「金に不自由のない私は、騒々しい下宿を出て、新らしく一戸を構へて見やうかといふ氣になつたのです。然しそれには世帶道具を買ふ面倒もありますし、世話をして呉れる婆さんの必要も起りますし、其婆さんが又正直でなければ困るし、宅を留守にしても大丈夫なものでなければ心配だし、と云つた譯で、ちよくら一寸實行する事は覺束なく見えたのです。ある日私はまあ宅丈でも探して見やうかといふそゞろ心から、散歩がてらに本郷臺を西へ下りて小石川の坂を眞直に傳通院の方へ上がりました。電車の通路になつてから、あそこいらの樣子が丸で違つてしまひましたが、其頃は左手が砲兵工廠の土塀で、右は原とも丘ともつかない空地に草が一面に生えてゐたものです。私は其草の中に立つて、何心なく向の崖を眺めました。今でも惡い景色ではありませんが、其頃は又ずつとあの西側の趣が違つてゐました。見渡す限り緑が一面に深く茂つてゐる丈でも、神經が休まります。私は不圖こゝいらに適當な宅はないだらうかと思ひました。それで直ぐ草原を横切つて、細い通りを北の方へ進んで行きました。いまだに好い町になり切れないで、がたぴししてゐる彼の邊の家並は、其時分の事ですから隨分汚ならしいものでした。私は露次を拔けたり、横丁を曲つたり、ぐる／＼歩き廻りました。仕舞に駄菓子屋の上さんに、こゝいらに小じんまりした貸家はないかと尋ねて見ました。上さんは『左右ですね』と云つて、少時首をかしげてゐましたが、『かし家はちよいと‥‥』と全く思ひ當らない風でした。私は望のないものと諦らめて歸り掛けました。すると上さんが又、『素人下宿ぢや不可ませんか』と聞くのです。私は一寸氣が變りました。靜かな素人屋に一人で下宿してゐるのは、却つて家を持つ面倒がなくつて結構だらうと考へ出したのです。それから其駄菓子屋の店に腰を掛けて、上さんに詳しい事を教へてもらひました。
translation
"Since I am financially well off, I decided to move out of my noisy boarding house and build a new house. I would need an old lady to take care of me, I would be in trouble if the old lady was not honest, and I would be worried if she was not at home. One day, with the intention of looking for a house, I went down from Hongodai to the west and headed straight up the slope of Koishikawa to the Dentsu-in Temple. After it became a passageway for trains, the area around there was completely different, but at that time the earthen wall of the artillery arsenal was on the left, and the grass on the right was a vacant lot that was neither a field nor a hill. I stood in the grass and casually gazed at the cliffs across the street.It's still not a bad view, but back then it was more and more like that west side. It was different.Even though the greenery was thick and thick as far as the eye could see, the divine sutra rested. The streets around him, which were still in a state of disrepair and were still in a state of disrepair, seemed to be very dirty, considering that was the time. I left Roji, turned the alleys, walked around, and finally asked the owner of the candy store if there was a small house for rent around here. ``It's right and left,'' he said, shaking his head for a moment, but he seemed to think ``the house is better...'' I gave up on hopelessness. Then Mr. Kami asked me again, ``Isn't it possible to stay at an amateur boarding house?'' I changed my mind for a moment. On the contrary, I decided that I would be fine without the trouble of owning a house.
kanji (pronunciations & definitions)
| 金: money (かな), money (かね), metal, metal, gold (metal) (きん) | 不自由: discomfort (ふじゆう), inconvenience, poverty, want, destitution | 私: I (わたし), me, I (あたくし), I (あたし), I (アタシ) | 下宿: boarding (げしゅく), lodging, board and lodging, room and board, boarding house |
| 新: new (しん), neo-, newness, novelty, Gregorian calendar | 一戸: one house (いっこ), household | 構: structure (かまえ), construction, appearance, posture (e.g. in martial arts), pose | 見: looking (み), viewing, (please) try (to), view (of life, etc.) (けん), outlook |
| 然: -like (ぜん), so (さ), like that, in that way, like that (しか) | 道具: tool (どうぐ), implement, instrument, utensil, apparatus | 面倒: trouble (めんどう), bother, trouble, difficulty, care | 世話: care (せわ), looking after, help, assistance, aid |
| 婆: old woman (ばば), old woman (ババ), joker (in old maid), joker (in old maid), old woman (ばばあ) | 必要: necessary (ひつよう), needed, essential, indispensable, necessity | 起: source (おこり), origin, cause, beginning, genesis | 正直: honest (しょうじき), frank, candid, straightforward, honestly |
| 留守: absence (るす), being away from home, house-sitting, house-sitter, being left unattended to (of one’s studies, etc.) | 大丈夫: safe (だいじょうぶ), safe (だいじょぶ), secure, secure, sound | 心配: worry (しんぱい), concern, anxiety, uneasiness, fear | 一寸: one sun (approx. 3.03 cm) (いっすん), little bit (of time, distance, etc.), a little (ちょいと), a little (ちょっと), a little (ちょと) |
| 心: mind (こころ), heart, spirit, the meaning of a phrase (riddle, etc.), heart (しん) | 散歩: walk (さんぽ), stroll | 本郷: one’s hometown (ほんごう) | 西: west (にし), Spain (せい), west wind tile (シャー), winning hand with a pung (or kong) of west wind tiles |
| 小石: pebble (こいし), small stone | 川: river (かわ), river (がわ), stream, stream, River | 石川: Ishikawa (prefecture) (いしかわ) | 坂: slope (さか), incline, hill, milestone, (age) mark |
| 方: direction (かた), way, person, lady, gentleman | 上: above (うえ), over, up, top, summit | 電車: train (でんしゃ), electric train | 通路: passage (つうろ), pathway, roadway, avenue, aisle |
| 左手: left hand (ひだりて), left-hand side, left-hand direction, (on) the left, bow hand (ゆんで) | 砲兵: artillery (ほうへい), gunner | 工廠: arsenal (こうしょう), arms and ammunition factory | 工廠: arsenal (こうしょう), arms and ammunition factory |
| 右: right (みぎ), right-hand side, afore-mentioned (esp. in vertical Japanese writing), foregoing, forgoing | 原: original (げん), primitive, primary, fundamental, proto- | 丘: hill (おか), height, knoll, rising ground, bonus points awarded to the winner at the end of a game | 空地: vacant land (あきち), unoccupied ground, empty lot, empty point, vacant land (くうち) |
| 一面: one face (いちめん), one surface, the whole surface, one aspect, one side | 生: pure (き), undiluted, raw, crude, raw (なま) | 中: inside (なか), interior, among, within, middle | 崖: cliff (がけ), precipice, precipice, brink of a dangerous situation |
| 惡: evil (あく), wickedness, (role of) the villain (in theatre, etc.), the bad guy | 景色: scenery (けいしょく), scenery (けしき), scene, scene, landscape | 又: again (また), once more, once again, another time, some other time | 西側: west side (にしがわ), west bank |
| 限: end (きり), finish, place to stop, bound, limit | 緑: green (みどり), greenery, verdure | 深: august (み), beautiful, growing late (ふけ), latening | 丈: only (だけ), just, merely, simply, no more than |
| 直: straight (なお), ordinary, common, doing nothing, earnestly (ひた) | 草原: grassy field (くさはら), grassy field (くさわら), grassy field (そうげん), grassland, grassland | 細: detail (さい), details, small (いささ), small (いさら), little | 通: authority (つう), expert, connoisseur, well-informed person, counter for messages, letters, notes, documents, etc. |
| 行: line (of text) (ぎょう), row, verse, carya (austerities), samskara (formations) | 好: friendship (ぎ), friendship (よしび), friendship (よしみ), friendly relations, friendly relations | 町: town (まち), block, neighbourhood, neighborhood, downtown | 切: eager (せつ), earnest, ardent, kind, keen |
| 家並: row of houses (いえなみ), row of houses (やなみ), each house, each house, every house | 時分: time (じぶん), hour, season, time of the year | 隨分: very (ずいぶん), extremely, surprisingly, fairly, quite | 汚: oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) (よごれ), oceanic whitetip shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) (ヨゴレ) |
| 曲: composition (きょく), piece of music, song, track (on a record), tune | 仕舞: end (しまい), close, finish, termination, noh dance in plain clothes | 駄菓子屋: small-time candy store (だがしや), penny candy store | 小: smallness (しょう), small item, short month (i.e. having fewer than 31 days), elementary school, smaller (of two things, places, etc. with the same name) |
| 尋: fathom (じん), fathom (ひろ) | 左右: left and right (さう), left and right (さゆう), left and right (そう), right and left, right and left | 少時: one’s early days (しょうじ), little while | 首: neck (くび), neck (クビ), head, head, dismissal (from a job) |
| 全: all (ぜん), whole, entire, complete, total | 風: swing (ふり), shake, wave, swinging, appearance | 望: full moon (ぼう), full moon (もち), 15th day of the lunar month, 15th day of the lunar month | 諦: satya (たい), truth |
| 下宿: boarding (げしゅく), lodging, board and lodging, room and board, boarding house | 素人下宿: boarding house (しろうとげしゅく) | 不可: wrong (ふか), bad, improper, unjustifiable, inadvisable | 一寸: one sun (approx. 3.03 cm) (いっすん), little bit (of time, distance, etc.), a little (ちょいと), a little (ちょっと), a little (ちょと) |
| 變: strange (へん), odd, peculiar, weird, curious | 素人: amateur (しらひと), amateur (しらびと), amateur (しろうと), amateur (しろと), layman | 屋: shop (や), store, restaurant, someone who sells (something) or works as (something), someone with a (certain) personality trait | 人屋: jail (ごく), jail (ひとや), gaol, gaol, prison |
| 持: draw (in go, poetry contest, etc.) (じ), tie | 結構: splendid (けっこう), nice, wonderful, delightful, lovely | 考: thought (こう), report on one’s investigation into …, deceased father | 菓子屋: confectionery shop (かしや), candy store, sweet shop |
| 店: store (みせ), shop, establishment, restaurant, store (てん) | 腰: lower back (こし), lower back (コシ), waist, waist, hips |