手紙には其後Ｋが何うしてゐるか知らせて呉れと書いてありました。姉が心配してゐるから、成るべく早く返事を貰ひたいといふ依頼も付け加へてありました。Ｋは寺を嗣いだ兄よりも、他家へ縁づいた此姉を好いてゐました。彼等はみんな一つ腹から生れた姉弟ですけれども、此姉とＫの間には大分年齒の差があつたのです。それでＫの小供の時分には、繼母よりも此姉の方が、却つて本當の母らしく見えたのでせう。
translation
In the letter, it was written that I should let you know what K was doing after that. I also added that my sister was worried about me, so I wanted to get a reply as soon as possible. K liked his older sister, who was related to another family, more than his older brother, who had inherited the temple. They were all siblings born from the same womb, but there was a considerable age difference between this sister and K. So when K was a child, this sister seemed more like his true mother than his mother.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 手紙: letter (てがみ), missive, note, mail | 其後: after that (そのあと), after that (そのご), after that (そののち), afterwards, afterwards | Ｋ: K (ケイ), K (ケー), k, k, kilo- | 何: what (なに), what (ナニ), you-know-what, you-know-what, that thing |
| 呉: go (ご), soy beans soaked and mashed to a creamy paste (ingredient of tofu and soy milk), Wu (region in China, south of the lower Yangtze), Wu (kingdom in China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era; 902-937 CE), Southern Wu | 書: letter (ふみ), writings, book (しょ), document, calligraphy (esp. Chinese) | 姉: older sister (あね), elder sister, honorific suffix used after the name of a woman of equal or higher status (し), older sister (ねえ) | 心配: worry (しんぱい), concern, anxiety, uneasiness, fear |
| 返事: reply (へんじ), answer, response | 依頼: request (いらい), commission, entrusting (with a matter), dependence, reliance | 付: furnished with (つき), furnished with (づき), furnished with (ツキ), including, including | 加: addition (か), Canada |
| 寺: temple (Buddhist) (てら), counter for temples (じ) | 嗣: succession (し), successor | 兄: older brother (あに), elder brother, you (けい), Mr, Mister | 他家: another family (たけ), another house, home in which a woman stays during her period (or while giving birth) (たや), period, menstruation |
| 好: friendship (ぎ), friendship (よしび), friendship (よしみ), friendly relations, friendly relations | 彼等: they (かれら), them, those (あれら), they, they (of people) | 一: one (いち), 1, best, first, foremost | 腹: abdomen (はら), belly, stomach, womb, one’s mind |
| 姉弟: older sister and younger brother (きょうだい), older sister and younger brother (してい) | 間: space (between) (あいだ), space (between) (あわい), gap, gap, interval | 大分: considerably (だいぶ), considerably (だいぶん), greatly, greatly, a lot | 差: difference (さ), variation, difference, between (e.g. two people) (さし), between (e.g. two people) (サシ) |
| 時分: time (じぶん), hour, season, time of the year | 方: direction (かた), way, person, lady, gentleman | 本當: truth (ほんと), truth (ほんとう), truth (ホント), truth (ホントウ), truth (ホントー) | 母: mother (あも), mother (いろは), mother (おも), mother (かか), mother (はは) |