When I had sometime these days I've been translating my favorite short novel "Golden Scene" by Dazai Osamu whom I love and respect from all my heart into English.
It was so difficult attempt.
Cause his Japanese poetic sentence is so unique, original and beautiful.
And I'm sorry that my English skill is not good. I have to learn English more and more from now on, too.
But I believe this attempt is useful to inform a lot of people all over the countries to beautiful world of Japanese legendary novelist Dazai Osamu. I wanna show a lot of people the world of him. Enjoy his timeless beautiful art.
Golden Scene
The oak tree that colors the shore with green is tied by golden thin chain
by Pushikin
When I was young I was not a good man. I teased my maid. I dislike dull things and so I especially teased my dull maid. Okei is dull. She is absentminded for long time with having a knife and apple without peeling it if I don't call out to her severely two times or three times. I thought she may be meatheaded. I often saw her standing without doing anything and though I was so young I felt that her behavior was disgraceful and it irritated me. So I said a precocious, that now I have a chill to having said so, and inhuman words "Hey Okei, one day is short" to her. Not only doing so but I called her and commanded her to cut out each of hundreds of soldiers on a picture book, some of them are riding horses, having flags and others are having guns by a scissor. She's clumsy and it took her from morning to nightfall to cut out only 30 soldiers, one general beard was cut out and one soldier with having a gun was cut out so bigger than that expected like bears' hand, without eating lunch and she was shouted by me many times. The season was summer and she sweated easily. So cut out soldiers were wet by her hands' sweat and finally I got angry with her and kicked her. Without fail or doubt though I kick her shoulder she held down her cheek and threw herself down in tears and said . "I've never been step on my face by even my parents. I'll never forget this." Her having said so with groaning intermittently I felt so bad. Like this I often teased her as if to do so was my destiny. Even now I can't help get angry with a man who is stupid and clumsy.
Two years ago I was expelled from my house and in a minute reduced to poverty and wandered about and begged somewhere in tears and manage to keep alive day after day and as soon as I can see the light at the end of tunnel with my literary art I fell sick. In a summer the kind people helped me to lend a small house near the sea with mud in Funabashi, Chiba and I could rest by myself and night by night I had to deal with my sweat enough to need to squeeze my nightwear but I had to write to live and only about 150 gram of milk of every morning was a pleasure of my life and my head was in pain and I was so tired that I couldn't find the starting flowering in a corner of my garden.
In those days thin and short policeman who was around 40 came to my house to take the census and compared my name on a family register book with my face wearing a long stubbly beard at the front door and asked me. "Are you his son?" As I found my hometown dialect in his this words I had the nerve to respond. "Yes. And you?" The man said with a smile "I was right after all. Maybe you've forgotten this, I was working as a driver of a carriage horse about 20 years ago in K." K is my hometown's name. "As you can see..." I responded with no smile. "I went down in the world." "No way." He said with a smile. "You are great to write novels." I smiled wryly. "By the way..." He continued with a little low voice. "Okei always talks about you." "OKEI?" I couldn't understand the word in no time. "Can't you remember Okei? She was working as a maid in your house." At last I remembered her. It was so difficult to sit there because I remembered clearly each of my teasing her 20 years ago. "Is she happy?" I asked and at that time my face must be like a sinner, defendant with an obsequious smile. "Yeah." He replied carefreely and cheerfully and wiped perspiration from his brow and said. "Is it okay? I'll come here to thank you with her in the near future." I sprung to my feet to hear that. "Oh! No, thank you" I refused the proposal strongly and I was twisting my body in a sense of humiliation that I can't describe. But he was cheerful. "Sir, my son is working at the station. he is eldest son. And we have another son and two daughters. The youngest daughter is 8 years old and enrolled the elementary school this year. we are alright now. Okei experienced difficulties but now she's alright. I was attracted by her because she was different from others. That's because she was working in your great master's house and learning her manners." His face was a little red. "Thank you very much for her. She always talks about you. We'll come here to thank you next our holiday." His face came to serious suddenly and said "I'm going now. Please take care of yourself."
After three days I faced not by difficulties of my works but by my own economic difficulties and I can't help going out and tried to go near the sea with my bamboo cane and opened the front door. At that time I found that there're one husband and one wife wearing Yukatas and one girl who wears red cloth. They were beautiful like a pictures. They were Okei's family.
My voice was so loud and it surprised me. "Are you come here!? Today I have things to do. So I have to go. I'm sorry. Please come here again at a later date."
Okei had grown up into a graceful middle aged lady. Her daughter looked like her mother when she was young and working as a maid and looked up me with clumsy and dark eyes. I was so sad and ran away to the sea before she said something. I was going straight to the direction of the town chopping and chopping grass with my bamboo cane without looking back. What was I doing in the town? I was looking up a signboard of movie theater and I was gazing at a window of cloth shop for no particular reason and I was smacking my lips and I was hearing the voice that said to me "I was badly beaten, I was beaten." And I thought this is not good and I was walking around. Maybe it took 30 minutes or so to do so. After that I went back to my house.
Having got to near the shore of the sea I was stopping walking. Look! There is a picture of peace. Each of three of the family were throwing some stones to the sea and smiling each other. I could hear their smiling voice. The husband was throwing a stone saying "He must be so smart. He will make a name for himself in the near future." "Certainly, certainly." Wife's voice was high and full of pride. "He was abnormal when he was young. And he took care of me so kindly."
I was crying while standing. My serious excitement melted by my tears.
I was beaten. This is good thing. It's not good not to understand that this is good thing. Their victory gave me a light to start over my future.
