Bab Bab 2 · With a long, sonorous whistle the steamer which I was aboard cam

. With a long, sonorous whistle the steamer which I was aboard came to a

standstill, and a boat was seen making toward us from the shore. The

man rowing the boat was stark naked, except for a piece of red cloth

girt round his loins. A barbarous place, this! though he may have been

excused for it in such hot weather as it was. The sun’s rays were

strong and the water glimmered in such strange colors as to dazzle

one’s sight if gazed at it for long. I had been told by a clerk of the

ship that I was to get off here. The place looked like a fishing

village about the size of Omori. Great Scott! I wouldn’t stay in such a

hole, I thought, but I had to get out. So, down I jumped first into the

boat, and I think five or six others followed me. After loading about

four large boxes besides, the red-cloth rowed us ashore. When the boat

struck the sand, I was again the first to jump out, and right away I

accosted a skinny urchin standing nearby, asking him where the middle

school was. The kid answered blankly that he did not know. Confound the

dull-head! Not to know where the middle school was, living in such a

tiny bit of a town. Then a man wearing a rig with short, queer shaped

sleeves approached me and bade me follow. I walked after him and was

taken to an inn called Minato-ya. The maids of the inn, who gave me a

disagreeable impression, chorused at sight of me; “Please step inside.”

This discouraged me in proceeding further, and I asked them, standing

at the door-way, to show me the middle school. On being told that the

middle school was about four miles away by rail, I became still more

discouraged at putting up there. I snatched my two valises from the man

with queer-shaped [B] sleeves who had guided me so far, and strode

away. The people of the inn looked after me with a dazed expression.

The station was easily found, and a ticket bought without any fuss. The

coach I got in was about as dignified as a match-box. The train rambled

on for about five minutes, and then I had to get off. No wonder the

fare was cheap; it cost only three sen. I then hired a rikisha and

arrived at the middle school, but school was already over and nobody

was there. The teacher on night-duty was out just for a while, said the

janitor,—the night-watch was taking life easy, sure. I thought of

visiting the principal, but being tired, ordered the rikishaman to take

me to a hotel. He did this with much alacrity and led me to a hotel

called Yamashiro-ya. I felt it rather amusing to find the name

Yamashiro-ya the same as that of Kantaro’s house.

They ushered me to a dark room below the stairway. No one could stay in

such a hot place! I said I did not like such a warm room, but the maid

dumped my valises on the floor and left me, mumbling that all the other

rooms were occupied. So I took the room though it took some resolution

to stand the weltering heat. After a while the maid said the bath was

ready, and I took one. On my way back from the bathroom, I peeped

about, and found many rooms, which looked much cooler than mine,

vacant. Sunnovgun! They had lied. By’m-by, she fetched my supper.

Although the room was hot, the meal was a deal better than the kind I

used to have in my boarding house. While waiting on me, she questioned

me where I was from, and I said, “from Tokyo.” Then she asked; “Isn’t

Tokyo a nice place?” and I shot back, “Bet ’tis.” About the time the

maid had reached the kitchen, loud laughs were heard. There was nothing

doing, so I went to bed, but could not sleep. Not only was it hot, but

noisy,—about five times noisier than my boarding house. While snoozing,

I dreamed of Kiyo. She was eating “sasa-ame” of Echigo province without

taking off the wrapper of bamboo leaves. I tried to stop her, saying

bamboo leaves may do her harm, but she replied, “O, no, these leaves

are very helpful for the health,” and ate them with much relish.

Astounded, I laughed “Ha, ha, ha!”—and so awoke. The maid was opening

the outside shutters. The weather was just as clear as the previous

day.

I had heard once before that when travelling, one should give “tea

money” to the hotel or inn where he stops; that unless this “tea money”

is given, the hostelry would accord him rather rough treatment. It must

have been on account of my being slow in the fork over of this “tea

money” that they had huddled me into such a narrow, dark room. Likewise

my shabby clothes and the carpet bags and satin umbrella must have been

accountable for it. Took me for a piker, eh? those hayseeds! I would

give them a knocker with “tea money.” I left Tokyo with about 30 yen in

my pocket, which remained from my school expenses. Taking off the

railway and steamship fare, and other incidental expenses, I had still

about 14 yen in my pocket. I could give them all I had;—what did I

care, I was going to get a salary now. All country folk are tight-wads,

and one 5-yen bill would hit them square. Now watch and see. Having

washed myself, I returned to my room and waited, and the maid of the

night before brought in my breakfast. Waiting on me with a tray, she

looked at me with a sort of sulphuric smile. Rude! Is any parade

marching on my face? I should say. Even my face is far better than that

of the maid. I intended of giving “tea money” after breakfast, but I

became disgusted, and taking out one 5-yen bill told her to take it to

the office later. The face of the maid became then shy and awkward.

After the meal, I left for the school. The maid did not have my shoes

polished.

I had had vague idea of the direction of the school as I rode to it the

previous day, so turning two or three corners, I came to the front

gate. From the gate to the entrance the walk was paved with granite.

When I had passed to the entrance in the rikisha, this walk made so

outlandishly a loud noise that I had felt coy. On my way to the school,

I met a number of the students in uniforms of cotton drill and they all

entered this gate. Some of them were taller than I and looked much

stronger. When I thought of teaching fellows of this ilk, I was

impressed with a queer sort of uneasiness. My card was taken to the

principal, to whose room I was ushered at once. With scant mustache,

dark-skinned and big-eyed, the principal was a man who looked like a

badger. He studiously assumed an air of superiority, and saying he

would like to see me do my best, handed the note of appointment,

stamped big, in a solemn manner. This note I threw away into the sea on

my way back to Tokyo. He said he would introduce me to all my fellow

teachers, and I was to show to each one of them the note of

appointment. What a bother! It would be far better to stick this note

up in the teachers’ room for three days instead of going through such a

monkey process.

The teachers would not be all in the room until the bugle for the first

hour was sounded. There was plenty of time. The principal took out his

watch, and saying that he would acquaint me particularly with the

school by-and-bye, he would only furnish me now with general matters,

and started a long lecture on the spirit of education. For a while I

listened to him with my mind half away somewhere else, but about half

way through his lecture, I began to realize that I should soon be in a

bad fix. I could not do, by any means, all he expected of me. He

expected that I should make myself an example to the students, should

become an object of admiration for the whole school or should exert my

moral influence, besides teaching technical knowledge in order to

become a real educator, or something ridiculously high-sounding. No man

with such admirable qualities would come so far away for only 40 yen a

month! Men are generally alike. If one gets excited, one is liable to

fight, I thought, but if things are to be kept on in the way the

principal says, I could hardly open my mouth to utter anything, nor

take a stroll around the place. If they wanted me to fill such an

onerous post, they should have told all that before. I hate to tell a

lie; I would give it up as having been cheated, and get out of this

mess like a man there and then. I had only about 9 yen left in my

pocket after tipping the hotel 5 yen. Nine yen would not take me back

to Tokyo. I had better not have tipped the hotel; what a pity! However,

I would be able to manage it somehow. I considered it better to run

short in my return expenses than to tell a lie.

“I cannot do it the way you want me to. I return this appointment.”

I shoved back the note. The principal winked his badger-like eyes and

gazed at me. Then he said;

“What I have said just now is what I desire of you. I know well that

you cannot do all I want. So don’t worry.”

And he laughed. If he knew it so well already, what on earth did he

scare me for?

Meanwhile the bugle sounded, being followed by bustling noises in the

direction of the class rooms. All the teachers would be now ready, I

was told, and I followed the principal to the teachers’ room. In a

spacious rectangular room, they sat each before a table lined along the

walls. When I entered the room, they all glanced at me as if by

previous agreement. Did they think my face was for a show? Then, as per

instructions, I introduced myself and showed the note to each one of

them. Most of them left their chairs and made a slight bow of

acknowledgment. But some of the more painfully polite took the note and

read it and respectfully returned it to me, just like the cheap

performances at a rural show! When I came to the fifteenth, who was the

teacher of physical training, I became impatient at repeating the same

old thing so often. The other side had to do it only once, but my side

had to do it fifteen times. They ought to have had some sympathy.

Among those I met in the room there was Mr. Blank who was head teacher.

Said he was a Bachelor of Arts. I suppose he was a great man since he

was a graduate from Imperial University and had such a title. He talked

in a strangely effeminate voice like a woman. But what surprised me

most was that he wore a flannel shirt. However thin it might be,

flannel is flannel and must have been pretty warm at that time of the

year. What painstaking dress is required which will be becoming to a

B.A.! And it was a red shirt; wouldn’t that kill you! I heard

afterwards that he wears a red shirt all the year round. What a strange

affliction! According to his own explanation, he has his shirts made to

order for the sake of his health as the red color is beneficial to the

physical condition. Unnecessary worry, this, for that being the case,

he should have had his coat and hakama also in red. And there was one

Mr. Koga, teacher of English, whose complexion was very pale.

Pale-faced people are usually thin, but this man was pale and fat. When

I was attending grammar school, there was one Tami Asai in our class,

and his father was just as pale as this Koga. Asai was a farmer, and I

asked Kiyo if one’s face would become pale if he took up farming. Kiyo

said it was not so; Asai ate always Hubbard squash of “uranari” [2] and

that was the reason. Thereafter when I saw any man pale and fat, I took

it for granted that it was the result of his having eaten too much of

squash of “uranari.” This English teacher was surely subsisting upon

squash. However, what the meaning of “uranari” is, I do not know. I

asked Kiyo once, but she only laughed. Probably she did not know. Among

the teachers of mathematics, there was one named Hotta. This was a

fellow of massive body, with hair closely cropped. He looked like one

of the old-time devilish priests who made the Eizan temple famous. I

showed him the note politely, but he did not even look at it, and

blurted out;

[Footnote 2: Means the last crop.]

“You’re the man newly appointed, eh? Come and see me sometime, ha, ha,

ha!”

Devil take his “Ha, ha, ha!” Who would go to see a fellow so void of

the sense of common decency! I gave this priest from this time the

nickname of Porcupine.

The Confucian teacher was strict in his manner as becoming to his

profession. “Arrived yesterday? You must be tired. Start teaching

already? Working hard, indeed!”—and so on. He was an old man, quite

sociable and talkative.

The teacher of drawing was altogether like a cheap actor. He wore a

thin, flappy haori of sukiya, and, toying with a fan, he giggled;

“Where from? eh? Tokyo? Glad to hear that. You make another of our

group. I’m a Tokyo kid myself.”

If such a fellow prided himself on being a Tokyo kid, I wished I had

never been born in Tokyo. I might go on writing about each one of them,

for there are many, but I stop here otherwise there will be no end to

it.

When my formal introduction was over, the principal said that I might

go for the day, but I should make arrangements as to the class hours,

etc., with the head teacher of mathematics and begin teaching from the

day after the morrow. Asked who was the head teacher of mathematics, I

found that he was no other than that Porcupine. Holy smokes! was I to

serve under him? I was disappointed.

“Say, where are you stopping? Yamashiro-ya? Well, I’ll come and talk it

over.”

So saying, Porcupine, chalk in hand, left the room to his class. That

was rather humiliating for a head-teacher to come over and see his

subordinate, but it was better than to call me over to him.

After leaving the school, I thought of returning straight to the hotel,

but as there was nothing to do, I decided to take in a little of the

town, and started walking about following my nose. I saw prefectural

building; it was an old structure of the last century. Also I saw the

barracks; they were less imposing than those of the Azabu Regiment,

Tokyo. I passed through the main street. The width of the street is

about one half that of Kagurazaka, and its aspect is inferior. What

about a castle-town of 250,000-koku Lord! Pity the fellows who get

swell-headed in such a place as a castle-town!

While I walked about musing like this, I found myself in front of

Yamashiro-ya. The town was much narrower than I had been led to

believe.

“I think I have seen nearly all. Guess I’ll return and eat.” And I

entered the gate. The mistress of the hotel who was sitting at the

counter, jumped out of her place at my appearance and with “Are you

back, Sire!” scraped the floor with her forehead. When I took my shoes

off and stepped inside, the maid took me to an upstairs room that had

became vacant. It was a front room of 15 mats (about 90 square feet). I

had never before lived in so splendid a room as this. As it was quite

uncertain when I should again be able to occupy such a room in future,

I took off my European dress, and with only a single Japanese summer

coat on, sprawled in the centre of the room in the shape of the

Japanese letter “big” (arms stretched out and legs spread wide[D]). I

found it very refreshing.

After luncheon I at once wrote a letter to Kiyo. I hate most to write

letters because I am poor at sentence-making and also poor in my stock

of words. Neither did I have any place to which to address my letters.

However, Kiyo might be getting anxious. It would not do to let her

worry lest she think the steamer which I boarded had been wrecked and I

was drowned,—so I braced up and wrote a long one. The body of the

letter was as follows:

“Arrived yesterday. A dull place. Am sleeping in a room of 15 mats.

Tipped the hotel five yen as tea money. The house-wife of the hotel

scraped the floor with her forehead. Couldn’t sleep last night.

Dreamed Kiyo eat sasa-ame together with the bamboo-leaf wrappers. Will

return next summer. Went to the school to-day, and nicknamed all the

fellows. ‘Badger’ for the principal, ‘Red Shirt’ for the head-teacher,

‘Hubbard Squash’ for the teacher of English, ‘Porcupine’ the teacher

of mathematics and ‘Clown’ for that of drawing. Will write you many

other things soon. Good bye.”

When I finished writing the letter, I felt better and sleepy. So I

slept in the centre of the room, as I had done before, in the letter

“big” shape ([D]). No dream this time, and I had a sound sleep.

“Is this the room?”—a loud voice was heard,—a voice which woke me up,

and Porcupine entered.

“How do you do? What you have to do in the school——” he began talking

shop as soon as I got up and rattled me much. On learning my duties in

the school, there seemed to be no difficulty, and I decided to accept.

If only such were what was expected of me, I would not be surprised

were I told to start not only two days hence but even from the

following day. The talk on business over, Porcupine said that he did

not think it was my intention to stay in such a hotel all the time,

that he would find a room for me in a good boarding house, and that I

should move.

“They wouldn’t take in another from anybody else but I can do it right

away. The sooner the better. Go and look at the room to-day, move

tomorrow and start teaching from the next day. That’ll be all nice and

settled.”

He seemed satisfied by arranging all by himself. Indeed, I should not

be able to occupy such a room for long. I might have to blow in all of

my salary for the hotel bill and yet be short of squaring it. It was

pity to leave the hotel so soon after I had just shone with a 5-yen

tip. However, it being decidedly convenient to move and get settled

early if I had to move at all, I asked Porcupine to get that room for

me. He told me then to come over with him and see the house at any

rate, and I did. The house was situated mid-way up a hill at the end of

the town, and was a quiet. The boss was said to be a dealer in antique

curios, called Ikagin, and his wife was about four years his senior. I

learned the English word “witch” when I was in middle school, and this

woman looked exactly like one. But as she was another man’s wife, what

did I care if she was a witch. Finally I decided to live in the house

from the next day. On our way back Porcupine treated me to a cup of

ice-water. When I first met him in the school, I thought him a

disgustingly overbearing fellow, but judging by the way he had looked

after me so far, he appeared not so bad after all. Only he seemed, like

me, impatient by nature and of quick-temper. I heard afterward that he

was liked most by all the students in the school.