諦める means "to resign to/accept the situation" there.
They are really cousins. The author explains their relation naturally via their conversation.Sachiko and Ohira are cousins then? Or is it a reference to the way they behave with each other?
彼の妻の初めの愛人が makes sense? 彼女 refers to his wife.And here:
大平はそれに答えず、幸子が心理学を教えている女子大学の噂など始めた。二年ばかり前、彼の妻は彼の許を去った。初めの愛人が、今は彼女と暮している模様だ。大平は三十六であった。
"Without answering, Ohira started to gossip about the university where Sachiko teached psychology. His wife left him two years before. His first love was now living with her (Sachiko). Ohira was 36 years old."
Does it mean that Asako was the first love of Ohira?
彼の妻の初めの愛人が makes sense? 彼女 refers to his wife.
I've never heard 帷幄政治. Google search results only refer to this novel (and its Chinese translation). 女流 just means "woman" there, but I think your interpretation is mostly correct.Does 帷幄 have a particular meaning in this context? For what I gather, it means that a woman who was active in the stablished Meiji government was made chairman of this women's group, right? Does 女流 means that she was an intellectual?
団体は解散せず明治時代帷幄(いあく)政治で名のあった女流を会長にしたりして、次第に社会事業など企てて来た。
Yes and yes.My question is about the 増し . Does it mean "it is better thant nothing" in both instances? 社会事業全般、ないより増しの標準でされているらしかった "Their social work system was stablished on the premise that it was better that it existed than that it doesn't", is it something like that?
I've never heard 帷幄政治. Google search results only refer to this novel (and its Chinese translation). 女流 just means "woman" there, but I think your interpretation is mostly correct.
女学校長, 河合 and もう一人そう云う人 are three different women.
彼等 refers to 諸戸 and 女学校長.
特別な関係 suggests that they already have a sexual relationship.
My first impression is that 将来彼のものになるだろう或る女学校長 actually means that 将来彼のものになるだろう或る女学校の校長, thus, he will acquire the school, not the woman, but it's also possible to interpret that he has an intention to marry her in the future by 将来彼のものになる (after he divorced his wife, probably).
ころがり込む means something like "came to the organization without any promise" there.Hi, could I translate: 相原氏の方があれでましでしょう as "Aihara, that's someone to look up for/bigger man (compared to Moroto)"? And has ころがり込んでいるうち the sense that Aihara got in charge of the work settlements when they started and now had became a man with an important role because of that?
多分、相原の口添えで、川島を罷めさせることは中止になったらしいと云うことだった。相原は、諸戸と同郷で、ころがり込んでいるうち、府下のセットルメント・ワークを任され、今では一方の主になっている男であった。伊田と川島は異口同音に、
「――相原氏の方があれでましでしょう」
と云った。
「男らしい点だけでもましじゃないですか」
It's 撒く "to slip away from her".Hi, how would you translate まいてやる in this dialogue:
It means "she wouldn't need to worry about Asako".「――ここにいりゃ何でもないのに」(Here I'm in doubt, I think that it would be something in the sense that they are doing nothing she would have to worry about, thougths?)
It's 撒く "to slip away from her".
Yes and yes.Ok, so Ohira is saying that if she were with them, they could slip away from her, right?
So when Ohira says to Sachiko: 君が案じるって、敢然と僕の誘惑を拒けたよ, is he saying that Asako said that she (Sachiko) would be worried and this way she resisted/rejected his "advances"?
素介 is 大平's given name.And still further, Sachiko says: そうさ、素介という男はそういう男なの、どうせ。 I understood that the kanji reading for Motosuke, could mean "selfish", is that so? Or is just implying that her cousin is just this kind of man (someone who can't be trusted)?
おる is a dialectal form of いる, thus, he says that they are well balanced because Asako is here.「従兄の悲しさに、あんたも私も、どうもサディストの型（タイプ）に属するらしいね。アッペルバッハの新しい性格分類法で行くと。だから、マゾヒストの型で徳性の高い朝っぺさんにおって貰って調和よろしいという訳さ。私なんか、同じサディストでも、徳性が高いからいいけれど、この素介なんぞ――」
Sachiko is saying that Asako is masoquist with a virtuous character/has a high moral standard so her personality is well balanced, right? What would the meaning of おって貰って be? Then Sachiko says that she is a sadist (like Ohira?), but is also virtuous, which is good, contrary to her cousin...
You can't know/understand that.君に解ってたまるもんか = How can you know that?/ And is that something you can know?
Yes.頭のよしあしじゃない、向きの違いさ What would the meaning of 向き mean here? "It is not a matter of being inteligent or not, it is a difference in "preference"? (Asako says that the germans need to write pages and pages about a subject in order to grasp it and Sachiko explains that the germans have to write a lot about a subject because that would be their preference/tendency?
素介 is 大平's given name.
Right.「ひどい不景気だから、きっといい口なんぞありませんよ。あったにしろ、そんな口にはあなたがたより、もっと、今日生きるに必要な男が飛びついています」
Sachiko is saying that the recession is terrible, there are no good job opportunities, and even if they existed, the girl couldn't count on them, because there would be more eager men jumping upon them, right?
Yes.「ふうわりしたもんだな」
Is Ohira saying that the girls were quite vague/not serious about what they wanted?
The subject of 増し is 会社に働いている連中, thus, workers might be better than the girls since they(= workers) are good at accounting and calculation.「簿記や算盤が達者なだけ増しかもしれない」= "It might be better to be good at accounting and calculation" (For the job market)
Yes, you got it right.「然し、変ったもんだなあ」= "Times have changed" ?
As you might know, there is a business custom of putting hanko/seal on paper documents to show "confirmed" in Japan.「同じ判こをついて廻す帳面でも、中に、例えばまあ、あさ子なんて小さい印があるとちょっと悪くないな」
I gather that Ohira is saying that it would not be bad to see Asako's little signature inside a notebook/account book, but what does 同じ判こをついて廻す帳面でも mean here?
世話する means "to procure employment for him" here.幾分照れ、朝子は、
「じゃ、私女学校の先生に世話して上げるわ」
She is saying that she would take care of the teachers of a women's school. But I couldn't figure out how it is related to what is said above...
と云った。
He is saying that the girls/people around him might be the ones whose bones are firm/hard, not "bonne femme".「そうしたら、右も左もボンヌ・ファム（美人）ばかりよ」
Bonne Femme
大平は、直ぐそれをもじって、皮肉に、
「ボーン・ファーム（骨ごわ）？」
Bone firm? This word playing is weird.
と訊き返した。
As you might know, there is a business custom of putting hanko/seal on paper documents to show "confirmed" in Japan.
View attachment 32881
廻す means "to pass the document to the higher position".
He says that even though documents/account books are the same, it wouldn't be bad to see Asako's seal on it (comparing to a case where there is not Asako's seal).
世話する means "to procure employment for him" here.
He is saying that the girls/people around him might be the ones whose bones are firm/hard, not "bonne femme".
It's more simple. He is just saying that it's not bad to see Asako's seal on those documents.Ok, then he is implying that it wouldn't be bad to see Asako having a higher position in the enterprise echelon, something in this sense?
Asako's intention is that if he likes to see a woman's/girl's seal, in other words, if he likes environment where there are women/girls, he should become a teacher of a girls school. Then, there would be many "bonnes femmes" around him.But why for him? Because he would be able to see Asako's signature in the documents passed around?
Your interpretation is correct."bonne femme" seems to be the French term used by Asako, which was translated as "beautiful women", but then Ohira plays with the words and it becomes "bone firm" or "hard bone", that was my interpretation. Is it too off?
It's the latter. Feminism is more likely 女権拡張家 in their conversation.Does 女性文化 is the same as "feminist culture" or does it mean just "women's culture"? I'm not certain about the terms used to express the concept of feminism in Japan at the time.
女は内に means 女は（家の）内に（いるべきだ）, i.e., Japanese traditional way of thinking.女性文化必ずしも、女は内にを意味しやしないからね.
Is Sachiko explaining that, despite the term "women's culture" it doesn't necessarily mean that that there are women involved in it?
得意 means "to feel proud of it" here, thus, she felt proud of her situation.得意でなくもなかったんだけれど = "in fact it was not that bad to work to sustain myself"? The two negatives made me wonder if my interpretation was correct.
It's "from another point of view".With 一方から云えば, does Ohira is saying that, from his point of view, it is natural not to want to marry again?