「私が三度目に歸國したのは、それから又一年經つた夏の取付でした。私は何時でも學年試驗の濟むのを待ちかねて東京を逃げました。私には故郷がそれ程懷かしかつたからです。貴方にも覺があるでせう、生れた所は空氣の色が違ひます、土地の匂も格別です、父や母の記憶も濃かに漂つてゐます。一年のうちで、七八の二月を其中に包まれて、穴に入つた蛇の樣に凝としてゐるのは、私に取つて何よりも温かい好い心持だつたのです。
translation
“The third time I came back to Japan was in the summer of another year. I'm sure you have feelings too, the air where you were born has a different color, the smell of the land is exceptional, and the memories of your father and mother are also deep in the air. It was the warmest and most pleasant feeling for me to be wrapped in it for the seventy-eightth month of the year and to be frozen like a snake in a hole.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 私: I (わたし), me, I (あたくし), I (あたし), I (アタシ) | 三度: three times (さんど), thrice, third (interval), three times (みたび), thrice | 目: eye (め), eyeball, eyesight, sight, vision | 度目: the Nth time (どめ) |
| 取付: installation (とりつけ), mounting, furnishing, fitting, run (on a bank) | 何時: when (いつ), at what time, how soon, normal times, ordinary days | 東京: Tokyo (とうきょう), Tokyo (とうけい) | 故郷: hometown (きゅうり), hometown (ふるさと), birthplace, birthplace, native place |
| 生: pure (き), undiluted, raw, crude, raw (なま) | 所: place (とこ), place (ところ), spot, spot, scene | 色: colour (いろ), color, hue, tint, tinge | 土地: plot of land (とち), plot of land (どおじ), plot of land (どじ), plot of land (どち), lot |
| 格別: particular (かくべち), particular (かくべつ), special, special, exceptional | 父: father (あて), father (かそ), father (かぞ), father (しし), father (ちち) | 母: mother (あも), mother (いろは), mother (おも), mother (かか), mother (はは) | 記憶: memory (きおく), recollection, remembrance, memory, storage |
| 一年: one year (いちねん), one year (ひととし), one year (ひととせ), some time ago, some time ago | 二月: February (にがつ), second month of the lunar calendar, two months (ふたつき) | 包: yurt (パオ) | 穴: hole (あな), opening, orifice, perforation, pit |
| 蛇: snake (くちなわ), snake (じゃ), snake (へび), snake (へみ), snake (ヘビ) | 凝: muscle stiffness (esp. in shoulders) (こり), muscle stiffness (esp. in shoulders) (しこり), lump (in tissue, esp. breast), lump (in tissue, esp. breast), swelling | 取: taking (とり), taker, collecting, collector, remover | 何: what (なに), what (ナニ), you-know-what, you-know-what, that thing |
| 好: friendship (ぎ), friendship (よしび), friendship (よしみ), friendly relations, friendly relations | 心持: feeling (こころもち), mood, sensation, disposition, mental attitude |