私の宿は人出入の少ない家でした。親類も多くはないやうでした。御孃さんの學校友達がときたま遊びに來る事はありましたが、極めて小さな聲で、居るのだか居ないのだか分らないやうな話をして歸つてしまふのが常でした。それが私に對する遠慮からだとは、如何な私にも氣が付きませんでした。私の所へ訪ねて來るものは、大した亂暴者でもありませんでしたけれども、宅の人に氣兼をする程な男は一人もなかつたのですから。そんな所になると、下宿人の私は主人のやうなもので、肝心の御孃さんが却つて食客の位地にゐたと同じ事です。
translation
"My inn was a house with few people coming and going." There didn't seem to be many relatives. Occasionally, the daughter's friends from school would come over to visit, but they would usually leave after talking in such a low voice that it was hard to tell if they were there or not. I didn't realize that it was because of his hesitation towards me. The people who came to visit me weren't particularly violent, but there wasn't a single man who bothered me. In such a place, I, as a lodger, was like the master, and it was the same as if the most important daughter was in the position of a guest.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 私: I (わたし), me, I (あたくし), I (あたし), I (アタシ) | 宿: outcasts common around the Kyoto region from the Kamakura period to the Edo period (しゅく), lodging (やど), inn, hotel, house | 人出: crowd (ひとで), turnout | 入: entering (いり), setting (of the Sun), containing, content, audience |
| 少: small (しょう), little, few | 家: house (いえ), residence, dwelling, family, household | 親類: relative (しんるい), relation, kin | 多: multi- (た) |
| 友達: friend (ともだち), companion | 友達: friend (ともだち), companion | 事: thing (こと), thing (こん), matter, matter, incident | 極: quite (ごく), very, 10^48, quindecillion, pole (きょく) |
| 聲: voice (こえ), singing (of a bird), chirping (of an insect), hoot, voice | 居: residence (きょ), being (somewhere) (い), sitting | 分: minute (unit of time) (ふん), fun (one tenth of a monme, 5.787 grains), one-tenth (ぶ), one percent (one-tenth of a wari), 3 mm (one-tenth of a sun) | 話: talk (はなし), speech, chat, conversation, topic |
| 對: versus (たい), against, vs., v., to (e.g. score of 4 to 2, ratio of 3 to 1, vote of 320 to 180) | 遠慮: reserve (えんりょ), constraint, restraint, modesty, diffidence | 如何: how (どう), in what way, how about, (depending on) how (いかん), (depending on) what | 氣: spirit (き), mind, heart, nature, disposition |
| 所: place (とこ), place (ところ), spot, spot, scene | 大: large (おお), big, great, major, important | 亂暴: violence (らんぼう), assault, rowdiness, wildness, running riot | 者: person (もの), person (もん), person (しゃ), -er, expert |
| 人: -ian (e.g. Italian) (じん), -ite (e.g. Tokyoite), -er (e.g. performer, etc.), person working with …, man | 程: extent (ほど), degree, measure, limit, bounds | 男: man (おっこ), man (おとこ), male, male, fellow | 一人: one person (いちにん), one person (ひとり), being alone, being alone, being by oneself |
| 主人: head (of a household) (しゅじん), proprietor (of a store), proprietress, landlord, landlady | 肝心: essential (かんじん), important, crucial, vital, main | 食客: free-loader (しょっかく), free-loader (しょっきゃく), hanger-on, hanger-on, parasite | 位地: place (いち), position, location, position, standing |