私は今日に至る迄既に二三度運命の導いて行く最も樂な方向へ進まうとした事があります。然し私は何時でも妻に心を惹かされました。さうして其妻を一所に連れて行く勇氣は無論ないのです。妻に凡てを打ち明ける事の出來ない位な私ですから、自分の運命の犠牲として、妻の天壽を奪ふなどゝいふ手荒な所作は、考へてさへ恐ろしかつたのです。私に私の宿命がある通り、妻には妻の廻り合せがあります。二人を一束にして火に燻べるのは、無理といふ點から見ても、痛ましい極端としか私には思へませんでした。
translation
"To this day, I have already tried two or three times to go in the most happy direction that fate would lead me to." But I was always attracted to my wife. Of course, he did not have the courage to take his wife to one place. Since I am unable to confide in everything to my wife, I was terrified to think of such a rough act as a sacrifice of my own destiny to take away her virginity. Just as I have my destiny, my wife has her own affairs. Even from the point of view of the impossibility of smoldering the two into a bundle, I could only think of it as a painful extreme.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 私: I (わたし), me, I (あたくし), I (あたし), I (アタシ) | 今日: today (きょう), today (こんじつ), today (こんち), today (こんにち), this day | 至: to … (し) | 二三: two or three (にさん) |
| 導: guidance (しるべ), guide | 行: line (of text) (ぎょう), row, verse, carya (austerities), samskara (formations) | 最: the most (さい), the extreme, prime, conspicuous | 方向: direction (ほうこう), orientation, bearing, way, course (e.g. of action) |
| 然: -like (ぜん), so (さ), like that, in that way, like that (しか) | 何時: when (いつ), at what time, how soon, normal times, ordinary days | 妻: wife (つま), garnish (esp. one served with sashimi), trimmings, accompaniment, side (remark) | 心: mind (こころ), heart, spirit, the meaning of a phrase (riddle, etc.), heart (しん) |
| 連: two reams (of paper) (れん), 1000 sheets (of paper), stanza, verse, tribe (in taxonomy) | 無論: of course (むろん), certainly, naturally | 凡: about (おおよそ), roughly, approximately, generally, on the whole | 打: dozen (ダース), hitting a ball (with a bat, golf club, etc.) (だ), batting, stroke |
| 位: throne (くらい), crown, (nobleman’s) seat, government position, court rank | 自分: myself (じぶん), yourself, oneself, himself, herself | 運命: fate (うんめい), destiny, lot | 犠牲: sacrifice (ぎせい), victim, sacrifice (to a deity), (living) sacrifice (いけにえ), victim |
| 所作: conduct (しょさ), conduct (そさ), behaviour, behaviour, movements | 考: thought (こう), report on one’s investigation into …, deceased father | 恐: frightening (こわ), terrifying, yours sincerely (かしく), yours sincerely (かしこ), respectfully yours | 宿命: fate (しゅくめい), destiny, predestination |
| 合: between-season wear (あい), spring and autumn clothing, spring and fall clothing, together, condition | 二人: two persons (ににん), two persons (ふたり), two people, two people, pair | 一束: a bundle (いっそく), a bundle (ひとたば), a hundred, a hundred | 火: fire (ひ), flame, blaze, Tuesday (か), fire (second of the five elements) |
| 見: looking (み), viewing, (please) try (to), view (of life, etc.) (けん), outlook | 痛: ouch (いた), ow, that hurt, pain (つう), ache | 極端: extreme (きょくたん), extremity |