliberately lured us out and dragged us into that fight — that was a scheme.

  63. I have to admit, I hadn't caught on that far.

  64. Porcupine seems rough and ready, but I was impressed to find he's a shrewder man than I am.

  65. 7

    He set us fighting like that, then straightaway pulled strings with the newspaper to have that article written.

  66. He's a real villain.

  67. 8

    So even the newspaper is Red Shirt's doing?

  68. That's a surprise.

  69. But would a newspaper really do whatever Red Shirt says, just like that?

  70. 9

    Of course it would.

  71. If he has a friend at the paper, it's nothing at all.

  72. 10

    Does he have a friend there?

  73. 11

    Even without one it's easy enough.

  74. Tell them a lie, say the facts are thus and so, and they'll print it right away.

  75. 12

    That's a rotten business.

  76. If it really is Red Shirt's scheme, we might well get fired over this whole affair.

  77. 13

    If it goes badly, we could well be done in.

  78. 14

    In that case I'll hand in my resignation tomorrow and head straight back to Tokyo.

  79. I don't care to stay in a low-down place like this even if they beg me.

  80. 15

    Even if you hand in your resignation, it won't trouble Red Shirt a bit.

  81. 16

    I suppose that's true.

  82. What would actually trouble him, then?

  83. 17

    Whatever a schemer like that does, he's always careful to leave no evidence at all, so it'll be hard to refute him.

  84. 18

    What a nuisance.

  85. So we're stuck taking the blame for something we didn't do.

  86. There's nothing amusing about it.

  87. Is Heaven's Way right or wrong, I wonder.

  88. 19

    Well, let's watch how things go for another two or three days.

  89. And if it comes down to it in the end, there'll be nothing for it but to catch him red-handed in the hot-spring town.

  90. 20

    You mean set the fight business aside as its own matter?

  91. 21

    That's right.

  92. We'll handle our end by pinning down his weak point on our own.

  93. 22

    That sounds fine.

  94. I'm no good at scheming, so I'll leave everything to you.

  95. When the time comes I'll do whatever's needed.

  96. 23

    Porcupine and I parted ways there.

  97. If Red Shirt really had done exactly what Porcupine supposed, he was a truly rotten fellow.

  98. There was no way I could ever beat him at a battle of wits.

  99. It simply had to come down to brute force.

  100. No wonder wars never cease in this world.

  101. Even between two men, in the end it all comes down to force.

  102. 24

    The next day I could hardly wait for the paper to come, and when I opened it up, there wasn't even a retraction, let alone a correction.

  103. I went to school and pressed the Badger about it, and he said it would probably come out tomorrow or so.

  104. The next day a retraction did appear, in tiny size-six type.

  105. But of course the newspaper never printed any correction.

  106. When I went to argue it with the principal again, his answer was that there was no other procedure to be had beyond that.

  107. For all his badger-like face and his stiff frock-coat airs, the principal turns out to be surprisingly powerless.

  108. He can't even make one country newspaper apologize for printing a false article.

  109. I got so angry I said fine, I'll go myself and argue it out with the editor-in-chief, but he said that won't do, if you go argue with him you'll only get written up worse.

  110. In short, once a newspaper has written something up, true or false, there's simply nothing to be done about it.

  111. There's no choice but to give it up, he added, in a lecture that sounded like a priest's sermon.

  112. If that's all a newspaper is, the sooner it's crushed out of existence the better for the rest of us.

  113. That being written up in a newspaper is much the same as being bitten by a soft-shelled turtle — that I learned for the very first time, this very day, from the Badger's own explanation.

  114. 25

    About three days later, one afternoon, Porcupine came storming up to say the time had finally come and he meant to carry out our plan, so I said fine then, I'm in too, and joined the conspiracy on the spot.

  115. But Porcupine cocked his head and said I'd better stay out of it.

  116. When I asked why, he asked whether the principal had called me in and told me to resign, and I said no, he hadn't.

  117. What about you?

  118. I asked back, and he said that today, in the principal's office, he'd been told, most regrettably, that under the circumstances he'd better resolve to resign.

  119. 26

    There's no such justice.

  120. The Badger's probably been drumming on his belly so much his stomach's flipped upside down.

  121. You and I went to the victory party together, watched Kōchi's flashy dance together, and waded into that fight to stop it together, didn't we?

  122. If he's going to say resign, he should say it fairly to both of us.

  123. Why can't a country school ever get its reasoning straight?

  124. It's maddening.

  125. 27

    That's Red Shirt pulling strings.

  126. Given how things stand, Red Shirt and I can never coexist, but he figures leaving you as you are won't do him any harm.

  127. 28

    As if I could ever coexist with Red Shirt either.

  128. For him to think I'm harmless is downright insolent.

  129. 29

    He thinks you're so simple that if he keeps you on, he can fool you any way he likes.

  130. 30

    That's even worse.

  131. Who says I'd ever coexist with him.

  132. 31

    Besides, ever since Koga left before, his replacement still hasn't arrived on account of some trouble.

  133. And if he pushed both you and me out at the same time on top of that, there'd be gaps in the students' schedule and it would hurt the classes.

  134. 32

    So he means to keep me around as a stopgap wedge, does he.

  135. Damn him, as if I'd fall for that trick.

  136. 33

    The next day I went to school, walked into the principal's office, and started the argument.

  137. 34

    Why don't you tell me to hand in my resignation?

  138. 35

    'Eh?'

  139. the Badger said, looking utterly taken aback.

  140. 36

    Is there some rule that says Hotta should hand his in but I needn't hand in mine?

  141. 37

    That's a matter of the school's own convenience...

  142. 38

    That convenience of yours is a mistake.

  143. If it's fine for me not to hand mine in, then Hotta shouldn't need to either.

  144. 39

    I'm afraid I can't quite explain that part — it's simply that Hotta's leaving is unavoidable, whereas we see no need for you to submit your resignation.

  145. 40

    A true badger indeed — stringing together nothing but evasive nonsense, and perfectly composed about it too.

  146. Since there was nothing else for it, I said—

  147. 41

    Then I'll hand in my resignation too.

  148. You may think I could sit here comfortably while Hotta alone is made to resign, but I'm not capable of anything so heartless.

  149. 42

    That would be a problem.

  150. If both Hotta and you leave, the school's mathematics classes will grind to a complete halt...

  151. 43

    Whether they grind to a halt or not is none of my concern.

  152. 44

    You mustn't be so willful about it, you need to consider the school's circumstances a little too.

  153. Besides, resigning when you've barely been here a month will affect your future career record, so you'd do well to think a little about that too.

  154. 45

    Who cares about a career record — duty matters more than that.

  155. 46

    That's all perfectly reasonable — every word you say is perfectly reasonable, but please try to understand my side a little too.

  156. If you truly insist on resigning, then resign if you must, but please carry on until a replacement is found.

  157. In any case, please go home and reconsider it once more.

  158. 47

    Reconsider, he says — it was a perfectly plain and unalterable matter of principle, but the Badger kept turning pale and then red, and I began to feel sorry for him, so I withdrew for the time being on the pretext of reconsidering.

  159. I didn't say a word to Red Shirt.

  160. If I was going to lay into him anyway, it was better to save it all up and lay into him good and hard all at once.

  161. 48

    When I told Porcupine how the argument with the Badger had gone, he said he'd more or less guessed as much.

  162. He said there'd be no harm leaving the matter of the resignation as it was until it came to the crunch, so I did as Porcupine said.

  163. Porcupine does seem to be the shrewder one between us, so I decided to follow his advice on everything.

  164. 49

    Porcupine finally handed in his resignation, said his farewells to the whole staff, and went down to the Minatoya inn at the harbor, but then he doubled back without anyone knowing, hid himself in the front upstairs room of the Masuya in the hot-spring town, poked a hole in the paper screen, and started watching through it.

  165. I was surely the only one who knew of this.

  166. If Red Shirt came sneaking in, it would certainly be at night.

  167. And since there'd be the eyes of students and others about in the early evening, it was bound to be after nine o'clock at the very earliest.

  168. For the first two nights I too kept watch until about eleven, but not so much as a shadow of Red Shirt appeared.

  169. On the third night I watched from nine to half past ten, but it was no use again.

  170. There's nothing more foolish than trudging back to your lodgings in the dead of night having accomplished nothing.

  171. After four or five days the old woman at my lodgings began to worry a little and advised me that, when you have a wife, I'd best give up my night carousing.

  172. This wasn't the kind of night carousing she meant at all.

  173. Mine was the sort of night business where I act as heaven's own hand of punishment.

  174. Still, after keeping at it for a whole week without the least result, a man does start to lose heart.

  175. I'm the impatient sort by nature, so once I throw myself into something I'll work at it all night, but in exchange I've never once managed to keep at anything for long.

  176. Even a hand of heavenly punishment, it turns out, is no exception to growing bored.

  177. By the sixth day I was a little sick of it, and by the seventh I was thinking of taking the night off.

  178. Porcupine, by contrast, is a stubborn one.

  179. From early evening until past midnight he'd keep his eye pressed to the paper screen, staring fixedly at the ground beneath Kadoya’s dim round gas lamp.

  180. Whenever I came, he'd surprise me by reeling off statistics — so many guests today, so many staying the night, so many women.

  181. When I said it looked like he wasn't going to show after all, he'd say, yes, he's bound to come, and every so often fold his arms and sigh.

  182. Poor fellow — if Red Shirt never once came to this place, Porcupine would go his whole life without ever getting to deliver his heavenly punishment.

  183. 50

    On the eighth day I left my lodgings around seven, first took a leisurely bath, and then bought eight hen's eggs in town.

  184. This was my scheme for answering the old woman’s sweet-potato torture.

  185. I put four of the eggs in each sleeve, tossed my usual red hand towel over my shoulder, went up the stairs of the Masuya with my hands tucked in my kimono, and when I slid open the screen of Porcupine's room he cried, hey, it's looking up, it's looking up — his swift-runner's face suddenly full of life.

  186. Up until last night he'd seemed a bit down, gloomy enough that even I, merely looking on, had found it depressing, but seeing his face now, I suddenly felt happy myself, and before I'd even asked anything I said, wonderful, wonderful.

  187. 51

    Tonight around half past seven, that geisha called Kosuzu went into the Kadoya.

  188. 52

    Together with Red Shirt?

  189. 53

    No.

  190. 54

    Then it's no good.

  191. 55

    There were two geisha together, but — it does look promising.

  192. 56

    Why's that?

  193. 57

    Why, because he's the crafty sort, he might well send the geisha ahead and come sneaking in afterward himself.

  194. 58

    That could well be.

  195. It must be nine already.

  196. 59

    'It's just about twelve past nine,' he said, pulling a nickel watch out from his sash and looking at it, then added, 'hey, put out the lamp — it'll look strange if two bald-monk heads show up on the screen.'

  197. That fox suspects everything right away.

  198. 60

    I gave a puff and blew out the lamp sitting on the papered desk.

  199. By starlight the paper screen alone was a little bright.

  200. The moon had not yet risen.

  201. Porcupine and I pressed our faces to the screen with all our might, holding our breath.

  202. A wall clock chimed nine-thirty with a clear ting.

  203. 61

    Say, do you think he'll come?

  204. If he doesn't come tonight I'm through with this.

  205. 62

    I'll keep at it as long as my money holds out.

  206. 63

    How much money do you even have?

  207. 64

    Up through today I've paid five yen sixty sen for eight days.

  208. I settle up every single night so I can bolt out the door whenever it's convenient.

  209. 65

    That's well organized of you.

  210. The inn must be baffled by you.

  211. 66

    The inn's fine, but the trouble is I can never let my guard down.

  212. 67

    In exchange you must nap in the daytime, I suppose.

  213. 68

    I do nap, but not being able to go out is unbearably confining.

  214. 69

    Delivering heavenly punishment is hard work, isn't it.

  215. It'd be pointless if, after all this, heaven's vast net turned out too loose and let him slip through.

  216. 70

    No, tonight he's sure to come.

  217. — hey, look, look, he said, dropping his voice, and my heart gave an involuntary jump.

  218. A man wearing a black hat passed by, looking up at the Kadoya's gas lamp from below, and went on into the darkness.

  219. It wasn't him.

  220. Well, well, I thought.

  221. Presently the front-desk clock struck ten without ceremony.

  222. It looked like tonight, too, was going to be a bust after all.

  223. 71

    The world outside had grown a good deal quieter.

  224. The drums beaten in the pleasure quarter carried clearly, as if within arm's reach.

  225. The moon poked its face up from behind the hot-spring mountain.

  226. The street was bright.

  227. Then voices began to be heard from down below.

  228. I couldn't very well stick my head out the window, so I couldn't make out who it was, but it seemed to be gradually drawing nearer.

  229. There came the clack-clack of wooden clogs being dragged along.

  230. By slanting my eyes I could just make out two shadowy figures, they'd come that close.

  231. 72

    'We're quite safe now, aren't we.'

  232. 'We've chased off the nuisance' — it was unmistakably Toady's voice.

  233. 'He is all bluster and has no plan, so he is hopeless.' — this was Red Shirt.

  234. 'That fellow really does talk like some rough Edo tough, doesn't he.'

  235. 'And with that tough talk of his, playing the hot-blooded young hero, he's actually rather charming.' 'Refusing a raise and wanting to resign, of all things — there must be something plainly wrong with his nerves.' I wanted to throw open the window, jump down from the second floor, and beat them both senseless, but I just barely held myself back.

  236. The two of them, laughing ha-ha-ha, passed under the gas lamp and went into the Kadoya.

  237. 73

    Hey.

  238. 74

    Hey.

  239. 75

    He came.

  240. 76

    He finally came.

  241. 77

    Now at last I can rest easy.

  242. 78

    That bastard Toady, calling me a hot-blooded young hero, of all things.

  243. 79

    'Nuisance' — he meant me.

  244. How thoroughly insolent.

  245. 80

    Porcupine and I had to waylay the two of them on their way back.

  246. But there was no telling when the two of them would come out.

  247. Porcupine went downstairs and asked them to leave the way clear for us to go out, in case we had business that took us out in the middle of the night.

  248. Thinking back on it now, it's a wonder the innkeepers agreed to it at all.

  249. Under ordinary circumstances we'd have been mistaken for burglars.

  250. 81

    Waiting for Red Shirt to arrive had been hard enough, but sitting still waiting for him to come out again was harder still.

  251. I couldn't sleep, and staring endlessly through the gap in the screen was exhausting too, and one way or another my mind just wouldn't settle — I've never had such a wretched time of it before or since.

  252. I proposed that we might as well just storm into the Kadoya and catch them in the act, but Porcupine rejected my suggestion flat out.

  253. If the two of us barged in at this hour, he said, they'd stop us halfway and call us hoodlums.

  254. If we explained ourselves and asked to see them, they'd either claim they weren't there or show us into some other room.

  255. Even supposing we could barge in and catch them off guard, there was no telling which of the dozens of rooms they were in, so tedious as it was there was no choice but to wait them out — that was what he said, and so, with great difficulty, we held out all the way until five in the morning.

  256. 82

    The moment we saw the two shadows come out of the Kadoya, Porcupine and I followed right on their heels.

  257. There was no first train yet, so the two of them would have to walk all the way to the castle town.

  258. Once you leave the hot-spring town there's about a hundred yards of cedar-lined road, with paddy fields on either side.

  259. Beyond that there are thatched roofs here and there, and you come out onto an embankment running straight through the fields to the castle town.

  260. Once they were clear of the town it wouldn't matter where we caught up with them, but we thought it best to nab them where there were no houses, on the cedar-lined road, so we followed keeping now in sight, now hidden.

  261. Once they'd left the town we broke suddenly into a run and, quick as a squall, caught up from behind.

  262. They turned around in surprise to see what was coming; we told them to stop and put our hands on their shoulders.

  263. Toady looked flustered and about to bolt, so I went around in front and blocked his way.

  264. 83

    'How is it that a man holding the post of vice-principal went and stayed the night at the Kadoya?' Porcupine demanded at once.

  265. 84

    'Is there a rule that says a vice-principal isn't allowed to stay at the Kadoya?' Red Shirt said, still using his same polite language.

  266. His color had gone a little pale.

  267. 85

    'You who are so scrupulous you forbid us even to set foot in a soba shop or a dumpling stall for the sake of discipline — why did you go holed up at an inn together with a geisha?' Toady kept watching for a chance to bolt, so I planted myself right in front of him and bellowed, 'What the hell did you mean by “beranmee Botchan”?' and he brazenly whined, 'No, no, I wasn't talking about you, truly I wasn't.'

  268. It was just then I noticed I had both hands clenched around my own sleeves.

  269. While chasing them the eggs in my sleeves had been swinging about and getting in my way, so I'd come along holding them steady with both hands.

  270. Without another thought I plunged my hands into my sleeves, pulled out two eggs, and, saying 'take that,' hurled them straight at Toady's face.

  271. The eggs burst with a wet splat and yolk came dripping down from the tip of his nose.

  272. Toady looked utterly stunned, crying out and falling back onto his rear, begging for help.

  273. I'd bought the eggs to eat, not put them in my sleeves for the purpose of throwing at anyone.

  274. But in my sheer fury I ended up hurling them without even meaning to.

  275. But once I saw Toady land on his backside, I realized for the first time that I'd actually succeeded, so, shouting 'you bastard, you bastard,' I hurled the remaining six wildly at him, until his whole face turned yellow.

  276. 86

    While I was busy pelting eggs, Porcupine and Red Shirt were still in the thick of their argument.

  277. 87

    'Do you have proof that I took a geisha and stayed at the inn?'

  278. 88

    'I say it because I saw your favorite geisha go into the Kadoya this evening.'

  279. 'As if you could talk your way out of that.'

  280. 89

    'I have no need to talk my way out of anything.'

  281. 'I stayed the night together with Mr. Yoshikawa, just the two of us.'

  282. 'Whether some geisha went in that evening or not is none of my affair.'

  283. 90

    'Shut up,' Porcupine said, and let fly with his fist.

  284. Red Shirt staggered, but said, 'This is violence, this is outrageous.'

  285. 'Resorting to force instead of arguing right and wrong is lawless.'

  286. 91

    'Lawless suits me just fine,' and he punched him again, thwack.

  287. 'A villain like you will not answer unless he is beaten.,' and he kept pounding away.

  288. At the same time I gave Toady a thorough thrashing too.

  289. In the end both of them crouched at the foot of a cedar tree, unable to move, or perhaps too dazed, and made no move to flee.

  290. 92

    'Had enough? If not I'll keep hitting you,' and both of us kept pounding away, thwack, thwack, until he said, 'that's enough.'

  291. I asked Toady, 'and you, had enough too?' and he answered, 'of course I've had enough.'

  292. 93

    'You're both schemers, and that's why we're dealing out this heavenly punishment.'

  293. 'Let this be a lesson to you, and mend your ways from now on.'

  294. 'However cleverly you argue your excuses, justice won't forgive you,' Porcupine said, and the two of them fell silent.

  295. Perhaps talking had simply become too much trouble for them.

  296. 94

    'I'm not running or hiding from anyone.'

  297. 'Until five o'clock tonight I'll be at the Minatoya down at the harbor.'

  298. 'If you have business with me, send a policeman or whoever you like,' Porcupine said, so I added, 'I'm not running or hiding either.'

  299. 'I'll be waiting in the same place as Hotta, so if you want to report us to the police, go right ahead,' I said, and the two of us strode off together.

  300. 95

    I got back to my lodgings a little before seven.

  301. I went straight into my room and started packing, and the old woman, startled, asked whatever was I doing.

  302. I told her, old woman, I’m going to Tokyo to bring my wife back., settled my bill, took the train straight down to the harbor, and when I got to the Minatoya, Porcupine was upstairs asleep.

  303. I meant to write out my resignation at once, but not knowing quite what to put, I wrote something like, owing to personal circumstances I hereby resign my post and return to Tokyo, please be so advised, and mailed it off addressed to the principal.

  304. 96

    The steamer sailed at six in the evening.

  305. Both Porcupine and I were exhausted and fell into a dead sleep, and when we woke it was two in the afternoon.

  306. I asked the maid whether any policeman had come, and she said none had.

  307. 'So neither Red Shirt nor Toady reported us after all,' we said, and the two of us had a good long laugh.

  308. 97

    That night Porcupine and I left that unclean land behind.

  309. The farther the ship drew away from the shore, the better I felt.

  310. From Kobe to Tokyo I went straight through, and when I arrived at Shinbashi I felt at last as if I'd stepped back out into the real world.

  311. Porcupine and I parted ways right away there, and I haven't had occasion to see him since, right up to today.

  312. 98

    I've forgotten to say anything about Kiyo.

  313. — When I arrived in Tokyo, without even going to find lodgings, still carrying my leather bag, I burst in saying, Kiyo, I'm home, and she said, oh, Botchan, how wonderful that you've come back so soon, and the tears came dropping down.

  314. I was so happy myself that I told her, I'm never going to the country again, I'm going to keep house with you here in Tokyo.

  315. 99

    After that, through someone's introduction, I became a technician on the city trolley line.

  316. My monthly wage was twenty-five yen, and the rent was six.

  317. Kiyo seemed perfectly content even without a house with a proper entryway, but sadly this past February she caught pneumonia and died.

  318. The day before she died she called me to her and said, Botchan, I beg you, when Kiyo dies, please bury her in your family temple.

  319. 'I'll be waiting in my grave, looking forward to the day Botchan comes,' she said.

  320. And so Kiyo's grave is at Yōgenji temple in Kobinata.

  321. 100

    (April, Meiji 39 — 1906)

The particulars

The text
坊っちゃん, Natsume Sōseki. Botchan.
Translation
Public-domain Japanese (Natsume Sōseki, d. 1916; published 1906). English translation © 2026 1732 Studios, LLC.
Reading aloud
Digital narration, directed by 1732 Studios.
Words
Every word of the text, by letter.
Data
JSON · Markdown · A guide for agents
Two whoopie pies and a pine. An inside joke.