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春は馬車に乗って横光利一

Upper intermediate · JLPT N2

春は馬車に乗ってHaru wa Basha ni no Te — Spring Arrives by Horse Carriage

by Yokomitsu Riichi (横光利一, 1898–1947)

  • JLPT N2
  • 9,566 characters
  • 7 parts
  • about 80 minutes

Spring Arrives by Horse Carriage is a short story about a husband nursing his wife through a long lung illness in a house by the sea. It draws on the illness and death of Yokomitsu's own first wife. Over a winter, the two talk, quarrel, make up and wear each other down. She wants him silent and always at her side. He hunts the town's poultry shops for the giblets she craves while his work and money slip away. The story does not sentimentalise illness. The husband is frank about his exhaustion, and the wife's feverish arguments can be sharp and funny as well as painful. Yokomitsu was a leading figure of the New Sensationalist (Shinkankakuha) movement, and the narration shows it: the sea, pine needles and a single egg are described in bold, unexpected metaphors. For learners, the challenge is this dense, image-heavy narration, plus passages from the Psalms in classical Japanese. The reward is the dialogue, which makes up much of the text. It is plain, everyday spoken Japanese, and it shows clearly how a husband and wife speak to each other in an intimate, unguarded register.

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Contents

  1. A Sickbed by the Winter SeaAs winter winds begin to blow along the coast, a man watches over his wife, who is bedridden with a lung disease. Their talk drifts between pine needles, laundry, repaying kindness and a dream trip to Munich, and he privately realises she will not recover. Gazing at the sea, he resolves to savour to the last every wave of pain that comes at him, and to keep himself as clear as a glass flask.
  2. Organ Meats and the Logic of the CageAs winter comes to the seaside town, the husband searches every poultry shop twice a day for the fresh organ meats his sick wife craves, and he lays them out for her like jewels. Their talk turns into a sharp argument: she accuses him of wanting to escape her bedside, and he admits that caring for a tubercular wife is no joy. He is left wondering whether he really endures this pain only for his own sake.
  3. The Theory from Inside the CageThe husband argues that everything he endures is really for his sick wife's sake. She accuses him of caring more for his work and deadlines than for her, and says she would rather die than be treated so coldly. He slips out to buy giblets for her, while her feverish, relentless reasoning wears away her own lungs.
  4. Psalms, Fish, and the Gasping NightThe wife's body wastes away, and she refuses even the fish her husband lays out and describes for her. She asks him to read the Bible to her every day instead. As her coughing fits and pain worsen, she lashes out at him for staying calm, and he realises that he finds her illness easier to bear than the jealousy her healthy self once caused him.
  5. Nursing, Quarrels, and Mounting ExhaustionThe husband laughs at his private theory about his sick wife, and the two bicker about how he nurses her: she wants him silent and always at her side, while he insists that nursing is a nuisance by nature. As medical costs rise and his ability to work falls, he grows more and more exhausted. Sometimes he wishes he could die too, but he also wants to see whether he can get through the crisis, and at night he murmurs an old verse inviting still more hardship.
  6. The Doctor's Verdict by the SeaAs winter settles over the seaside house, the wife's pain worsens, and she tenderly apologises to her exhausted husband for her demands. A doctor tells him that she cannot recover, and he comes home stunned, wishing he never had to face her, but she reads the truth in his eyes. From then on he obeys her every wish like a machine, and one day she asks him to buy morphine so that she can die.
  7. Spring Arrives with the FlowersThe wife apologises for her selfishness, says she has already written her will, and weeps over where her bones will rest, while her husband reads Psalms aloud to her because he has no answer. The couple quietly accept that she will die. Then a bouquet of sweet peas arrives from a friend, and the wife buries her face in the flowers as the first sign of spring.

Before you read

  • Learn the two speech styles before you start. The husband speaks bluntly, using 俺, お前 and plain だ. The wife uses あたし and sentence-final わ, よ and の. Since quotes are often untagged, these markers tell you who is speaking.
  • Expect the narration to be much harder than the dialogue. Yokomitsu often states an image without saying 'like' (ように) and stacks metaphors in one sentence. If a sentence about the sea or a flask seems nonsensical, read it as a picture of the husband's state of mind, not a literal description.
  • The Psalm passages are in classical Japanese (文語). Watch for 〜なければならぬ, negative 〜ぬ and old verb endings. Treat these passages as a contrast in register, and lean on the notes rather than decoding every form.
  • The couple's arguments rely on a few patterns that recur throughout: 〜たくてならない ('can't help wanting to'), 〜より仕方がない ('there's nothing for it but to'), 〜筈がない ('there's no way that'), 〜にちがいない ('must be') and 〜たって ('even if'). Recognising them makes the long exchanges much easier to follow.
  • Learn the illness and food vocabulary first, because it carries the plot. Key words include 肺 (lungs), 看病 (nursing), 咳 (cough), 熱 (fever), 臓物 (giblets/organ meat) and 鳥屋 (poultry shop).

Words to know

The most useful words from the notes across the story.

WordMeaningJLPT
檻おりcageUsed for animals; it links to the husband calling his wife a beast and to 'the logic of the cage'.N1
臓物ぞうもつgiblets, organ meatsEdible innards of birds or animals; the key image of this passage.—
岬みさきcape, headlandN2
理智的りちてきintellectual, rationalOlder spelling of 理知的.—
病勢びょうせいthe course or progress of an illness—
蒼ざめてあおざめるto turn paledictionary form: 蒼ざめるAlso written 青ざめる.—
参るまいるto give out, collapse, be beatenBesides the humble 'to go/come', it means 'to be worn out or defeated'.N4
恐かないこわいscary, frightening; afraid (恐かない = colloquial 恐くはない, 'not afraid')dictionary form: 恐いColloquial contraction of 恐くはない.N4
手品てじなmagic trick, sleight of handN3
解釈かいしゃくinterpretationHere it means the husband's private way of reading his wife's behaviour.N3
霜しもfrostN3
書斎しょさいstudy (room for reading and writing)N3
縮んでちぢむto shrink, shriveldictionary form: 縮むN2
締切りしめきりdeadlinedictionary form: 締め切りN2
看病かんびょうnursing (a sick person), caring for the sickUsed for family care at home. 看護 is more professional.N2

Plot summary

Show the full summary (contains spoilers)

On a windswept coast, a man nurses his wife, who has a lung disease. He realises she will not recover and resolves to taste every wave of pain to the full. He searches the poultry shops daily for the organ meats she craves. She accuses him of wanting to escape her, and of caring more about his work than about her. He admits that nursing her brings him no joy. As she wastes away, she refuses food and asks him to read her the Bible. Costs rise, his work suffers, and he grows exhausted. A doctor tells him she cannot recover, and she reads the truth in his eyes. She asks him to buy morphine so she can die. Later she apologises for her selfishness, mentions her will and weeps over where her bones will rest, while he reads Psalms aloud. Quietly, both accept her coming death. A friend sends sweet peas, and she buries her face in them, the first sign of spring.

About the author

Yokomitsu Riichi was a Japanese novelist and short-story writer. With Kawabata Yasunari, he led the Shinkankaku-ha (New Sensationalist school) of the 1920s, which tried to renew Japanese prose with startling imagery, fragmented scenes and techniques influenced by European modernism and film. 蠅 is one of his best-known early stories. He was regarded as one of the most influential writers of his generation in Japan.

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