# Botchan, Chapter 11

坊っちゃん · Natsume Sōseki · Botchan

Source: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch11. Data: https://1732studios.com/books/botchan/ch11.json. Audio: https://audio.1732studios.com/botchan/<line id>.m4a.


あくる日眼が覚めてみると、身体中痛くてたまらない。  
When I woke up the next morning, my whole body ached unbearably.
久しく喧嘩をしつけなかったから、こんなに答えるんだろう。  
I suppose it hit me this hard because I hadn't gotten in a fight in ages.
> Conjecture ~んだろう: «んだろう» (a plain/masculine contraction of «のだろう») softens a claim into a guess: 'I suppose it's because...'. It pairs the explanatory «んだ» with the conjectural «だろう» — the register Botchan narrates in throughout, brash but never quite certain.
これじゃあんまり自慢もできないと床の中で考えていると、婆さんが四国新聞を持ってきて枕元へ置いてくれた。  
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.
実は新聞を見るのも退儀なんだが、男がこれしきの事に閉口たれて仕様があるものかと無理に腹這いになって、寝ながら、二頁を開けてみると驚ろいた。  
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.
> «閉口» へいこう (heikō): «閉口» へいこう (heikō) — literally 'mouth closed'; to be nonplussed, overwhelmed, or at a loss for words. Botchan uses it dismissively: no way he would let this little pain overwhelm him.
昨日の喧嘩がちゃんと出ている。  
Yesterday's fight was right there in print.
喧嘩の出ているのは驚ろかないのだが、中学の教師堀田某と、近頃東京から赴任した生意気なる某とが、順良なる生徒を使嗾してこの騒動を喚起せるのみならず、両人は現場にあって生徒を指揮したる上、みだりに師範生に向って暴行をほしいままにしたりと書いて、次にこんな意見が附記してある。  
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.
> «某» なにがし (nanigashi) / ぼう (bō): «某» なにがし (nanigashi), here effectively read ぼう (bō) — 'a certain so-and-so'. The newspaper's refusal to print his actual name is exactly what infuriates Botchan in the sentences that follow.
本県の中学は昔時より善良温順の気風をもって全国の羨望するところなりしが、軽薄なる二豎子のために吾校の特権を毀損せられて、この不面目を全市に受けたる以上は、吾人は奮然として起ってその責任を問わざるを得ず。  
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.
吾人は信ず、吾人が手を下す前に、当局者は相当の処分をこの無頼漢の上に加えて、彼等をして再び教育界に足を入るる余地なからしむる事を。  
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.
> ~ざるを得ず — 'cannot help but': «ざるを得ず» is the classical negative «ざる» plus «を得ず» ('cannot obtain/avoid'): 'cannot help but do X'. This whole newspaper excerpt is written in stiff, quasi-classical である prose, a deliberate contrast with Botchan's rough spoken narration.
そうして一字ごとにみんな黒点を加えて、お灸を据えたつもりでいる。  
And on top of that they'd put a black dot under every single character, thinking they had taught us a lesson.
おれは床の中で、糞でも喰らえと云いながら、むっくり飛び起きた。  
Lying there in bed I said 'eat shit' and sprang bolt upright.
不思議な事に今まで身体の関節が非常に痛かったのが、飛び起きると同時に忘れたように軽くなった。  
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.

おれは新聞を丸めて庭へ抛げつけたが、それでもまだ気に入らなかったから、わざわざ後架へ持って行って棄てて来た。  
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.
新聞なんて無暗な嘘を吐くもんだ。  
Newspapers will tell any reckless lie.
世の中に何が一番法螺を吹くと云って、新聞ほどの法螺吹きはあるまい。  
If you ask what tells the biggest whoppers in this world, nothing out-blusters a newspaper.
おれの云ってしかるべき事をみんな向うで並べていやがる。  
They'd gone and said all the things I ought to have been the one to say.
それに近頃東京から赴任した生意気な某とは何だ。  
And what's this about 'a certain conceited fellow recently posted from Tokyo'?
天下に某と云う名前の人があるか。  
Is there anyone in this whole world actually named 'Certain Fellow'?
考えてみろ。  
Think about it.
これでもれっきとした姓もあり名もあるんだ。  
Even I have a perfectly respectable surname and given name.
系図が見たけりゃ、多田満仲以来の先祖を一人残らず拝ましてやらあ。  
If they want to see my genealogy, I'll show them every last ancestor going back to Tada no Manjū.
> Shitamachi contraction ~やらあ: «やらあ» is a rough Tokyo contraction of «やるわ» (“I'll do it for you”), with the blunt, boastful force of the original. «拝ましてやる» = 'I'll let you have a look/worship' — pure swagger in dialect.
――顔を洗ったら、頬ぺたが急に痛くなった。  
— When I washed my face, my cheek suddenly started to hurt.
婆さんに鏡をかせと云ったら、けさの新聞をお見たかなもしと聞く。  
I told the old woman to hand me a mirror, and she asked whether I'd seen this morning's paper.
読んで後架へ棄てて来た。  
I'd read it and thrown it in the privy.
欲しけりゃ拾って来いと云ったら、驚いて引き下がった。  
When I told her to go fish it out if she wanted it, she backed away in surprise.
鏡で顔を見ると昨日と同じように傷がついている。  
Looking at my face in the mirror, the cut was still there just as it had been yesterday.
これでも大事な顔だ、顔へ傷まで付けられた上へ生意気なる某などと、某呼ばわりをされればたくさんだ。  
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.
> «たくさんだ» — 'that's enough!': Beyond its literal sense of 'a lot', «たくさんだ» used like this means 'I've had enough of that' — a common way to declare that a limit has been crossed.

今日の新聞に辟易して学校を休んだなどと云われちゃ一生の名折れだから、飯を食っていの一号に出頭した。  
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.
出てくる奴も、出てくる奴もおれの顔を見て笑っている。  
Every single one who came in took one look at my face and laughed.
何がおかしいんだ。  
What's so funny about it?
貴様達にこしらえてもらった顔じゃあるまいし。  
It's not as if you lot made this face for me.
そのうち、野だが出て来て、いや昨日はお手柄で、――名誉のご負傷でげすか、と送別会の時に撲った返報と心得たのか、いやに冷かしたから、余計な事を言わずに絵筆でも舐めていろと云ってやった。  
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.
> Pleasure-quarter speech «げす»: «げす» is a contracted, affectedly polite copula associated with the geisha quarters and the fops who frequented them — Toady, the art teacher, uses it to sound sophisticated, which is part of why Botchan despises him.
するとこりゃ恐入りやした。  
To which he said, why, I stand humbled.
しかしさぞお痛い事でげしょうと云うから、痛かろうが、痛くなかろうがおれの面だ。  
But he added, it must hurt something awful, so I said whether it hurts or not, it's my own face.
貴様の世話になるもんかと怒鳴りつけてやったら、向う側の自席へ着いて、やっぱりおれの顔を見て、隣りの歴史の教師と何か内所話をして笑っている。  
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.

それから山嵐が出頭した。  
Then Porcupine reported in.
山嵐の鼻に至っては、紫色に膨張して、掘ったら中から膿が出そうに見える。  
As for Porcupine's nose, it had swollen up purple, looking like it might ooze pus if you dug into it.
自惚のせいか、おれの顔よりよっぽど手ひどく遣られている。  
Maybe it's just vanity, but he looked to have taken it far worse than my own face had.
おれと山嵐は机を並べて、隣り同志の近しい仲で、お負けにその机が部屋の戸口から真正面にあるんだから運がわるい。  
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.
妙な顔が二つ塊まっている。  
Two odd faces bunched together.
ほかの奴は退屈にさえなるときっとこっちばかり見る。  
Whenever the other fellows got bored they were sure to stare our way.
飛んだ事でと口で云うが、心のうちではこの馬鹿がと思ってるに相違ない。  
They'd say aloud what a shame, but in their hearts they surely thought, what fools.
それでなければああいう風に私語合ってはくすくす笑う訳がない。  
Otherwise there'd be no reason for them to whisper together like that and snicker.
教場へ出ると生徒は拍手をもって迎えた。  
When I stepped into the classroom the students greeted me with applause.
先生万歳と云うものが二三人あった。  
Two or three of them even shouted 'hurrah for the teacher.'
景気がいいんだか、馬鹿にされてるんだか分からない。  
I couldn't tell whether it was rousing cheer or plain mockery.
おれと山嵐がこんなに注意の焼点となってるなかに、赤シャツばかりは平常の通り傍へ来て、どうも飛んだ災難でした。  
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.
僕は君等に対してお気の毒でなりません。  
I feel simply terrible for you two.
新聞の記事は校長とも相談して、正誤を申し込む手続きにしておいたから、心配しなくてもいい。  
I've talked it over with the principal about the newspaper article and already arranged to demand a correction, so you needn't worry.
僕の弟が堀田君を誘いに行ったから、こんな事が起ったので、僕は実に申し訳がない。  
It's because my younger brother went and invited Hotta out that this whole thing happened, and I really am terribly sorry.
それでこの件についてはあくまで尽力するつもりだから、どうかあしからず、などと半分謝罪的な言葉を並べている。  
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.
校長は三時間目に校長室から出てきて、困った事を新聞がかき出しましたね。  
The principal came out of his office during third period and said, what a bother, the newspaper has written this up.
むずかしくならなければいいがと多少心配そうに見えた。  
He looked somewhat worried, saying he hoped it wouldn't turn into a mess.
おれには心配なんかない、先で免職をするなら、免職される前に辞表を出してしまうだけだ。  
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.
> «免職» めんしょく (menshoku): «免職» めんしょく (menshoku) — dismissal from one's post. A formal, bureaucratic compound; Botchan would rather resign («辞表», じひょう) himself than be fired outright.
しかし自分がわるくないのにこっちから身を引くのは法螺吹きの新聞屋をますます増長させる訳だから、新聞屋を正誤させて、おれが意地にも務めるのが順当だと考えた。  
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.
帰りがけに新聞屋に談判に行こうと思ったが、学校から取消の手続きはしたと云うから、やめた。  
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.

おれと山嵐は校長と教頭に時間の合間を見計って、嘘のないところを一応説明した。  
Porcupine and I, finding a free moment, explained the plain truth of it to the principal and the vice-principal.
校長と教頭はそうだろう、新聞屋が学校に恨みを抱いて、あんな記事をことさらに掲げたんだろうと論断した。  
The principal and vice-principal concluded, no doubt, that the newspaper bore some grudge against the school and had deliberately run that article.
赤シャツはおれ等の行為を弁解しながら控所を一人ごとに廻ってあるいていた。  
Red Shirt went around the staff room, one man at a time, defending our conduct.
ことに自分の弟が山嵐を誘い出したのを自分の過失であるかのごとく吹聴していた。  
In particular he went around broadcasting, as though it were his own fault, that it was his younger brother who had lured Porcupine out.
みんなは全く新聞屋がわるい、怪しからん、両君は実に災難だと云った。  
Everyone said it was entirely the newspaper's fault, outrageous, and that the two of us had truly suffered a misfortune.

帰りがけに山嵐は、君赤シャツは臭いぜ、用心しないとやられるぜと注意した。  
On the way home Porcupine warned me, that Red Shirt smells fishy, watch out or you'll get done in.
どうせ臭いんだ、今日から臭くなったんじゃなかろうと云うと、君まだ気が付かないか、きのうわざわざ、僕等を誘い出して喧嘩のなかへ、捲き込んだのは策だぜと教えてくれた。  
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.
> «策» さく (saku): «策» さく (saku) — a scheme, stratagem, or trick. Porcupine's accusation that Red Shirt engineered the fight turns on this one word, which recurs through the chapter's conspiracy plot.
なるほどそこまでは気がつかなかった。  
I have to admit, I hadn't caught on that far.
山嵐は粗暴なようだが、おれより智慧のある男だと感心した。  
Porcupine seems rough and ready, but I was impressed to find he's a shrewder man than I am.

「ああやって喧嘩をさせておいて、すぐあとから新聞屋へ手を廻してあんな記事をかかせたんだ。  
He set us fighting like that, then straightaway pulled strings with the newspaper to have that article written.
実に奸物だ」  
He's a real villain.

「新聞までも赤シャツか。  
So even the newspaper is Red Shirt's doing?
そいつは驚いた。  
That's a surprise.
しかし新聞が赤シャツの云う事をそう容易く聴くかね」  
But would a newspaper really do whatever Red Shirt says, just like that?

「聴かなくって。  
Of course it would.
新聞屋に友達が居りゃ訳はないさ」  
If he has a friend at the paper, it's nothing at all.

「友達が居るのかい」  
Does he have a friend there?

「居なくても訳ないさ。  
Even without one it's easy enough.
嘘をついて、事実これこれだと話しゃ、すぐ書くさ」  
Tell them a lie, say the facts are thus and so, and they'll print it right away.

「ひどいもんだな。  
That's a rotten business.
本当に赤シャツの策なら、僕等はこの事件で免職になるかも知れないね」  
If it really is Red Shirt's scheme, we might well get fired over this whole affair.

「わるくすると、遣られるかも知れない」  
If it goes badly, we could well be done in.

「そんなら、おれは明日辞表を出してすぐ東京へ帰っちまわあ。  
In that case I'll hand in my resignation tomorrow and head straight back to Tokyo.
こんな下等な所に頼んだって居るのはいやだ」  
I don't care to stay in a low-down place like this even if they beg me.

「君が辞表を出したって、赤シャツは困らない」  
Even if you hand in your resignation, it won't trouble Red Shirt a bit.

「それもそうだな。  
I suppose that's true.
どうしたら困るだろう」  
What would actually trouble him, then?

「あんな奸物の遣る事は、何でも証拠の挙がらないように、挙がらないようにと工夫するんだから、反駁するのはむずかしいね」  
Whatever a schemer like that does, he's always careful to leave no evidence at all, so it'll be hard to refute him.

「厄介だな。  
What a nuisance.
それじゃ濡衣を着るんだね。  
So we're stuck taking the blame for something we didn't do.
面白くもない。  
There's nothing amusing about it.
天道是耶非かだ」  
Is Heaven's Way right or wrong, I wonder.

「まあ、もう二三日様子を見ようじゃないか。  
Well, let's watch how things go for another two or three days.
それでいよいよとなったら、温泉の町で取って抑えるより仕方がないだろう」  
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.

「喧嘩事件は、喧嘩事件としてか」  
You mean set the fight business aside as its own matter?

「そうさ。  
That's right.
こっちはこっちで向うの急所を抑えるのさ」  
We'll handle our end by pinning down his weak point on our own.

「それもよかろう。  
That sounds fine.
おれは策略は下手なんだから、万事よろしく頼む。  
I'm no good at scheming, so I'll leave everything to you.
いざとなれば何でもする」  
When the time comes I'll do whatever's needed.

俺と山嵐はこれで分れた。  
Porcupine and I parted ways there.
赤シャツが果たして山嵐の推察通りをやったのなら、実にひどい奴だ。  
If Red Shirt really had done exactly what Porcupine supposed, he was a truly rotten fellow.
到底智慧比べで勝てる奴ではない。  
There was no way I could ever beat him at a battle of wits.
どうしても腕力でなくっちゃ駄目だ。  
It simply had to come down to brute force.
> «腕力» わんりょく (wanryoku): «腕力» わんりょく (wanryoku) — physical/arm strength, brute force. Set against «智慧» (ちえ, chie, 'wit'), it's the blunt solution Botchan reaches for whenever cleverness fails him.
なるほど世界に戦争は絶えない訳だ。  
No wonder wars never cease in this world.
個人でも、とどの詰りは腕力だ。  
Even between two men, in the end it all comes down to force.

あくる日、新聞のくるのを待ちかねて、披いてみると、正誤どころか取り消しも見えない。  
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.
学校へ行って狸に催促すると、あしたぐらい出すでしょうと云う。  
I went to school and pressed the Badger about it, and he said it would probably come out tomorrow or so.
明日になって六号活字で小さく取消が出た。  
The next day a retraction did appear, in tiny size-six type.
しかし新聞屋の方で正誤は無論しておらない。  
But of course the newspaper never printed any correction.
また校長に談判すると、あれより手続きのしようはないのだと云う答だ。  
When I went to argue it with the principal again, his answer was that there was no other procedure to be had beyond that.
校長なんて狸のような顔をして、いやにフロック張っているが存外無勢力なものだ。  
For all his badger-like face and his stiff frock-coat airs, the principal turns out to be surprisingly powerless.
虚偽の記事を掲げた田舎新聞一つ詫まらせる事が出来ない。  
He can't even make one country newspaper apologize for printing a false article.
あんまり腹が立ったから、それじゃ私が一人で行って主筆に談判すると云ったら、それはいかん、君が談判すればまた悪口を書かれるばかりだ。  
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.
つまり新聞屋にかかれた事は、うそにせよ、本当にせよ、つまりどうする事も出来ないものだ。  
In short, once a newspaper has written something up, true or false, there's simply nothing to be done about it.
あきらめるより外に仕方がないと、坊主の説教じみた説諭を加えた。  
There's no choice but to give it up, he added, in a lecture that sounded like a priest's sermon.
新聞がそんな者なら、一日も早く打っ潰してしまった方が、われわれの利益だろう。  
If that's all a newspaper is, the sooner it's crushed out of existence the better for the rest of us.
新聞にかかれるのと、泥鼈に食いつかれるとが似たり寄ったりだとは今日ただ今狸の説明によって始めて承知仕った。  
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.
> «泥鼈» すっぽん (suppon): «泥鼈» すっぽん (suppon), a soft-shelled turtle known in folklore for clamping its jaws shut and never letting go — proverbially, once something latches onto you it won't release its bite, exactly like a newspaper's false story.

それから三日ばかりして、ある日の午後、山嵐が憤然とやって来て、いよいよ時機が来た、おれは例の計画を断行するつもりだと云うから、そうかそれじゃおれもやろうと、即座に一味徒党に加盟した。  
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.
ところが山嵐が、君はよす方がよかろうと首を傾けた。  
But Porcupine cocked his head and said I'd better stay out of it.
なぜと聞くと君は校長に呼ばれて辞表を出せと云われたかと尋ねるから、いや云われない。  
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.
君は？  
What about you?
　と聴き返すと、今日校長室で、まことに気の毒だけれども、事情やむをえんから処決してくれと云われたとの事だ。  
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.

「そんな裁判はないぜ。  
There's no such justice.
狸は大方腹鼓を叩き過ぎて、胃の位置が顛倒したんだ。  
The Badger's probably been drumming on his belly so much his stomach's flipped upside down.
君とおれは、いっしょに、祝勝会へ出てさ、いっしょに高知のぴかぴか踴りを見てさ、いっしょに喧嘩をとめにはいったんじゃないか。  
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?
辞表を出せというなら公平に両方へ出せと云うがいい。  
If he's going to say resign, he should say it fairly to both of us.
なんで田舎の学校はそう理窟が分らないんだろう。  
Why can't a country school ever get its reasoning straight?
焦慮いな」  
It's maddening.

「それが赤シャツの指金だよ。  
That's Red Shirt pulling strings.
おれと赤シャツとは今までの行懸り上到底両立しない人間だが、君の方は今の通り置いても害にならないと思ってるんだ」  
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.

「おれだって赤シャツと両立するものか。  
As if I could ever coexist with Red Shirt either.
害にならないと思うなんて生意気だ」  
For him to think I'm harmless is downright insolent.

「君はあまり単純過ぎるから、置いたって、どうでも胡魔化されると考えてるのさ」  
He thinks you're so simple that if he keeps you on, he can fool you any way he likes.

「なお悪いや。  
That's even worse.
誰が両立してやるものか」  
Who says I'd ever coexist with him.

「それに先だって古賀が去ってから、まだ後任が事故のために到着しないだろう。  
Besides, ever since Koga left before, his replacement still hasn't arrived on account of some trouble.
その上に君と僕を同時に追い出しちゃ、生徒の時間に明きが出来て、授業にさし支えるからな」  
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.

「それじゃおれを間のくさびに一席伺わせる気なんだな。  
So he means to keep me around as a stopgap wedge, does he.
こん畜生、だれがその手に乗るものか」  
Damn him, as if I'd fall for that trick.

翌日おれは学校へ出て校長室へ入って談判を始めた。  
The next day I went to school, walked into the principal's office, and started the argument.

「何で私に辞表を出せと云わないんですか」  
Why don't you tell me to hand in my resignation?

「へえ？」  
'Eh?'
と狸はあっけに取られている。  
the Badger said, looking utterly taken aback.

「堀田には出せ、私には出さないで好いと云う法がありますか」  
Is there some rule that says Hotta should hand his in but I needn't hand in mine?

「それは学校の方の都合で……」  
That's a matter of the school's own convenience...

「その都合が間違ってまさあ。  
That convenience of yours is a mistake.
私が出さなくって済むなら堀田だって、出す必要はないでしょう」  
If it's fine for me not to hand mine in, then Hotta shouldn't need to either.

「その辺は説明が出来かねますが――堀田君は去られてもやむをえんのですが、あなたは辞表をお出しになる必要を認めませんから」  
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.

なるほど狸だ、要領を得ない事ばかり並べて、しかも落ち付き払ってる。  
A true badger indeed — stringing together nothing but evasive nonsense, and perfectly composed about it too.
おれは仕様がないから  
Since there was nothing else for it, I said—

「それじゃ私も辞表を出しましょう。  
Then I'll hand in my resignation too.
堀田君一人辞職させて、私が安閑として、留まっていられると思っていらっしゃるかも知れないが、私にはそんな不人情な事は出来ません」  
You may think I could sit here comfortably while Hotta alone is made to resign, but I'm not capable of anything so heartless.

「それは困る。  
That would be a problem.
堀田も去りあなたも去ったら、学校の数学の授業がまるで出来なくなってしまうから……」  
If both Hotta and you leave, the school's mathematics classes will grind to a complete halt...

「出来なくなっても私の知った事じゃありません」  
Whether they grind to a halt or not is none of my concern.

「君そう我儘を云うものじゃない、少しは学校の事情も察してくれなくっちゃ困る。  
You mustn't be so willful about it, you need to consider the school's circumstances a little too.
それに、来てから一月立つか立たないのに辞職したと云うと、君の将来の履歴に関係するから、その辺も少しは考えたらいいでしょう」  
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.

「履歴なんか構うもんですか、履歴より義理が大切です」  
Who cares about a career record — duty matters more than that.

「そりゃごもっとも――君の云うところは一々ごもっともだが、わたしの云う方も少しは察して下さい。  
That's all perfectly reasonable — every word you say is perfectly reasonable, but please try to understand my side a little too.
> Deferential «ごもっとも»: «ごもっとも» (from «尤も», mottomo, 'reasonable') with the honorific «ご-» prefix is «ごもっとも» is a polite formula conceding that another person's point is reasonable; here the principal uses it to placate his subordinate Botchan while still resisting him. — here the principal uses it toward Botchan, ironically, while still refusing him.
君が是非辞職すると云うなら辞職されてもいいから、代りのあるまでどうかやってもらいたい。  
If you truly insist on resigning, then resign if you must, but please carry on until a replacement is found.
とにかく、うちでもう一返考え直してみて下さい」  
In any case, please go home and reconsider it once more.

考え直すって、直しようのない明々白々たる理由だが、狸が蒼くなったり、赤くなったりして、可愛想になったからひとまず考え直す事として引き下がった。  
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.
> Turning pale, then red: «蒼くなる» (あおくなる, turn pale/blue) alternating with «赤くなる» (turn red) describes someone visibly flustered — the classic tell of the principal's discomfort under pressure.
赤シャツには口もきかなかった。  
I didn't say a word to Red Shirt.
どうせ遣っつけるなら塊めて、うんと遣っつける方がいい。  
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.

山嵐に狸と談判した模様を話したら、大方そんな事だろうと思った。  
When I told Porcupine how the argument with the Badger had gone, he said he'd more or less guessed as much.
辞表の事はいざとなるまでそのままにしておいても差支えあるまいとの話だったから、山嵐の云う通りにした。  
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.
どうも山嵐の方がおれよりも利巧らしいから万事山嵐の忠告に従う事にした。  
Porcupine does seem to be the shrewder one between us, so I decided to follow his advice on everything.

山嵐はいよいよ辞表を出して、職員一同に告別の挨拶をして浜の港屋まで下ったが、人に知れないように引き返して、温泉の町の枡屋の表二階へ潜んで、障子へ穴をあけて覗き出した。  
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.
これを知ってるものはおればかりだろう。  
I was surely the only one who knew of this.
赤シャツが忍んで来ればどうせ夜だ。  
If Red Shirt came sneaking in, it would certainly be at night.
しかも宵の口は生徒やその他の目があるから、少なくとも九時過ぎに極ってる。  
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.
最初の二晩はおれも十一時頃まで張番をしたが、赤シャツの影も見えない。  
For the first two nights I too kept watch until about eleven, but not so much as a shadow of Red Shirt appeared.
三日目には九時から十時半まで覗いたがやはり駄目だ。  
On the third night I watched from nine to half past ten, but it was no use again.
駄目を踏んで夜なかに下宿へ帰るほど馬鹿気た事はない。  
There's nothing more foolish than trudging back to your lodgings in the dead of night having accomplished nothing.
四五日すると、うちの婆さんが少々心配を始めて、奥さんのおありるのに、夜遊びはおやめたがええぞなもしと忠告した。  
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.
そんな夜遊びとは夜遊びが違う。  
This wasn't the kind of night carousing she meant at all.
こっちのは天に代って誅戮を加える夜遊びだ。  
Mine was the sort of night business where I act as heaven's own hand of punishment.
とはいうものの一週間も通って、少しも験が見えないと、いやになるもんだ。  
Still, after keeping at it for a whole week without the least result, a man does start to lose heart.
おれは性急な性分だから、熱心になると徹夜でもして仕事をするが、その代り何によらず長持ちのした試しがない。  
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.
いかに天誅党でも飽きる事に変りはない。  
Even a hand of heavenly punishment, it turns out, is no exception to growing bored.
六日目には少々いやになって、七日目にはもう休もうかと思った。  
By the sixth day I was a little sick of it, and by the seventh I was thinking of taking the night off.
そこへ行くと山嵐は頑固なものだ。  
Porcupine, by contrast, is a stubborn one.
宵から十二時過までは眼を障子へつけて、角屋の丸ぼやの瓦斯燈の下を睨めっきりである。  
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.
おれが行くと今日は何人客があって、泊りが何人、女が何人といろいろな統計を示すのには驚ろいた。  
Whenever I came, he'd surprise me by reeling off statistics — so many guests today, so many staying the night, so many women.
どうも来ないようじゃないかと云うと、うん、たしかに来るはずだがと時々腕組をして溜息をつく。  
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.
可愛想に、もし赤シャツがここへ一度来てくれなければ、山嵐は、生涯天誅を加える事は出来ないのである。  
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.

八日目には七時頃から下宿を出て、まずゆるりと湯に入って、それから町で鶏卵を八つ買った。  
On the eighth day I left my lodgings around seven, first took a leisurely bath, and then bought eight hen's eggs in town.
これは下宿の婆さんの芋責に応ずる策である。  
This was my scheme for answering the old woman’s sweet-potato torture.
その玉子を四つずつ左右の袂へ入れて、例の赤手拭を肩へ乗せて、懐手をしながら、枡屋の楷子段を登って山嵐の座敷の障子をあけると、おい有望有望と韋駄天のような顔は急に活気を呈した。  
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.
昨夜までは少し塞ぎの気味で、はたで見ているおれさえ、陰気臭いと思ったくらいだが、この顔色を見たら、おれも急にうれしくなって、何も聞かない先から、愉快愉快と云った。  
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.

「今夜七時半頃あの小鈴と云う芸者が角屋へはいった」  
Tonight around half past seven, that geisha called Kosuzu went into the Kadoya.

「赤シャツといっしょか」  
Together with Red Shirt?

「いいや」  
No.

「それじゃ駄目だ」  
Then it's no good.

「芸者は二人づれだが、――どうも有望らしい」  
There were two geisha together, but — it does look promising.

「どうして」  
Why's that?

「どうしてって、ああ云う狡い奴だから、芸者を先へよこして、後から忍んでくるかも知れない」  
Why, because he's the crafty sort, he might well send the geisha ahead and come sneaking in afterward himself.

「そうかも知れない。  
That could well be.
もう九時だろう」  
It must be nine already.

「今九時十二分ばかりだ」と帯の間からニッケル製の時計を出して見ながら云ったが「おい洋燈を消せ、障子へ二つ坊主頭が写ってはおかしい。  
'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.'
狐はすぐ疑ぐるから」  
That fox suspects everything right away.

おれは一貫張の机の上にあった置き洋燈をふっと吹きけした。  
I gave a puff and blew out the lamp sitting on the papered desk.
星明りで障子だけは少々あかるい。  
By starlight the paper screen alone was a little bright.
月はまだ出ていない。  
The moon had not yet risen.
おれと山嵐は一生懸命に障子へ面をつけて、息を凝らしている。  
Porcupine and I pressed our faces to the screen with all our might, holding our breath.
チーンと九時半の柱時計が鳴った。  
A wall clock chimed nine-thirty with a clear ting.

「おい来るだろうかな。  
Say, do you think he'll come?
今夜来なければ僕はもう厭だぜ」  
If he doesn't come tonight I'm through with this.

「おれは銭のつづく限りやるんだ」  
I'll keep at it as long as my money holds out.

「銭っていくらあるんだい」  
How much money do you even have?

「今日までで八日分五円六十銭払った。  
Up through today I've paid five yen sixty sen for eight days.
いつ飛び出しても都合のいいように毎晩勘定するんだ」  
I settle up every single night so I can bolt out the door whenever it's convenient.

「それは手廻しがいい。  
That's well organized of you.
宿屋で驚いてるだろう」  
The inn must be baffled by you.

「宿屋はいいが、気が放せないから困る」  
The inn's fine, but the trouble is I can never let my guard down.

「その代り昼寝をするだろう」  
In exchange you must nap in the daytime, I suppose.

「昼寝はするが、外出が出来ないんで窮屈でたまらない」  
I do nap, but not being able to go out is unbearably confining.

「天誅も骨が折れるな。  
Delivering heavenly punishment is hard work, isn't it.
これで天網恢々疎にして洩らしちまったり、何かしちゃ、つまらないぜ」  
It'd be pointless if, after all this, heaven's vast net turned out too loose and let him slip through.

「なに今夜はきっとくるよ。  
No, tonight he's sure to come.
――おい見ろ見ろ」と小声になったから、おれは思わずどきりとした。  
— hey, look, look, he said, dropping his voice, and my heart gave an involuntary jump.
黒い帽子を戴いた男が、角屋の瓦斯燈を下から見上げたまま暗い方へ通り過ぎた。  
A man wearing a black hat passed by, looking up at the Kadoya's gas lamp from below, and went on into the darkness.
違っている。  
It wasn't him.
おやおやと思った。  
Well, well, I thought.
そのうち帳場の時計が遠慮なく十時を打った。  
Presently the front-desk clock struck ten without ceremony.
今夜もとうとう駄目らしい。  
It looked like tonight, too, was going to be a bust after all.

世間は大分静かになった。  
The world outside had grown a good deal quieter.
遊廓で鳴らす太鼓が手に取るように聞える。  
The drums beaten in the pleasure quarter carried clearly, as if within arm's reach.
月が温泉の山の後からのっと顔を出した。  
The moon poked its face up from behind the hot-spring mountain.
往来はあかるい。  
The street was bright.
すると、下の方から人声が聞えだした。  
Then voices began to be heard from down below.
窓から首を出す訳には行かないから、姿を突き留める事は出来ないが、だんだん近づいて来る模様だ。  
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.
からんからんと駒下駄を引き擦る音がする。  
There came the clack-clack of wooden clogs being dragged along.
眼を斜めにするとやっと二人の影法師が見えるくらいに近づいた。  
By slanting my eyes I could just make out two shadowy figures, they'd come that close.

「もう大丈夫ですね。  
'We're quite safe now, aren't we.'
邪魔ものは追っ払ったから」正しく野だの声である。  
'We've chased off the nuisance' — it was unmistakably Toady's voice.
「強がるばかりで策がないから、仕様がない」これは赤シャツだ。  
'He is all bluster and has no plan, so he is hopeless.' — this was Red Shirt.
「あの男もべらんめえに似ていますね。  
'That fellow really does talk like some rough Edo tough, doesn't he.'
> Edo shitamachi «べらんめえ»: «べらんめえ» is rough, contracted Tokyo shitamachi speech (from «べらぼうめ», 'you fool') — brash and unmistakably working-class. Toady uses it to mock Botchan's manner of talking as uncouth — confirmed later in the chapter when Botchan fumes that it was Toady, not Red Shirt, who called him 勇み肌の坊っちゃん.
あのべらんめえと来たら、勇み肌の坊っちゃんだから愛嬌がありますよ」「増給がいやだの辞表を出したいのって、ありゃどうしても神経に異状があるに相違ない」おれは窓をあけて、二階から飛び下りて、思う様打ちのめしてやろうと思ったが、やっとの事で辛防した。  
'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.
二人はハハハハと笑いながら、瓦斯燈の下を潜って、角屋の中へはいった。  
The two of them, laughing ha-ha-ha, passed under the gas lamp and went into the Kadoya.

「おい」  
Hey.

「おい」  
Hey.

「来たぜ」  
He came.

「とうとう来た」  
He finally came.

「これでようやく安心した」  
Now at last I can rest easy.

「野だの畜生、おれの事を勇み肌の坊っちゃんだと抜かしやがった」  
That bastard Toady, calling me a hot-blooded young hero, of all things.
> Contemptuous ~やがる: «やがる» is an auxiliary attached to a verb's stem to express contempt toward the subject's action: «抜かす» (crude for 'to say') + «やがる» = 'had the nerve to say'. It marks Botchan's fury at Toady's insult.

「邪魔物と云うのは、おれの事だぜ。  
'Nuisance' — he meant me.
失敬千万な」  
How thoroughly insolent.

おれと山嵐は二人の帰路を要撃しなければならない。  
Porcupine and I had to waylay the two of them on their way back.
しかし二人はいつ出てくるか見当がつかない。  
But there was no telling when the two of them would come out.
山嵐は下へ行って今夜ことによると夜中に用事があって出るかも知れないから、出られるようにしておいてくれと頼んで来た。  
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.
今思うと、よく宿のものが承知したものだ。  
Thinking back on it now, it's a wonder the innkeepers agreed to it at all.
大抵なら泥棒と間違えられるところだ。  
Under ordinary circumstances we'd have been mistaken for burglars.

赤シャツの来るのを待ち受けたのはつらかったが、出て来るのをじっとして待ってるのはなおつらい。  
Waiting for Red Shirt to arrive had been hard enough, but sitting still waiting for him to come out again was harder still.
寝る訳には行かないし、始終障子の隙から睨めているのもつらいし、どうも、こうも心が落ちつかなくって、これほど難儀な思いをした事はいまだにない。  
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.
いっその事角屋へ踏み込んで現場を取って抑えようと発議したが、山嵐は一言にして、おれの申し出を斥けた。  
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.
自分共が今時分飛び込んだって、乱暴者だと云って途中で遮られる。  
If the two of us barged in at this hour, he said, they'd stop us halfway and call us hoodlums.
訳を話して面会を求めれば居ないと逃げるか別室へ案内をする。  
If we explained ourselves and asked to see them, they'd either claim they weren't there or show us into some other room.
不用意のところへ踏み込めると仮定したところで何十とある座敷のどこに居るか分るものではない、退屈でも出るのを待つより外に策はないと云うから、ようやくの事でとうとう朝の五時まで我慢した。  
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.

角屋から出る二人の影を見るや否や、おれと山嵐はすぐあとを尾けた。  
The moment we saw the two shadows come out of the Kadoya, Porcupine and I followed right on their heels.
一番汽車はまだないから、二人とも城下まであるかなければならない。  
There was no first train yet, so the two of them would have to walk all the way to the castle town.
温泉の町をはずれると一丁ばかりの杉並木があって左右は田圃になる。  
Once you leave the hot-spring town there's about a hundred yards of cedar-lined road, with paddy fields on either side.
それを通りこすとここかしこに藁葺があって、畠の中を一筋に城下まで通る土手へ出る。  
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.
町さえはずれれば、どこで追いついても構わないが、なるべくなら、人家のない、杉並木で捕まえてやろうと、見えがくれについて来た。  
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.
町を外れると急に馳け足の姿勢で、はやてのように後ろから、追いついた。  
Once they'd left the town we broke suddenly into a run and, quick as a squall, caught up from behind.
何が来たかと驚ろいて振り向く奴を待てと云って肩に手をかけた。  
They turned around in surprise to see what was coming; we told them to stop and put our hands on their shoulders.
野だは狼狽の気味で逃げ出そうという景色だったから、おれが前へ廻って行手を塞いでしまった。  
Toady looked flustered and about to bolt, so I went around in front and blocked his way.

「教頭の職を持ってるものが何で角屋へ行って泊った」と山嵐はすぐ詰りかけた。  
'How is it that a man holding the post of vice-principal went and stayed the night at the Kadoya?' Porcupine demanded at once.

「教頭は角屋へ泊って悪るいという規則がありますか」と赤シャツは依然として鄭寧な言葉を使ってる。  
'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.
顔の色は少々蒼い。  
His color had gone a little pale.

「取締上不都合だから、蕎麦屋や団子屋へさえはいってはいかんと、云うくらい謹直な人が、なぜ芸者といっしょに宿屋へとまり込んだ」野だは隙を見ては逃げ出そうとするからおれはすぐ前に立ち塞がって「べらんめえの坊っちゃんた何だ」と怒鳴り付けたら、「いえ君の事を云ったんじゃないんです、全くないんです」と鉄面皮に言訳がましい事をぬかした。  
'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.'
> «鉄面皮» てつめんぴ (tetsumenpi): «鉄面皮» てつめんぴ (tetsumenpi) — literally 'iron-faced skin': shameless, brazen, thick-skinned. Botchan uses it for Toady's bald-faced denial.
おれはこの時気がついてみたら、両手で自分の袂を握ってる。  
It was just then I noticed I had both hands clenched around my own sleeves.
追っかける時に袂の中の卵がぶらぶらして困るから、両手で握りながら来たのである。  
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.
おれはいきなり袂へ手を入れて、玉子を二つ取り出して、やっと云いながら、野だの面へ擲きつけた。  
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.
玉子がぐちゃりと割れて鼻の先から黄味がだらだら流れだした。  
The eggs burst with a wet splat and yolk came dripping down from the tip of his nose.
野だはよっぽど仰天した者と見えて、わっと言いながら、尻持をついて、助けてくれと云った。  
Toady looked utterly stunned, crying out and falling back onto his rear, begging for help.
おれは食うために玉子は買ったが、打つけるために袂へ入れてる訳ではない。  
I'd bought the eggs to eat, not put them in my sleeves for the purpose of throwing at anyone.
ただ肝癪のあまりに、ついぶつけるともなしに打つけてしまったのだ。  
But in my sheer fury I ended up hurling them without even meaning to.
しかし野だが尻持を突いたところを見て始めて、おれの成功した事に気がついたから、こん畜生、こん畜生と云いながら残る六つを無茶苦茶に擲きつけたら、野だは顔中黄色になった。  
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.

おれが玉子をたたきつけているうち、山嵐と赤シャツはまだ談判最中である。  
While I was busy pelting eggs, Porcupine and Red Shirt were still in the thick of their argument.

「芸者をつれて僕が宿屋へ泊ったと云う証拠がありますか」  
'Do you have proof that I took a geisha and stayed at the inn?'

「宵に貴様のなじみの芸者が角屋へはいったのを見て云う事だ。  
'I say it because I saw your favorite geisha go into the Kadoya this evening.'
胡魔化せるものか」  
'As if you could talk your way out of that.'

「胡魔化す必要はない。  
'I have no need to talk my way out of anything.'
僕は吉川君と二人で泊ったのである。  
'I stayed the night together with Mr. Yoshikawa, just the two of us.'
芸者が宵にはいろうが、はいるまいが、僕の知った事ではない」  
'Whether some geisha went in that evening or not is none of my affair.'

「だまれ」と山嵐は拳骨を食わした。  
'Shut up,' Porcupine said, and let fly with his fist.
> Plain imperative «だまれ»: «だまれ» is the blunt imperative form of «黙る» (だまる, to fall silent) — a command with no softening whatsoever, backed up here by Porcupine's fist rather than any further words.
赤シャツはよろよろしたが「これは乱暴だ、狼藉である。  
Red Shirt staggered, but said, 'This is violence, this is outrageous.'
理非を弁じないで腕力に訴えるのは無法だ」  
'Resorting to force instead of arguing right and wrong is lawless.'

「無法でたくさんだ」とまたぽかりと撲ぐる。  
'Lawless suits me just fine,' and he punched him again, thwack.
「貴様のような奸物はなぐらなくっちゃ、答えないんだ」とぽかぽかなぐる。  
'A villain like you will not answer unless he is beaten.,' and he kept pounding away.
おれも同時に野だを散々に擲き据えた。  
At the same time I gave Toady a thorough thrashing too.
しまいには二人とも杉の根方にうずくまって動けないのか、眼がちらちらするのか逃げようともしない。  
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.

「もうたくさんか、たくさんでなけりゃ、まだ撲ってやる」とぽかんぽかんと両人でなぐったら「もうたくさんだ」と云った。  
'Had enough? If not I'll keep hitting you,' and both of us kept pounding away, thwack, thwack, until he said, 'that's enough.'
野だに「貴様もたくさんか」と聞いたら「無論たくさんだ」と答えた。  
I asked Toady, 'and you, had enough too?' and he answered, 'of course I've had enough.'

「貴様等は奸物だから、こうやって天誅を加えるんだ。  
'You're both schemers, and that's why we're dealing out this heavenly punishment.'
> «天誅» てんちゅう (tenchū): «天誅» てんちゅう (tenchū) — 'Heaven's punishment', retribution delivered as if by divine sanction rather than mere personal revenge. It's the word Botchan and Porcupine have used throughout to justify their ambush as righteous, not petty.
これに懲りて以来つつしむがいい。  
'Let this be a lesson to you, and mend your ways from now on.'
いくら言葉巧みに弁解が立っても正義は許さんぞ」と山嵐が云ったら両人共だまっていた。  
'However cleverly you argue your excuses, justice won't forgive you,' Porcupine said, and the two of them fell silent.
ことによると口をきくのが退儀なのかも知れない。  
Perhaps talking had simply become too much trouble for them.

「おれは逃げも隠れもせん。  
'I'm not running or hiding from anyone.'
今夜五時までは浜の港屋に居る。  
'Until five o'clock tonight I'll be at the Minatoya down at the harbor.'
用があるなら巡査なりなんなり、よこせ」と山嵐が云うから、おれも「おれも逃げも隠れもしないぞ。  
'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.'
堀田と同じ所に待ってるから警察へ訴えたければ、勝手に訴えろ」と云って、二人してすたすたあるき出した。  
'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.

おれが下宿へ帰ったのは七時少し前である。  
I got back to my lodgings a little before seven.
部屋へはいるとすぐ荷作りを始めたら、婆さんが驚いて、どうおしるのぞなもしと聞いた。  
I went straight into my room and started packing, and the old woman, startled, asked whatever was I doing.
お婆さん、東京へ行って奥さんを連れてくるんだと答えて勘定を済まして、すぐ汽車へ乗って浜へ来て港屋へ着くと、山嵐は二階で寝ていた。  
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.
おれは早速辞表を書こうと思ったが、何と書いていいか分らないから、私儀都合有之辞職の上東京へ帰り申候につき左様御承知被下度候以上とかいて校長宛にして郵便で出した。  
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.

汽船は夜六時の出帆である。  
The steamer sailed at six in the evening.
山嵐もおれも疲れて、ぐうぐう寝込んで眼が覚めたら、午後二時であった。  
Both Porcupine and I were exhausted and fell into a dead sleep, and when we woke it was two in the afternoon.
下女に巡査は来ないかと聞いたら参りませんと答えた。  
I asked the maid whether any policeman had come, and she said none had.
「赤シャツも野だも訴えなかったなあ」と二人は大きに笑った。  
'So neither Red Shirt nor Toady reported us after all,' we said, and the two of us had a good long laugh.

その夜おれと山嵐はこの不浄な地を離れた。  
That night Porcupine and I left that unclean land behind.
船が岸を去れば去るほどいい心持ちがした。  
The farther the ship drew away from the shore, the better I felt.
神戸から東京までは直行で新橋へ着いた時は、ようやく娑婆へ出たような気がした。  
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.
> «娑婆» しゃば (shaba): «娑婆» しゃば (shaba), originally a Buddhist term for this mortal, suffering world (Sanskrit sahā), came to mean 'the outside world' as opposed to prison, the army, or — as here — provincial exile. Botchan feels he's finally escaped back into real life.
山嵐とはすぐ分れたぎり今日まで逢う機会がない。  
Porcupine and I parted ways right away there, and I haven't had occasion to see him since, right up to today.

清の事を話すのを忘れていた。  
I've forgotten to say anything about Kiyo.
――おれが東京へ着いて下宿へも行かず、革鞄を提げたまま、清や帰ったよと飛び込んだら、あら坊っちゃん、よくまあ、早く帰って来て下さったと涙をぽたぽたと落した。  
— 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.
おれもあまり嬉しかったから、もう田舎へは行かない、東京で清とうちを持つんだと云った。  
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.

その後ある人の周旋で街鉄の技手になった。  
After that, through someone's introduction, I became a technician on the city trolley line.
月給は二十五円で、家賃は六円だ。  
My monthly wage was twenty-five yen, and the rent was six.
清は玄関付きの家でなくっても至極満足の様子であったが気の毒な事に今年の二月肺炎に罹って死んでしまった。  
Kiyo seemed perfectly content even without a house with a proper entryway, but sadly this past February she caught pneumonia and died.
死ぬ前日おれを呼んで坊っちゃん後生だから清が死んだら、坊っちゃんのお寺へ埋めて下さい。  
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.
> «後生だから» — 'I beg you': «後生» (ごしょう, goshō) literally means 'the next life' in Buddhist rebirth. «後生だから» ('for the sake of my next life') is an idiom of heartfelt pleading, as if invoking one's own salvation to make a request impossible to refuse.
お墓のなかで坊っちゃんの来るのを楽しみに待っておりますと云った。  
'I'll be waiting in my grave, looking forward to the day Botchan comes,' she said.
だから清の墓は小日向の養源寺にある。  
And so Kiyo's grave is at Yōgenji temple in Kobinata.

（明治三十九年四月）  
(April, Meiji 39 — 1906)
---

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.