
Part 5 of 6 · JLPT N3
きりぎりす Kirigirisu, part 5: Money, Vanity and Empty Friendships
In this part
The wife describes how her husband now watches money closely: he checks her purse, banks his earnings, and proudly brings home what he has not spent, though she wants nothing and only asks him to build a loofah trellis. When a friend comes asking for help, he pretends to be poor and mocks her for hiding twenty yen. She calls him a selfish, lying optimist who lives on flattery, forms groups with people he despised, and speaks ill of each friend to the other.
AI translation · independently checked
あなたは私の、財布の中まで、おしらべになるようになりました。You even took to examining the inside of my purse.
お金がはいると、あなたは、あなたの大きい財布と、それから、私の小さい財布とに、お金をわけて、おいれになります。When money comes in, you divide it between your big wallet and my little purse, and put it away.
あなたの財布には、大きいお紙幣を五枚ばかり、私の財布には、大きいお紙幣一枚を、四つに畳んでお容れになります。Into your wallet go about five large notes; into my purse, a single large note, folded in four.
あとのお金は、郵便局と銀行へ、おあずけになります。The rest you deposit at the post office and the bank.
私は、いつでも、それを、ただ傍で眺めています。And every time, I simply watch from beside you.
いつか私が、貯金帳をいれてある書棚の引き出しの鍵を、かけるのを忘れていたら、あなたは、それを見つけて、困るね、と、しんから不機嫌に、私におこごとを言うので、私は、げっそり致しました。Once, when I had forgotten to lock the drawer of the bookcase where the savings books are kept, you found it and scolded me, in genuinely bad humour: "This won't do, you know." I was utterly dispirited.
画廊へ、お金を受取りにおいでになれば、三日目くらいにお帰りになりますが、そんな時でも、深夜、酔ってがらがらと玄関の戸をあけて、おはいりになるや否や、おい、三百円あまして来たぞ、調べて見なさい、等と悲しい事を、おっしゃいます。When you go to the gallery to collect money, you come home around the third day; and even then, late at night, drunk, you rattle the front door open, and no sooner are you inside than you say such sad things as, "Hey, I've brought back three hundred yen. Go on, count it."
あなたのお金ですもの、いくらお使いになったって平気ではないでしょうか。It is your money, after all; surely it would be quite all right however much of it you spent?
たまには気晴しに、うんとお金を使いたくなる事もあるだろうと思います。I am sure there are times when you want to spend a great deal of money, just to lift your spirits.
みんな使うと、私が、がっかりするとでも思って居られるのでしょうか。Do you imagine I would be disappointed if you spent it all?
私だって、お金の有難さは存じていますが、でも、その事ばかり考えて生きているのでは、ございません。I, too, know the worth of money, but I do not live thinking of nothing else.
三百円だけ残して、そうして得意顔でお帰りになるあなたのお気持が、私には淋しくてなりません。The feeling in you as you come home so pleased with yourself, having kept back just three hundred yen, makes me unbearably lonely.
私は、ちっともお金を欲しく思っていません。I do not want money in the least.
何を買いたい、何を食べたい、何を観たいとも思いません。There is nothing I long to buy, nothing I long to eat, nothing I long to see.
家の道具も、たいてい廃物利用で間に合わせて居りますし、着物だって染め直し、縫い直しますから一枚も買わずにすみます。For the household things, I mostly make do by reusing what others would throw away, and as for kimono, I re-dye them and re-sew them, so I manage without buying a single one.
どうにでも、私は、やって行きます。I will get along somehow, whatever happens.
手拭掛け一つだって、私は新しく買うのは、いやです。Even a single towel rack, I would hate to buy new.
むだな事ですもの。It is such a waste.
あなたは時々、私を市内へ連れ出して、高い支那料理などを、ごちそうして下さいましたが、私にはちっともおいしいとは思われませんでした。Now and then you took me into the city and treated me to expensive Chinese food and the like, but I never found it the least bit delicious.
何だか落ちつかなくて、おっかなびっくりの気持で、本当に、勿体なくて、むだな事だと思いました。Somehow I could not settle; I felt timid and on edge, and I truly thought it too good for us, and a waste.
三百円よりも、支那料理よりも、私には、あなたが、この家のお庭に、へちまの棚を作って下さったほうが、どんなに嬉しいかわかりません。Rather than three hundred yen, rather than Chinese food, you cannot imagine how happy it would make me if you would build a loofah trellis in the garden of this house.
八畳間の縁側には、あんなに西日が強く当るのですから、へちまの棚をお作りになると、きっと工合がいいと思います。The afternoon sun beats so fiercely on the veranda of the eight-mat room that I am sure a loofah trellis would suit it perfectly.
あなたは、私があれほどお願いしても、植木屋を呼んだらいいとか、おっしゃって、ご自分で作っては、くださいません。No matter how much I have begged you, you only say things like "Why not call a gardener?" and will not make it yourself.
植木屋を呼ぶなんて、そんなお金持の真似は、私は、いやです。Calling in a gardener: I will not ape rich people like that.
あなたに、作っていただきたいのに、あなたは、よし、よし、来年は、等とおっしゃるばかりで、とうとう今日まで、作っては下さいません。I want you to build it for me, yet all you ever say is "Yes, yes, next year," and to this very day you have not built it.
あなたは、御自分の事では、ひどく、むだ使いをなさるのに、人の事には、いつでも知らん顔をなさって居ります。On yourself you spend money most wastefully, yet when it comes to others, you always look the other way.
いつでしたかしら、お友達の雨宮さんが、奥さんの御病気で困って、御相談にいらした時、あなたは、わざわざ私を応接間にお呼びになって、家にいま、お金があるかい?When was it, I wonder? Your friend Mr Amemiya came to you for advice, troubled by his wife's illness, and you went out of your way to call me into the parlour: "Is there any money in the house just now?"
と真面目な顔をして、お聞きになるので、私は、可笑しいやら、ばからしいやらで、困ってしまいました。you asked with a serious face, and I hardly knew what to do; it was both laughable and absurd.
私が顔を赤くして、もじもじしていると、隠すなよ、そこらを掻き廻したら、二十円くらいは出て来るだろう、と私に、からかうようにおっしゃるので、私は、びっくりしてしまいました。As I blushed and fidgeted, you said to me, as if teasing, "Don't hide it. If you rummage about, twenty yen or so will turn up, I expect," and I was quite taken aback.
たった二十円。A mere twenty yen.
私は、あなたの顔を見直しました。I looked at your face anew.
あなたは、私の視線を、片手で、払いのけるようにして、いいから僕に貸しておくれ、けちけちするなよ、とおっしゃって、それから雨宮さんのほうに向って、お互、こんな時には、貧乏は、つらいね、と笑っておっしゃるのでした。You brushed my gaze aside as though with one hand and said, "Never mind, just lend it to me, don't be stingy." Then you turned to Mr Amemiya and said with a laugh, "At times like this, being poor is hard on us both, eh?"
私は、呆れて、何も申し上げたくなくなりました。I was so appalled that I no longer wished to say anything at all.
あなたは清貧でも何でも、ありません。You are not nobly poor, nor anything of the kind.
憂愁だなんて、いまの、あなたのどこに、そんな美しい影があるのでしょう。Melancholy, indeed! Where in you, as you are now, is there any such beautiful shadow?
あなたは、その反対の、わがままな楽天家です。You are the very opposite: a selfish optimist.
毎朝、洗面所で、おいとこそうだよ、なんて大声で歌って居られるでは、ありませんか。Why, every morning at the washbasin you sing "Oitoko sō da yo" at the top of your voice, do you not?
私は御近所に恥ずかしくてなりません。I am so ashamed before the neighbours I can hardly bear it.
祈り、シャヴァンヌ、もったいないと思います。Prayer, Chavannes: I think such words are wasted on you.
孤高だなんて、あなたは、お取巻きのかたのお追従の中でだけ生きているのにお気が附かれないのですか。Lofty solitude, indeed! Do you not notice that you live only amid the flattery of the people who surround you?
あなたは、家へおいでになるお客様たちに先生と呼ばれて、誰かれの画を、片端からやっつけて、いかにも自分と同じ道を歩むものは誰も無いような事をおっしゃいますが、もし本当にそうお思いなら、そんなに矢鱈に、ひとの悪口をおっしゃってお客様たちの同意を得る事など、要らないと思います。Called "Master" by the guests who come to the house, you tear apart everyone's paintings one after another and talk as though no one else walks the same path as you; but if you truly believed that, I think you would have no need to run others down so recklessly to win your guests' agreement.
あなたは、お客様たちから、その場かぎりの御賛成でも得たいのです。You want your guests' approval, even if it lasts only for the moment.
なんで孤高な事がありましょう。How could that be lofty solitude?
そんなに来る人、来る人に感服させなくても、いいじゃありませんか。Surely you need not make every last visitor admire you so?
あなたは、とても嘘つきです。You are a dreadful liar.
昨年、二科から脱退して、新浪漫派とやらいう団体を、お作りになる時だって、私は、ひとりで、どんなに惨めな思いをしていた事でしょう。Last year, too, when you left the Nika-kai and founded that group called the Shin-Rōmanha, the New Romantic School or whatever it was, how wretched I felt, all alone.
だって、あなたは、蔭であんなに笑って、ばかにしていたおかた達ばかりを集めて、あの団体を、お作りになったのでございますもの。For you founded that group by gathering none but the very people you had laughed at and scorned so much behind their backs.
あなたには、まるで御定見が、ございません。You have no firm convictions whatsoever.
この世では、やはり、あなたのような生きかたが、正しいのでしょうか。Is it, after all, a way of living like yours that is right in this world?
葛西さんがいらした時には、お二人で、雨宮さんの悪口をおっしゃって、憤慨したり、嘲笑したりして居られますし、雨宮さんがおいでの時は、雨宮さんに、とても優しくしてあげて、やっぱり友人は君だけだ等と、嘘とは、とても思えないほど感激的におっしゃって、そうして、こんどは葛西さんの御態度に就いて非難を、おはじめになるのです。When Mr Kasai calls, the two of you speak ill of Mr Amemiya, growing indignant and sneering; and when Mr Amemiya is here, you are ever so kind to him and tell him, so movingly that no one could think it a lie, "You're my only real friend after all," and then you start finding fault with Mr Kasai's behaviour.
Vocabulary
| Word | Meaning | JLPT |
|---|---|---|
| 不機嫌ふきげん | bad-tempered, displeased不 (not) + 機嫌 (mood). | — |
| げっそりげっそり | utterly dispirited, deflatedAlso used for looking gaunt or haggard. | N1 |
| 間に合わせてまにあわせる | to make do (with what one has)dictionary form: 間に合わせるCompare 間に合う 'to be in time; to be enough'. | — |
| おっかなびっくりおっかなびっくり | timidly, nervouslyColloquial; from おっかない 'scary' + びっくり. | — |
| 勿体なくてもったいない | too good (for one); wastefuldictionary form: 勿体ないUsually written in kana today. | N2 |
| 西日にしび | the strong afternoon sun from the west | N1 |
| 知らん顔しらんかお | pretending not to notice, indifference知らん is a casual form of 知らない; 知らん顔をする 'to look the other way'. | — |
| もじもじもじもじ | fidgeting shyly or awkwardly | — |
| けちけちけちけち | stingily, penny-pinchingFrom けち 'stingy (person)'. | — |
| 清貧せいひん | honest, noble povertyLiterally 'pure poverty'; an ideal of the artist untouched by money. | — |
| 憂愁ゆうしゅう | melancholy, gloomLiterary word. | — |
| 孤高ここう | lofty isolation, standing proudly alone | — |
| 追従ついしょう | flattery, toadyingRead ついじゅう, it means 'following, conforming'. | — |
| 感服かんぷく | admiration; being deeply impressed感服させる 'to make someone admire'. | — |
Grammar
お〜になる N4 honorific form of a verb (respectful)
お + verb stem + になる raises the husband's actions. She uses it throughout, so even her complaints stay formally polite, which sharpens their irony.
あなたは私の、財布の中まで、おしらべになるようになりました。
You even took to examining the inside of my purse.
〜や否や N1 as soon as, no sooner … than
Attached to the dictionary form, it shows that the second action follows the first immediately. Here he speaks the moment he steps inside.
おはいりになるや否や、おい、三百円あまして来たぞ
no sooner are you inside than you say, "Hey, I've brought back three hundred yen"
〜てなりません N2 unbearably, can't help feeling
The te-form of a feeling adjective + ならない expresses an emotion too strong to hold back. ません is the polite form.
三百円だけ残して、そうして得意顔でお帰りになるあなたのお気持が、私には淋しくてなりません。
The feeling in you as you come home so pleased with yourself, having kept back just three hundred yen, makes me unbearably lonely.
〜ずにすむ N3 to manage without doing
The negative stem + ずに + すむ means a thing does not have to be done after all. Here re-dyeing and re-sewing spare her from buying kimono.
着物だって染め直し、縫い直しますから一枚も買わずにすみます。
As for kimono, I re-dye them and re-sew them, so I manage without buying a single one.
〜やら〜やら N2 what with … and …; both … and …
It lists mixed feelings or things without claiming the list is complete. Followed by で, it gives the reason for the result: she is at a loss.
可笑しいやら、ばからしいやらで、困ってしまいました。
It was both laughable and absurd, and I hardly knew what to do.
〜ですもの N3 because, after all (feminine, appealing)
Sentence-final もの gives a reason with a pleading or self-justifying tone, typical of women's speech. She uses it to press her point gently but firmly.
あなたのお金ですもの、いくらお使いになったって平気ではないでしょうか。
It is your money, after all; surely it would be quite all right however much of it you spent?