(528) Botchan walked around the town of Matsuyama [翻訳]
それから学校の門を出て、すぐに宿に帰ろうと思ったが、帰ったってしかたがないから、少し町を散歩してやろうと思って、むやみに足の向くほうを歩き散らした。県庁も見た。古い前世紀の建築である。兵舎3)も見た。麻布の連隊より立派でない。大通りも見た。神楽坂を半分に狭くしたぐらいな道幅で町並みはあれより落ちる。二十五万石4)の城下だって高の知れたもんだ。こんなところに住んで御城下だなどといばってる人間はかあいそうなものだと考えながらくると、いつしか山城屋5)の前に出た。
―坊ちゃん 夏目漱石 著
―坊ちゃん 夏目漱石 著
4) 二十五万石:松山は久松氏十五万石の城下町
5) 松山着任後、漱石が実際に泊ったのは、城戸屋(きどや)旅館であった。
思ったこと:松山のことは、けなしてばかり、松山への第一印象は悪かったらしいが、この負の印象をエネルギーに変えて小説「坊ちゃん」を完成させた。つまり、第一印象の悪い事柄に対しても、逃げずに取り組めば何か別の価値を生み出すことがあるのかもしれないと思った。
My comment: It seems that his first impression of Matsuyama was bad because he was just speaking ill of Matsuyama, but he turned this negative impression into energy and completed the novel "Botchan". In other words, I thought that even things with a bad first impression might create some other value if we tackle them without running away.
http://y294ma.livedoor.blog/archives/17966270.html
I walked out of the school gate with the intention of going straight back to the inn, but since I had nothing to do there, I decided to walk around the town for a while and strolled aimlessly through the streets. I saw the prefectural government office, an old building from the last century, and the army barracks.
These were no better than those of the regiment1) at Azabu in Tokyo. I also saw the main street, which was about half size of Tokyo's Kagurazaka, and whose shops were poorer.
This was just a small castle town which in feudal times probably only yield its lord a paltry million and quarter bushels of grain2). I was walking along, pitying those who brag about living in a "castle town," when I suddenly found myself in front of the Yamashiroya.
--- Botchan / translated by Alan Turney.
Kidoya Inn is the model for Yamashiroya, the Inn where Botchan, the hero of Soseki Natsume's novel stayed at first.
1) Regiment: 連隊
2) a paltry million and a quarter bushels of grain: わずか125万ブッシェルの穀物(25万石)
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2) a paltry million and a quarter bushels of grain: わずか125万ブッシェルの穀物(25万石)
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(527) Amida kuji lottery [英作文]
I'd like to introduce two Amida kuji lottery applications. Amidakuji-123 is an application to decide turns automatically. If you want to draw lots, the other application "あみだ.com" is suitable. This is a traditional amida kuji. When the order of drawing lots become a problem, why not combine these two applications.
How to use Amida kuji
(Ghost Leg, ladder lottery)
(Ghost Leg, ladder lottery)
The order of speakers to start will be decide by two ladder lotteries (Amida kuji in Japanese). The first one is "あみだくじ123", the other is "あみだ.com". I will explain now.
1. The first ladder lottery will decide the turns to draw the second ladder lottery.
This lottery application assigns everyone randomly in the black boxes on the top (Pic. 1). In the boxes on the bottom, there are numbers for turns to draw the second lottery. These numbers are also placed randomly by this application.
(1) Input names of speakers.
(2) Start the lottery.
When this lottery is started the whole ladder lottery appears on the screen (Pic. 1). A small colored box of everyone starts moving along the ladders of the middle and reaches to the bottom. The turns of draw the second laddery is decided.
(3) Result
1st: 四郎 Shiro,
2nd: 太郎 Taro,
3rd: 五郎 Goro,
4th: 次郎 Jiro,
5th: 三郎 Saburo.
2. The second ladder lottery will decide the order to make speeches in the contest.
At first, you see a group of lines at the top and the same number of lines at the bottom. The middle and the numbers in boxes on the bottom are covered. You can't tell which top line leads to which bottom line.
(1) According to each turn to draw, everyone chooses a top line (Pic. 2).
(2) When the choosing is done, this lottery is revealed (Pic. 3).
(3) Everyone traces the path from his choice to the bottom.
(4) Result
1st speaker: 四郎 Shiro
2nd speaker:三郎 Saburo
3rd speaker:五郎 Goro
4th speaker:次郎 Jiro
5th speaker:太郎 Taro
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