先生と知合になつてから先生の亡くなる迄に、私は隨分色々の問題で先生の思想や情操に觸れて見たが、結婚當時の状況に就いては、殆んど何ものも聞き得なかつた。私は時によると、それを善意に解釋しても見た。年輩の先生の事だから、艶めかしい囘想などを若いものに聞かせるのはわざと愼んでゐるのだらうと思つた。時によると、又それを惡くも取つた。先生に限らず、奧さんに限らず、二人とも私に比べると、一時代前の因襲のうちに成人したために、さういふ艶つぽい問題になると、正直に自分を開放する丈の勇氣がないのだらうと考へた。尤も何方も推測に過ぎなかつた。さうして何方の推測の裏にも、二人の結婚の奧に横たはる花やかなロマンスの存在を假定してゐた。
translation
From the time I became acquainted with Sensei until his death, I was touched by Sensei's ideas and sentiments on various issues, but when it came to his marriage, I knew almost nothing. I couldn't hear. I have sometimes seen it interpreted with good intentions. Since it was about an older teacher, I thought he was deliberately trying to make a young person listen to his sultry recollections. Occasionally he also took it badly. Not only Sensei, not only my wife, but compared to me, both of them have the courage to honestly open themselves up when it comes to such sensual problems because they have grown up in the tradition of a generation ago. I thought that there was no such thing. Most of all, nothing was more than speculation. And so, behind some speculation, it was assumed that there was a flowery romance lying behind the marriage of the two.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 先生: teacher (せんせい), instructor, master, sensei, title or form of address for a teacher, master, doctor, lawyer, etc. | 知合: acquaintance (しりあい) | 亡: death (ぼう), the late, the deceased | 迄: until (a time) (まで), till, to, up to, to (a place or person) |
| 隨分: very (ずいぶん), extremely, surprisingly, fairly, quite | 色々: various (いろいろ), all sorts of, variety of, various colors (colours) | 色々: various (いろいろ), all sorts of, variety of, various colors (colours) | 問題: question (e.g. on a test) (もんだい), problem, problem (e.g. societal, political), question, issue |
| 情操: sensibility (artistic, moral) (じょうそう), (good) taste, sentiment | 見: looking (み), viewing, (please) try (to), view (of life, etc.) (けん), outlook | 結婚: marriage (けっこん) | 状況: state of affairs (じょうきょう), situation, conditions, circumstances |
| 何: what (なに), what (ナニ), you-know-what, you-know-what, that thing | 得: profit (とく), advantage, benefit, gain, rebirth in paradise, entering nirvana | 時: time (とき), hour, moment, occasion, case | 善意: virtuous mind (ぜんい), good intentions, good will, positive mindset, bona fides |
| 事: thing (こと), thing (こん), matter, matter, incident | 艶: gloss (つや), gloss (ツヤ), luster, luster, lustre | 若: youth (わか), child (esp. of the young son of someone of high social standing), young, new, like (こと) | 又: again (また), once more, once again, another time, some other time |
| 取: taking (とり), taker, collecting, collector, remover | 限: end (きり), finish, place to stop, bound, limit | 奧: 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) | 二人: two persons (ににん), two persons (ふたり), two people, two people, pair |
| 一時: a (short) time (いっとき), a (short) time (ひととき), a while, a while, moment | 一時代: an era (いちじだい), a (certain) period (in history) | 前: point (さき), tip, end, nozzle, head (of a line) | 因襲: convention (いんしゅう), tired tradition, old custom |
| 正直: honest (しょうじき), frank, candid, straightforward, honestly | 自分: myself (じぶん), yourself, oneself, himself, herself | 開放: opening (a door, window, etc.) (かいほう), leaving open, opening up (e.g. to the public), allowing (public) access | 丈: only (だけ), just, merely, simply, no more than |
| 尤: superb (ゆう), outstanding | 何方: which way (いずかた), which way (いずし), which way (いずち), which way (どち), which way (どちら) | 推測: guess (すいそく), conjecture | 過: surplus- (か), excess-, over-, per- (chemical with more of a certain element than found in other compounds of the same constituents) |
| 結婚: marriage (けっこん) | 横: horizontal (as opposed to vertical) (よこ), horizontal (as opposed to vertical) (ヨコ), lying down, lying down, side-to-side (as opposed to front-to-back) | 花: flower (はな), blossom, bloom, petal, cherry blossom | 存在: existence (そんざい), being, presence |