やんぬる哉
太宰治
Yannuru kana — Alas, There Is Nothing to Be Done
やんぬる哉
太宰治 · Japanese
Dazai Osamu's wartime self-deprecating sketch from his Tsugaru evacuation, where the writer is invited by a smug ex-classmate doctor for an afternoon…
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Pagera Editor's Note
Dazai Osamu's wartime self-deprecating sketch from his Tsugaru evacuation, where the writer is invited by a smug ex-classmate doctor for an afternoon of rationed cider, eel-style grilled catfish, and a bombastic monologue about his wife's 'creativity' in surviving the wartime shortage. Trapped on the veranda with thimble-sized sake cups and lectures on housewife ingenuity, Dazai longs for a yakitori stall in Ogikubo and a glass of cheap whiskey, where he might at least curse the world's snobs aloud. The famous one-line ending — a wife staggering home under three pumpkins on her back, capped with the classical Chinese exclamation 'Yannuru kana!' (Alas, there is nothing to be done!) — turns the doctor's idealized wife into a fishwife icon of all that the war has cheapened.
Yannuru kana — Alas, There Is Nothing to Be Done
やんぬる哉
太宰治 · Japanese
Dazai Osamu's wartime self-deprecating sketch from his Tsugaru evacuation, where the writer is invited by a smug ex-classmate doctor for an afternoon…
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Original (Japanese)
やんぬる哉 太宰治 こちら（津軽）へ来てから、昔の、小学校時代の友人が、ちょいちょい訪ねて来てくれる。私は小学校時代には、同級生たちの間でいささか勢威を逞しゅうしていたところがあったようで、「何せ昔の親分だから」なんて、笑いながら言う町会議員などもある。同級生たちはもうみんな分別くさい顔の親父になって、町会議員やらお百姓さんやら校長先生やらになりすまし、どうやら一財産こしらえた者みたいに落ちつき払っている。しかし、だんだん話合ってみると、私の同級生は、たいてい大酒飲みで、おまけに女好きという事がわかり、互に呆れ、大笑いであった。 小学校時代の友人とは、共に酒を飲んでも楽しいが、中学校時代の友人とは逢って話しても妙に窮屈だ。相手が、いやに気取っている。私を警戒しているようにさえ見える。そんなら何も私なんかと逢ってくれなくてもよさそうなものだが、この町の知識人としての一応の仁義と心得ているのか、わざわざ私に会見を申込む。 ついせんだっても、この町の病院に勤めている一医師から電話が掛って来て、今晩粗飯を呈したいから遊びに来いとの事であった。この医師は、私と中学校の同級生であったと、かねがね私
Indonesian translation (Pagera AI)
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Pagera Editor's Note
Dazai Osamu's wartime self-deprecating sketch from his Tsugaru evacuation, where the writer is invited by a smug ex-classmate doctor for an afternoon of rationed cider, eel-style grilled catfish, and a bombastic monologue about his wife's 'creativity' in surviving the wartime shortage. Trapped on the veranda with thimble-sized sake cups and lectures on housewife ingenuity, Dazai longs for a yakitori stall in Ogikubo and a glass of cheap whiskey, where he might at least curse the world's snobs aloud. The famous one-line ending — a wife staggering home under three pumpkins on her back, capped with the classical Chinese exclamation 'Yannuru kana!' (Alas, there is nothing to be done!) — turns the doctor's idealized wife into a fishwife icon of all that the war has cheapened.
やんぬる哉
太宰治
Translation status
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