「私が書物ばかり買ふのを見て、奥さんは少し着物を拵えろと云ひました。私は實際田舍で織つた木綿ものしか有つてゐなかつたのです。其頃の學生は絹の入つた着物を肌に着けませんでした。私の友達に横濱の商人か何かで、宅は中々派出に暮してゐるものがありましたが、其所へある時羽二重の胴着が配達で屆いた事があります。すると皆ながそれを見て笑ひました。其男は恥かしがつて色々辯解しましたが、折角の胴着を行李の底へ放り込んで利用しないのです。それを又大勢が寄つてたかつて、わざと着せました。すると運惡く其胴着に蝨がたかりました。友達は丁度幸ひとでも思つたのでせう、評判の胴着をぐる／＼と丸めて、散歩に出た序に、根津の大きな泥溝の中へ棄ててしまひました。其時一所に歩いてゐた私は、橋の上に立つて笑ひながら友達の所作を眺めてゐましたが、私の胸に何處にも勿體ないといふ氣は少しも起りませんでした。
translation
“Seeing that I was only buying books, my wife suggested that I make myself some kimono. I couldn't wear the ivy kimono on my skin.I had a friend who was a merchant in Yokohama or something, and his house was quite busy. The man was embarrassed and misunderstood various things, but he threw the bodice into the bottom of the cart and didn't use it. One time, when I was there, I purposely put it on.Unfortunately, the bodice caught a glare.My friend thought it was just a lucky thing, so he rolled the popular bodice around and went out for a walk. I threw it away in a large mud ditch in Nezu.At that time, I was walking in one place, standing on a bridge, laughing and watching my friend's movements. I didn't have the slightest feeling that something was wrong with me.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 私: I (わたし), me, I (あたくし), I (あたし), I (アタシ) | 書物: book (しょもつ), volume | 見: looking (み), viewing, (please) try (to), view (of life, etc.) (けん), outlook | 奥: inner part (おく), interior, back (of a drawer, one’s throat, etc.), depths (e.g. of a forest), recesses (e.g. of a cave) |
| 着物: kimono (きもの), Japanese traditional clothing (esp. full-length), clothing, clothes, something to wear (きるもの) | 田舍: rural area (いなか), countryside, the sticks, hometown | 織: weave (おり), weaving, woven item | 木綿: cotton (material) (きわた), cotton (material) (もめん), red silk-cotton tree (Bombax ceiba), red silk-cotton tree (Bombax ceiba), string made of cut steamed, soaked mulberry bark fibers (ゆう) |
| 學生: student (esp. a university student) (がくせい) | 絹: silk (きぬ) | 入: entering (いり), setting (of the Sun), containing, content, audience | 肌: skin (はだ), skin (はだえ), body (in the context of intimate bodily contact), body (in the context of intimate bodily contact), surface |
| 友達: friend (ともだち), companion | 商人: merchant (あきうど), merchant (あきびと), merchant (あきゅうど), merchant (あきんど), merchant (しょうにん) | 何: what (なに), what (ナニ), you-know-what, you-know-what, that thing | 宅: house (たく), home, one’s house, one’s home, one’s husband |
| 派出: sending out (はしゅつ), dispatching, despatching | 派出: sending out (はしゅつ), dispatching, despatching | 暮: sunset (くれ), sundown, nightfall, dusk, end | 其所: there (place relatively near listener) (そこ), there (place just mentioned), that place, then (of some incident just spoken of), that (of point just raised) |
| 羽二重: habutai (はぶたえ), habutae, fine Japanese silk | 胴着: (sleeveless) undergarment (どうぎ), padded undershirt | 配達: delivery (はいたつ), delivery (はいだつ) | 事: thing (こと), thing (こん), matter, matter, incident |
| 笑: laugh (わらい), laughter, smile, sneer, sex aids (e.g. dildos, pornographic books, erotic woodblock prints, etc.) | 恥: shame (じょく), shame (はじ), embarrassment, embarrassment, disgrace | 色々: various (いろいろ), all sorts of, variety of, various colors (colours) | 辯解: explanation (e.g. for one’s actions) (べんかい), excuse, justification, defense, defence |
| 折角: with trouble (せっかく), at great pains, rare, valuable, precious | 行李: wicker trunk (こうり), wicker luggage | 底: bottom (そこ), sole, base (logarithmic, exponential, number system) (てい), radix, base (triangle, cone, cylinder, etc.) | 利用: use (りよう), utilization, utilisation, application |
| 胴着: (sleeveless) undergarment (どうぎ), padded undershirt | 蝨: louse (esp. a sucking louse) (しし), louse (esp. a sucking louse) (しらみ), louse (esp. a sucking louse) (シラミ), lice, lice | 丁度: exactly (ちょうど), precisely, just, right, opportunely | 幸: good luck (こう), good luck (さき), good luck (さち), fortune, fortune |
| 丸: circle (まる), circle (マル), entirety, entirety, whole | 散歩: walk (さんぽ), stroll | 出: coming out (で), going out, outflow, efflux, rising (of the Sun or the Moon) | 序: opportunity (ついで), occasion, chance, order, sequence |
| 中: inside (なか), interior, among, within, middle | 一所: one place (いっしょ), one place (ひとところ), the same place, the same place, one person | 歩: pawn (ふ), step (ほ), stride, counter for steps, walking (あゆみ) | 橋: bridge (はし), pons (pontes) (きょう), pons Varolii, pontine, part of the brain stem (links the medulla oblongata and cerebellum with the midbrain) |
| 所作: conduct (しょさ), conduct (そさ), behaviour, behaviour, movements | 胸: chest (むな), chest (むね), breast, breast, breasts | 何處: where (いずく), where (いずこ), where (いづこ), where (いどこ), where (どこ) | 氣: spirit (き), mind, heart, nature, disposition |