私は其人を常に先生と呼んでゐた。だから此處でもたゞ先生と書く丈で本名を打ち明けない。是は世間を憚かる遠慮といふよりも、其方が私に取つて自然だからである。私は其人の記憶を呼び起すごとに、すぐ「先生」と云ひたくなる。筆を執つても心持は同じ事である。餘所々々しい頭文字抔はとても使ふ氣にならない。
translation
"I always called him Sensei." That's why even here I won't tell you my real name, just writing "Sensei". This is not because I am afraid of the world, but because you are natural to me. Every time I recall that person's memory, I immediately want to call him "Sensei." Even when I write, my feelings are the same. I don't feel like using the initials that are too scattered here and there.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 私: I (わたし), me, I (あたくし), I (あたし), I (アタシ) | 常: constant (とこ), unchanging, eternal, ordinary (ただ), ordinary (タダ) | 先生: teacher (せんせい), instructor, master, sensei, title or form of address for a teacher, master, doctor, lawyer, etc. | 書: letter (ふみ), writings, book (しょ), document, calligraphy (esp. Chinese) |
| 本名: real name (ほんみょう), real name (ほんめい) | 打: dozen (ダース), hitting a ball (with a bat, golf club, etc.) (だ), batting, stroke | 明: vidya (wisdom) (みょう), mantra, the coming (July 4, etc.), brightness (めい), discernment | 是: here (ここ), this place, this point, here, now |
| 遠慮: reserve (えんりょ), constraint, restraint, modesty, diffidence | 其方: that way (そち), that way (そちら), that way (そっち), that way (そなた), that direction | 取: taking (とり), taker, collecting, collector, remover | 自然: nature (しぜん), natural, spontaneous, automatic, naturally |
| 起: source (おこり), origin, cause, beginning, genesis | 筆: writing brush (ひつ), writing brush (ふで), paintbrush, paintbrush, pen | 執: bow (and arrow; esp. of a noble) (たらし), attachment (しゅう), obsession, persistence | 心持: feeling (こころもち), mood, sensation, disposition, mental attitude |
| 事: thing (こと), thing (こん), matter, matter, incident | 頭文字: first letter of a word (かしらもじ), capital letter (at the start of a word or sentence), initials (of one’s name) | 抔: et cetera (など), etc., and the like, and so forth, or something | 使: messenger (し), police and judicial chief (Heian and Kamakura periods), klesha (polluting thoughts such as greed, hatred and delusion, which result in suffering) |