六 3

If Red Shirt had won, I was prepared to go straight home and pack my things. There was no way I could browbeat such a fellow with mere words, and even if I could, I'd have no desire to keep company with him any longer. If I weren't at the school, what would it matter what happened? He'd probably laugh if I said anything. I kept quiet, acting as if I hadn't said a word.

Then Yama-Arashi, who had been listening silently until now, rose up with sudden vigor. Thinking he might again express support for Red Shirt—well, either way, I'd have a fight with you, do as you please—I watched as Yama-Arashi declared in a voice that seemed to rattle the glass windows: "I am entirely in disagreement with the views of the head teacher and the other gentlemen. This incident, viewed from any angle, can only be recognized as the act of fifty boarding students who, holding a new teacher in contempt, sought to toy with him. The head teacher appears to attribute the cause to the character of the teacher, but with all due respect, I believe that to be a slip of the tongue. The gentleman in question was on night duty shortly after his arrival, at a time when he had not yet spent twenty days in contact with the students. In this brief span of twenty days, the students had no opportunity to evaluate his scholarship or character. If there had been proper cause for contempt and he received it, there might be reason to show leniency toward the students' conduct, but to pardon such frivolous students who mock a new teacher for no reason whatsoever would endanger the school's dignity. The spirit of education lies not merely in imparting learning; it is, at the same time as inspiring a noble, honest, samurai-like vigor, in sweeping away vulgar, flighty, and arrogant evil customs. If one speaks in such expedient terms as 'the backlash is frightening' or 'the disturbance will grow too large,' there is no telling when this corrupt wind will be corrected. It is precisely to eradicate such evil customs that we serve at this school; if we are to overlook it, we had better not have become teachers from the start. For the above reasons, I hold it proper to impose strict punishment on all the boarding students, and further, to require that they publicly express apology before the teacher concerned." With that, he sat down heavily. Everyone was silent and said nothing. Red Shirt began wiping his pipe again. I felt suddenly very glad. It was as if Yama-Arashi had said everything I had wanted to say, in my place. Being the simple sort that I am, I completely forgot our earlier quarrel and, with a face full of gratitude, looked toward Yama-Arashi as he sat down—but Yama-Arashi acted as if he knew nothing of it.

After a while, Yama-Arashi stood up again. "I neglected to mention something a moment ago, so let me add it. The night-duty officer that evening appears to have left the premises during his watch to go to the hot springs; I consider that utterly unacceptable. For one who has taken on the responsibility of minding the school to slip away—taking advantage of there being no one to reprimand him—to a hot spring of all places, is a grave breach of decorum. As for the students, as students, on this point I hope the principal will specially caution those responsible."

What a strange fellow—just when I'd thought well of him, he turns around and exposes someone's blunder. I had known without a thought that the previous night-duty man had gone out, assumed it was customary, and ended up going all the way to the springs myself; but now that he put it that way, yes, I was in the wrong. No complaint if attacked. So I stood up again and said, "I did indeed go to the hot springs during my night duty. That was entirely wrong. I apologize," and sat down—whereupon everyone laughed again. They laugh whenever I say anything. Petty lot. Can you, any of you, plainly declare your own faults as openly as that? You laugh because you can't.

Then the principal said that, as opinions seemed mostly exhausted, they would deliberate and decide on a penalty. While I'm at it, I'll tell the outcome: the boarding students were confined to grounds for a week, and further, came before me to apologize. Had they not apologized, I was about to resign on the spot—but as it happened, things went my way, and it ended in a terrible mess. That I'll tell later, but the principal, declaring this meeting still in session, said something like this: The conduct of students must be corrected through the influence of teachers; as a first step, teachers should as much as possible refrain from frequenting eating and drinking establishments. Of course, farewell gatherings and such are exceptions, but one should avoid going alone to inferior places—for instance, soba shops, or dango shops—he began, and again everyone laughed. Noda looked at Yama-Arashi and whispered "tempura," casting a sidelong glance, but Yama-Arashi paid him no mind. Served them right.

My brain being poor, I don't well grasp what the badger says, but if a middle-school teacher can't function without avoiding soba and dango shops, then a glutton like me could never manage it. If that's the rule, then fine—they should have stipulated from the start that they hire only those who dislike soba and dango. To hand down a silent appointment and then issue the sinful edict "eat no soba, eat no dango" is a terrible blow to one who, like me, has no other pleasure. Then Red Shirt spoke up again. "A middle-school teacher, by nature, belongs to the upper strata of society, and should not seek merely material pleasures. Indulgence in that direction inevitably exerts a bad influence on one's character. But being human, without some amusement, one could never live in the narrow confines of the countryside. Therefore one must go fishing, read literary works, or compose new-style poetry or haiku—seek some refined, spiritual amusement, whatever it may be…"

Listening in silence, he spouts his convenient fever. If spiritual amusement means hauling fertilizer out at sea, Gorky being a Russian man of letters, a familiar geisha standing under a pine, or a frog plunging into an old pond, then eating tempura and swallowing dango is spiritual amusement too. Rather than grant such worthless amusement, I'd sooner do Red Shirt's laundry. I was so annoyed I asked him, "Is meeting the Madonna also spiritual amusement?" This time no one laughed. They wore strange faces and looked at one another eye to eye. Red Shirt himself looked down, seeming in pain. There—got you, didn't I. The only one I pitied was Unari; when I said that, his already pale face turned all the paler.

“Stories of the world, in your language.”