私が着物を改めて席に着くか着かないうちに、奥さんも下女も歸つて來ました。やがて晩食の食卓でみんなが顏を合せる時刻が來ました。下宿した當座は萬事客扱ひだつたので、食事のたびに下女が膳を運んで來て呉れたのですが、それが何時の間にか崩れて、飯時には向ふへ呼ばれて行く習慣になつてゐたのです。Ｋが新らしく引き移つた時も、私が主張して彼を私と同じやうに取扱はせる事に極めました。其代り私は薄い板で造つた足の疊み込める華奢な食卓を奥さんに寄附しました。今では何處の宅でも使つてゐるやうですが、其頃そんな卓の周圍に竝んで飯を食ふ家族は殆んどなかつたのです。私はわざ／＼御茶の水の家具屋へ行つて、私の工夫通りにそれを造り上させたのです。
translation
By the time I had put on my kimono and sat down, my wife and maid had returned. Finally, the time came for everyone to meet face to face at the dinner table. When I first moved in, I was treated like a guest, so every time I had a meal, a maid would bring me a table. I had become. When K moved to a new place, I insisted that he be treated in the same way as I was. In return, I donated to Okusan a delicate dining table made of thin boards, where my legs could fit in. Nowadays, it seems that many households use it, but at that time, there were almost no families eating together around such a table. I purposely went to a furniture store in Ochanomizu and had it built according to my ingenuity.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 私: I (わたし), me, I (あたくし), I (あたし), I (アタシ) | 着物: kimono (きもの), Japanese traditional clothing (esp. full-length), clothing, clothes, something to wear (きるもの) | 改: revision (かい) | 席: seat (せき), location (of a gathering, etc.), place, position, post |
| 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) | 下女: maidservant (げじょ) | 晩食: supper (ばんしょく), dinner | 食卓: dining table (しょくたく) |
| 合: between-season wear (あい), spring and autumn clothing, spring and fall clothing, together, condition | 時刻: time (じこく), (the) hour, favourable time, opportunity, chance | 下宿: boarding (げしゅく), lodging, board and lodging, room and board, boarding house | 食事: meal (しょくじ), dinner, diet |
| 運: fortune (うん), luck, chance | 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 | 何時: when (いつ), at what time, how soon, normal times, ordinary days | 間: space (between) (あいだ), space (between) (あわい), gap, gap, interval |
| 行: line (of text) (ぎょう), row, verse, carya (austerities), samskara (formations) | 習慣: habit (しゅうかん), (social) custom, practice, convention | Ｋ: K (ケイ), K (ケー), k, k, kilo- | 新: new (しん), neo-, newness, novelty, Gregorian calendar |
| 時: time (とき), hour, moment, occasion, case | 主張: claim (しゅちょう), insistence, assertion, advocacy, emphasis | 彼: that (あ), that (あれ), that (アレ), that thing, that thing | 同: the same (どう), the said, likewise |
| 事: thing (こと), thing (こん), matter, matter, incident | 極: quite (ごく), very, 10^48, quindecillion, pole (きょく) | 薄: Japanese pampas grass (Miscanthus sinensis) (すすき), Japanese pampas grass (Miscanthus sinensis) (ススキ), maiden silvergrass, maiden silvergrass, zebra grass | 板: board (いた), plank, sheet (of metal), plate (of glass), pane |
| 疊: tatami mat (たたみ), Japanese straw floor coverings | 華奢: dainty (きゃしゃ), delicate, slender, slim and elegant, fragile (e.g. furniture) | 寄附: contribution (きふ), donation | 今: now (いま), the present time, just now, soon, immediately |
| 宅: house (たく), home, one’s house, one’s home, one’s husband | 使: messenger (し), police and judicial chief (Heian and Kamakura periods), klesha (polluting thoughts such as greed, hatred and delusion, which result in suffering) | 卓: table (しょく), table (たく), desk, desk, counter for tables, desks, etc. | 飯: cooked rice (めし), meal, food, one’s living, livelihood |
| 家族: family (かぞく) | 殆: quite (ほとほと), utterly, really, completely | 御茶: tea (usu. green) (おちゃ), tea break (at work), tea ceremony | 水: water (esp. cool, fresh water, e.g. drinking water) (み), water (esp. cool, fresh water, e.g. drinking water) (みず), fluid (esp. in an animal tissue), fluid (esp. in an animal tissue), liquid |
| 工夫: devising (a way) (くふう), contriving, inventing, thinking up, figuring out | 通: authority (つう), expert, connoisseur, well-informed person, counter for messages, letters, notes, documents, etc. | 上: above (うえ), over, up, top, summit |