私の世界は掌を翻へすやうに變りました。尤も是は私に取つて始めての經驗ではなかつたのです。私が十六七の時でしたらう、始めて世の中に美くしいものがあるといふ事實を發見した時には、一度にはつと驚ろきました。何遍も自分の眼を疑つて、何遍も自分の眼を擦りました。さうして心の中であゝ美しいと叫びました。十六七と云へば、男でも女でも、俗にいふ色氣の付く頃です。色氣の付いた私は世の中にある美しいものゝ代表者として、始めて女を見る事が出來たのです。今迄其存在に少しも氣の付かなかつた異性に對して、盲目の眼が忽ち開いたのです。それ以來私の天地は全く新らしいものとなりました。
translation
"My world changed like a flip of the palm." Of course, this was not my first experience. When I was 167, I was shocked when I first discovered that there were beautiful things in the world. Many times I couldn't believe my own eyes and rubbed my eyes many times. And so, in my heart, I cried out, "Ah, it's beautiful." Speaking of 167, it is the time when both men and women become sensual. For the first time in my life, I was able to see a woman as a representative of all the beautiful things in the world. My blind eyes suddenly opened to the opposite sex, whose existence I had never been aware of until now. Since then, my world has become a whole new place.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 私: I (わたし), me, I (あたくし), I (あたし), I (アタシ) | 世界: the world (せかい), society, the universe, sphere, circle | 掌: palm (of the hand) (しょう), palm (of the hand) (たなごころ), palm (of the hand) (てのひら) | 翻: waste-water container (tea ceremony) (こぼし), han (ハン), han (ファン), fan, fan |
| 尤: superb (ゆう), outstanding | 是: here (ここ), this place, this point, here, now | 取: taking (とり), taker, collecting, collector, remover | 十六: 16 (じゅうろく), sixteen |
| 時: time (とき), hour, moment, occasion, case | 世: world (よ), society, public, life, lifetime | 中: inside (なか), interior, among, within, middle | 美: beauty (び), august (み), beautiful |
| 何遍: how many times (なんべん), how often | 自分: myself (じぶん), yourself, oneself, himself, herself | 眼: eye (め), eyeball, eyesight, sight, vision | 疑: doubt (ぎ), distrust, suspicion (of) |
| 男: man (おっこ), man (おとこ), male, male, fellow | 女: female (うみな), female (おうな), female (おな), female (おみな), female (おんな) | 俗: layman (esp. as opposed to a Buddhist monk) (しょく), layman (esp. as opposed to a Buddhist monk) (ぞく), laity, laity, man of the world | 付: furnished with (つき), furnished with (づき), furnished with (ツキ), including, including |
| 代表者: representative (だいひょうしゃ), delegate | 見: looking (み), viewing, (please) try (to), view (of life, etc.) (けん), outlook | 事: thing (こと), thing (こん), matter, matter, incident | 今迄: until now (いままで), so far, up to the present |
| 少: small (しょう), little, few | 氣: spirit (き), mind, heart, nature, disposition | 異性: the opposite sex (いせい), isomerism | 對: versus (たい), against, vs., v., to (e.g. score of 4 to 2, ratio of 3 to 1, vote of 320 to 180) |
| 忽: one hundred-thousandth (こつ), sudden, abrupt, unexpected | 天地: heaven and earth (あめつち), heaven and earth (てんち), the universe, the universe, the world | 全: all (ぜん), whole, entire, complete, total | 新: new (しん), neo-, newness, novelty, Gregorian calendar |