"At any rate, left all alone, I had no other recourse but to rely on this uncle, just as my mother had instructed me. My uncle took everything upon himself and looked after all my needs. And he made arrangements so that I could come to Tokyo, as I wished.
I came to Tokyo and entered a higher school. The students at the higher school in those days were considerably more rough and uncouth than they are now. Among those I knew, there was one who got into a fight with a craftsman in the middle of the night and wounded the man's head with his wooden clogs. Since it happened after a bout of drinking, in the midst of their frenzied scuffle, his school cap was ultimately snatched away by the other party. However, inside that cap, the owner's name was neatly written on a diamond-shaped piece of white cloth. That made matters troublesome, and the fellow came close to having the police inquire at the school. But his friends went to great lengths on his behalf and managed to settle it without it ever becoming public. If I were to tell you, who were raised in the refined atmosphere of today, of such violent behavior, you would surely find it utterly absurd. I myself indeed find it absurd. Yet in compensation, they possessed a certain rustic simplicity that today's students lack. The monthly allowance I received from my uncle back then was far smaller compared to the tuition your father sends you now. (Of course, prices were different too.) And yet I felt not the slightest want. Nay more, among the many classmates, in terms of finances I was by no means in a pitiable state of envying others. Looking back now, I was rather the one to be envied. The reason is, besides the fixed monthly remittance, I could often request from my uncle book expenses—I had liked buying books since that time—as well as incidental costs, and freely spend them as I pleased.
Knowing nothing, I not only trusted my uncle, but always with a heart of gratitude, revered him as something precious. My uncle was a man of business. He even became a prefectural assemblyman. Perhaps owing to that connection, I recall he also had ties to a political party. Though he was my father's own younger brother, in this respect, and in terms of character, he seemed to have developed in a completely different direction from my father. My father was a single-minded, honest man who carefully guarded the inheritance passed down from our ancestors. For pleasure, he did tea ceremony and flower arrangement. He also liked reading poetry collections. He appeared to have many interests in things like calligraphy, painting, and antiques. Though our home was in the countryside, from a town some two ri away—the town where my uncle lived—antique dealers would occasionally come all the way to show my father hanging scrolls or incense burners. In short, my father might be described as, well, a man of means. He was a country gentleman with rather refined tastes. Thus in temperament there was a great gap between him and my cheerful, vigorous uncle. And yet the two were strangely fond of each other. My father would often speak of my uncle, saying he was a far more capable and reliable man than himself. He also said that those like himself, who inherited property from their parents, were bound to have their innate abilities dulled—that is, it was no good because they had no need to struggle with the world. My mother heard these words. I heard them too. I believe my father said it rather with the intention that I should take it to heart. 'You would do well to remember this,' my father said, and deliberately looked me in the face then. That is why I have not forgotten it to this day. How could I possibly doubt an uncle who was trusted and praised by my father to such an extent? He was an uncle of whom I could already be proud. After my father and mother passed away, and I had to depend on him for everything, he was no longer mere pride to me. He had become a person necessary to my very existence.
