「私は殉死といふ言葉を殆んど忘れてゐました。平生使ふ必要のない字だから、記憶の底に沈んだ儘、腐れかけてゐたものと見えます。妻の笑談を聞いて始めてそれを思ひ出した時、私は妻に向つてもし自分が殉死するならば、明治の精神に殉死する積だと答へました。私の答も無論笑談に過ぎなかつたのですが、私は其時何だか古い不要な言葉に新らしい意義を盛り得たやうな心持がしたのです。
translation
"I had almost forgotten the word martyrdom. It's a character that I don't need to use in my life, so it looks like it's been sunk into the depths of my memory and is about to rot away. When I remembered, I turned to my wife and told her that if I were to die by martyrdom, it would be the product of martyrdom in the Meiji spirit. Sometimes I felt like I was able to add a new meaning to an old and unnecessary word.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 私: I (わたし), me, I (あたくし), I (あたし), I (アタシ) | 殉死: following one’s master into the grave (じゅんし), committing suicide after one’s lord has died | 言葉: language (けとば), language (ことば), dialect, dialect, word | 殆: quite (ほとほと), utterly, really, completely |
| 使: messenger (し), police and judicial chief (Heian and Kamakura periods), klesha (polluting thoughts such as greed, hatred and delusion, which result in suffering) | 必要: necessary (ひつよう), needed, essential, indispensable, necessity | 字: section of village (あざ), character (esp. kanji) (じ), letter, written text, handwriting | 記憶: memory (きおく), recollection, remembrance, memory, storage |
| 見: looking (み), viewing, (please) try (to), view (of life, etc.) (けん), outlook | 妻: wife (つま), garnish (esp. one served with sashimi), trimmings, accompaniment, side (remark) | 笑談: pleasant chat (しょうだん), talking amiably, laughing over (something), funny story | 出: coming out (で), going out, outflow, efflux, rising (of the Sun or the Moon) |
| 明治: Meiji era (1868.9.8-1912.7.30) (めいじ) | 精神: mind (せいしん), spirit, soul, heart, ethos | 積: product (せき), volume, area | 答: answer (こたえ), reply, response, answer, solution |
| 笑談: pleasant chat (しょうだん), talking amiably, laughing over (something), funny story | 笑談: pleasant chat (しょうだん), talking amiably, laughing over (something), funny story | 過: surplus- (か), excess-, over-, per- (chemical with more of a certain element than found in other compounds of the same constituents) | 古: antiquity (いにしえ), ancient times, used item (ふる), secondhand item, old |
| 新: new (しん), neo-, newness, novelty, Gregorian calendar | 意義: meaning (いぎ), significance | 盛: serving (of food) (もり), helping, chilled soba served on a dish (often on a wicker basket or in a shallow steaming basket) with dipping sauce | 得: profit (とく), advantage, benefit, gain, rebirth in paradise, entering nirvana |