210th Day. Natsume Soseki

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      Kei returns from somewhere, his arms swinging.

      "Where have you been?"

      "I went for a little walk in the town."

      "Anything to look at?"

      "A temple."

      "What else?"

      "A gingko at the door of the temple."

      "And what else?"

      "Between the gingko and the main pavilion the road was tiled over for about a hundred meters. The temple is a long, narrow building."

      "Did you go in?"

      "I gave up the idea."

      "Nothing else apart from that?"

      "Nothing in particular. There is a temple in most villages, isn't there?"

      "Yes, wherever people die, it's certainly needed."

      "Certainly," Kei replied, bending his head. Every now and then Kei would express untimely admiration. After a moment he raised his head and declared:

      "After that I called on the farrier, who was busy shoeing a horse: you wouldn't believe what an expert job he was making of it."

      "I did think you had been gone a long time just to visit a temple. Is it such a rare sight, a horse's shoes being changed?"

      "It's not that it's so rare, but I looked on. How many instruments would you say one needed for that?"

      "Well, how many?"

      "Have a guess."

      "We're not going to play guessing games. Tell me, how many?"

      "Just imagine, it can't be done with fewer than seven."

      "As many as that? What, for instance?"

      "What, for instance? Well, at all events, I'm certain of it. First of all, you need a chisel to get rid of the callus. Then a hammer to drive in the chisel. And then a little knife to file off the callus. And a funny gadget for hollowing out the horseshoe. And then...."

      "Then what?"

      "Then, there are a number of curious things. First of all, I was surprised to see that the horse was so quiet. No matter how one filed away and hollowed out the shoes he remained calm."

      "It's only hard skin. Human beings remain placid when they cut their nails."

      "Human beings, perhaps. But this was a horse."

      "Man or horse, we're just talking about a nail. You certainly seem to have ample time on your hands."

      "It's precisely because I have time to spare that I watched. But it's most enjoyable watching red-hot iron being beaten in the half-light. It gives off sparks in all directions."

      "Oh yes—even in the very center of Tokyo it makes sparks."

      "It may perhaps make sparks in the center of Tokyo, but it's different. First of all, with a farrier up in the mountains, like here, the sound is not the same. And you can hear it from here."

      The early autumn sun is sinking behind distant landscapes, the cool of evening is at hand, and while the air of the desolate mountain village brings a melancholy dusk in its wake, a constant clash of iron on iron can be heard.

      "You can hear it, can't you?" Kei asks.

      "Yes," Roku replies in laconic tones before lapsing into silence.

      In the next room two people are conducting a lively conversation.

      "And then the other combatant dropped his bamboo saber and was struck on his forearm."

      "Oh, I see: he finally suffered a hit on his forearm?"

      "Yes a 'touch' on his forearm. But you see, as he had dropped his saber there was nothing more he could do."

      "Oh—he dropped his saber?"

      "But he had dropped it already."

      "If he had dropped it and then received a hit on his forearm, he was in serious trouble."

      "He was certainly in trouble. Since he lost his saber and suffered a hit on his arm."

      The two men's conversation might go on and on, coming back again and again to the saber and the forearm. Kei and Roku, seated face to face, glance at each other with a smile.

      The constant sound of iron being beaten—a piercing and somewhat disturbing note—pervaded the tranquil village.

      "A horse is still being shod. It's turned rather cold, don't you think?" Kei enquired, growing stiff under his white yukata.¹ Roku refastens the collar of his unlined kimono, also white, and moves his casually parted knees properly together. Then Kei declares:

      "In the very middle of the district where I lived in my childhood there was a tofu² seller."

      "A tofu seller—so what about it?"

      "Well, past the corner of the shop at this tofu seller, a hundred meters further on, was the temple of Kankei."

      "The temple of Kankei?"

      "Yes. It should still be there. From the door of the temple there was only a bamboo grove to be seen, and it looked as if there was neither a central pavilion nor a priest's residence. In this temple, somebody came to ring the bell towards four o'clock every morning."

      "How do you mean, 'somebody'? It was a bonze surely?"

      "I do not know whether it was a bonze or not.

      At any rate, one could make out a faint 'ding-dong' from among the bamboos. On winter mornings, when a thick layer of frost had formed, while I was avoiding the general cold under my futon, the few centimeters of fabric of which gave some protection, I heard this 'ding-dong' echoing from the bamboo grove. I could not make out who was striking the bell. Each time I passed in front of the temple I saw the long paved roadway, the dilapidated door and the big bamboo grove which dominated the scene, but I never once looked inside the temple. I was content to listen to the echo of the bells which were being sounded from beyond the bamboo grove, and I huddled under my quilt like a shrimp."

      "Like a shrimp?"

      "Yes, like a shrimp—and I was murmuring under my breath 'ding dong!'"

      "That's strange."

      "Then, the tofu seller near the temple suddenly woke up and opened the shutters, and I heard the noise made by the mortar as he was washing the soya. And the rushing of the rinsing water for the tofu."

      'Where was your house situated, by the way?"

      "Well—where СКАЧАТЬ