A Roadside Stone 1938

https://youtu.be/87_au2fPy6U

<Script>
A Roadside Stone 1938    directed by Tasaka Tomotaka

A boy is running down the morning street with his school bag slung over his shoulder.
All the children attending elementary school are meeting in front of a lumber shop.
The running boy comes and urges everyone to hurry up, but a tall boy Kyozo is not so eager to do so.
“Asa-chan is not here yet.”
“Gee, he is always late. We will be late.”
“But we must wait Asa-chan.” said Kyozo.
“I don't want to be late.”
“So you are leaving Asa-chan behind? I don't like it.”
Kyozo, the tall boy insisted, and invited the boy,
“Come to the fire.”
As the boy holds his hand over the fire, the clock rings
Boys are getting uncomfortable.

“Kyozo, are you still lingering? The clock ringing.”
Kyozo's father, a lumber merchant, chides him.
“I go.”
A boy said, the other boys started to go.
Kyozo said,
“OK. I will go Asa-chan's house alone. You can go.”
“Thanks. We go.”
All the boys started to run.
Kyozo quickly poured water on the fire. As might be expected of the son of a lumber merchant, he was strictly instructed to take care of the fire.
After pouring water on the fire, he rushes to Asa-chan's house, Iseya, a kimono store.
Goichi hesitated for a moment, but he quickly followed the others.

This little act of between Kyozo and Goichi are characteristic. Kyozo is not a good student, but he is a very caring person. On the other hand, Goichi, an honor student, is more concerned about being late than waiting for his friend. However, he slightly feels guilty about leaving Kyozo alone.

At the railway crossing, the children who went ahead of Kyozo stamp their feet impatiently waiting for the train to pass by, and as soon as the train passes, they start to run. The railroad plays an important role in this film.

Meanwhile Kyozo runs to Iseya shop of Asa-chan and hurried Asa-chan, but they end up late for school after all.

In the classroom.
Teacher Tsugino is calling the roll. The two boys Kyozo and Asa-chan entered the classroom guiltily.
“Did you oversleep again?”
Tugino scolded Asa-chan first, then asked Kyozo,
“Kurimura, what's wrong with you? Overslept too?”
But Kyozo says nothing.
“Kyo-chan should tell the truth.”
The boys whispered.
“Kyo-chan is great.”
Goichi admired Kyozo.

Why Kyozo was admired? Because he did not make excuse. This can be seen, for example, in the movie "Niji-tatsu Oka (Rainbow Hill)," where Yatahachi accepted being fired without any excuse. 'Making no excuse' was one of the aesthetics of the Japanese people of that era which was an ancient virtue that has disappeared like a haze in the modern world, but if you do not understand this, it's not easy to understand the films of this era.

Tugino sensei said the two boys,
“Keep standing there. Now, open the textbook of moral.”
Then, he added,
“By the way, you know that a junior high school will be newly opened in spring. If you want to go the school raise your hand. You must prepare for the entrance examination.”
The classroom is buzzing, but no one raise hand.
“No one?” Tugino sensei asked again.
“Yes sir”, standing Asataro (Asa-chan) raised his hand.
“Are you? I see. But you won't pass the entrance exam if you are late.” the teacher teased, and everyone laughed.

Meanwhile, the girls' class was in the middle of a music lesson. In those days, the schools generally had separate classes for boys and girls.
The vice principal (presumably), is writing a lesson a day on the blackboard.

Do to others what you would be done by.
Imperial era 2562
A.D. 1902
Meiji 35, January 10th

The time of this story is shown Meiji 35 (1902).

A girl was distracted by the writing on the blackboard.
“Don't look away, Fukutani-san.”
Her teacher scolded her and said,
“Sing the second alone”
The girl is Onui, sister of Asataro (Asa-chan). The daughter of the big store Iseya is a proud girl who does not hesitate to sing alone.

In the boys' class, it is time for reading books.
The story is about a gunfighter who fights a bear. The book is written in ancient Japanese, so the children reading it have a difficulty.
“Next, Kurimura,”
The teacher appointed Kyozo, but Kyozo doesn't even know what part to read. He is not good at studying.
“Next, Aikawa,”
Goichi, who is a model student reads smoothly without difficulty.

After the class, the boys left the school together.
Kyozo asked Asa-chan,
“Are you really going to junior high school? What for?”
“Because my father says I have to.”
Asa-chan, the son of a big store owner, replied innocently.
Kyozo laughs off the idea that anyone who goes to junior high school is an idiot, but Goichi retorts, “Junior high school is not a lumbershop.”
Kyozo replies, “That's true, but my father says that you can't make any money out of junior high school and that it won't do you any good.”

This argument about usefulness or uselessness is a sub-theme of this story.
Kyozo is unconcerned about junior high school, but for Goichi, it is a painful issue.

The children know that Goichi wants to go to junior high school. They also know why he cannot go. Because Goichi's family is poor. A boy points this out to him. Children are sometimes cruel.

“You are model student, point earner, sycophant.”
Kacchan poked at Goichi's sore spot even more. Just as the fight was about to start,
“Goichi-chan, go home with me.”
Onui called Goichi.
“Yes, let's go home together.”
Asataro replies to Onui.
“No, not with you, brother.”
Onui snapped. (Here Onui calls Asataro 'big brother' but later Asataro calls Onui 'big sis'.)

The other children sneered at Onui, saying, "Model students go home together," but Onui paid them no attention at all.

“Goichi-chan and I were born in the same month and on the same day,”
she says Goichi in walking together.
“Besides, Goichi-chan is the best in the boys' class and I am the best in the girls' class. We have many reasons to be friends.”

They run back to the front of Iseya. Onui is angry for something.
“We're not goody-goody, are we? I hate Kawagin, the tailor.”
Apparently, they had met Kawagin on the way to Iseya, and he had made some remark which made Onui angry. Kawagin is a tailor who works for Iseya and is acquaintance with Goichi's mother.

“Welcome back, young lady”, the manager Chusuke greets Onui in front of the store.
Onui asked him, “Is my matsutoya (松鳥屋？)ready?”
“Yes, we are working on it. It will be ready by the end of the day.”
In a snow country, it is called a kamakura made with snow, but here it is assumed that this is a similar kind of hut for children to play in. Maya translated it 'Kids hut'.

After the two children parted in front of the store, Kawagin came into Iseya with a limp and a familiar manner, saying, “Hello,”. He must have took time than the children because of his limp.

When Goichi returned home, he was greeted by his mother, Oren, who earns her living by making paper bags.
“I saw him on the way home.” Goichi said.
“Who was it?” mother asked.
Goichi imitates Kawagin by dragging his feet. This is not a good behavior, but it is an indication of the mother and son's unfavorable feelings toward the man, Kawagin.
“Kawagin-san?”
“Yes, he wants to see you for something.”
Mother does not reply. It is guessed that she knew what Kawagin wanted. Goichi also felt something uneasiness.

“I want to go to the junior high school. Even Asa-chan will go,” Goichi asked mother.
“Asa-chan's house is rich, having big warehouses. We are not same. Besides,
think that we can't even pay the house rent to Inabaya-san.”
Mother reasoned with him.
Inabaya is a bookstore whose master is Goichi's good friend. Inabaya is also a landlord of Goichi's house.

“Why can't I? Even Asa-chan who is not good at learning can go?”
Goichi complained. The mother could understand how he felt.
She said, “Well, then, let's talk to your father about it.”
She said finally.
But the father comes home only a few times a year who is said working on insurance or something, and never send them any money. The mother Oren barely supports her and Goich by making paper bags.
Goichi said,
“I've got a good idea. I'm going to make bags too.”

But his mother refuses to allow Goichi to do it, saying, “A man should not do this kind of work.”
After all she is a woman of the Meiji era, or supposedly she is a descendant of a samurai family, never losing some pride.

As Goichi is about to leave in a huff, his mother throws him a copper coin. The copper coin is part of her small earnings gotten from the hard work.


With sagging shoulders, Goichi visits oji-san of Inabaya bookstore.
Before entering the store, Goichi touches the bookstore sign. The sign reads, “You can order your junior high school textbooks here.”
Oji-san of Inabaya calles Goichi gently,
“What happened? You look disappointed. Were you scolded?”
Then, he continued,
“How is your mother?”
He is also concerned about Goichi's mother and her health.
Just as he is saying this, the teacher Tsugino enters the shop.
It seems that Yasukichi (Inabaya) and Tsugino Tatsuo, who call each other by their nicknames, have known each other since childhood.

Goichi bows to the teacher.
“Aikawa, you have a good library.” says Tsugino sensei.
Osei, the Inabaya's mother, appears, greets Tsugino, and invites him to the back room of the shop.
Inabaya said,
“Goichi-chan, watch the store until our kozo-san comes back.”
It seems that oji-san had often asked Goichi to look after the store.

As Tsugino walked to the back of the store, he said to Inabaya, “I will be completely free by March.”
Tsugino was planning to give up his teaching job to pursue a career in literature, and after his students' graduation ceremony in March, he would go to Tokyo.

“Under such circumstances, do you think you can make a living with literature?” Yasukichi asked.
Tsugino answered, picking at a dried persimmon on the porch,
“I'll live at literature by all means.”
“Your favorite Shozuki Shorai says that;
Considering that pen is a single piece, chopsticks are two pieces. Do not care of noise of the mass.”
Yasukichi quoted the remark by Saito Ryokuu.
Pen means ideal, chopsticks are real world, you will face the conflict between them, still, if you do, don't care of others.
Tsugino, protested,
“No, my interpretation is that pen is one and mouth is one.”
In other words, he is determined to die with literature without having family.

Kawagin, who passes in front of Goichi with limping. He seems to be on his way to Goichi's house, and Goichi is anxiously watching his back, but then returns to the store.
He picked up a book, which is the textbook of junior high school.
“Old Fukuzawa Yukichi”
In the back of the bookshop, Tsugino is complaining about the Fukuzawa Yukichi.
“Fukuzawa-sensei is a great man, but he has no understanding of literature.”
What Tsugino is complaining is the following passage from “Gakumon-no-sume (Encouragement of Learning)”

--Learning does not mean merely knowing difficult characters, reading difficult old texts, enjoying waka poetry, composing poems, or any other literature that has no real meaning in the world. These literature are also the kind of techniques that naturally bring joy and pleasure to people's hearts, but they are not to be revered and prized as the Confucian scholars and Japanese scholars of the past have said. Since ancient times, there have been few scholars of old Chinese studies who are good at keeping house, and few townspeople who are good at waka poetry and skillful in business. --

Yasukichi retorts that Fukuzawa sensei is not denying literature, but Tsugino, who is about to become a literary fiend, finds it difficult to accept Fukuzawa's stance of putting practical learning first.
True or not if Fukuzawa really said that -- the parable which made Tugino mad was very funny, that is, “even a classic waka poem with miso-hitomoji (31 letters) is not different from dodoitsu pop music when it is sang with shamisen instrument.”

Tsugino continues, “Practical learning is all well and good, but there are some things in this world that is usefulness of useless.”
This point of view might be controversial still now.

Tsugino recites Japanese ancient poetry;

-In a peaceful light of spring day, the flowers fall without calmness-

“Beautiful, isn't it? I am sorry to say, but Fukuzawa sensei would not understand this feeling of 'without calmness'. Practical learning? Business world? So what?”
“Well, well, you are talking big issue.”
Osei, who had brought another dish, laughed.
“Sorry, I think I got a little carried away.”
Tsugino was embarrassed.
Osei assured him, “No, no, that's fine. Tomorrow is Sunday. Please have a nice time.”


Men of lion dance comes in Inabaya shop and started to dance in front of Goichi. School has started but it is still matsu-no-uchi (New Year season).
Osei comes out from the back and hands the lion dance ohineri (a small piece of money wrapped in paper).

As Goichi watches the lion dance as it enters the next store, Kawagin passes back in front of him. Goichi says to Osei, “I'm going home for a while” and runs off.

When he got home, his mother was at a loss as he expected. There was a parcel in front of her, which was a job of sewing. Also Kawagin gave the money in advance.
Mother said Goichi,
“I'm sorry Goichi-chan, but I need you to run an errand for me. Kawagin-san forced me to accept this, but I can't accept this job for some reason. Please return this.”
It would be much easier to make a living by sewing than making paper bags. But Oren does not want to. Goichi understand it.

“Don't lose the money.” mother says, “and buy some oil on the way home. Here is the money for the oil.” said she and handed him the money and a bottle for oil.

Goichi drops in the bookstore and shouted,
“Oji-san, I can't watch the store because I have to run an errand for mother.”
Osei replies from the back,
“Yes, yes, thank you.”

Hearing Goichi's voice Tsugino muttered,
“The child, Aikawa Goichi, is too good.”
Tsugino asks Yasukichi if he is willing to pay for Goichi's tuition, and Yasukichi confides that he has already discussed the matter with O-ren.
Osei comes over with more sake.
“My son likes Goichi-chan very much and takes care of them, even overlooking the overdue rent payment, but other tenants are complaining that is not fair.” Osei worries about her son's kindness to Oren and Goichi might cause an unfavorable rumor. Yasukichi vehemently denies it.
According to Osei, Oren was called Muromachi beauty when she was young.
“Kawagin-san was crazy about her since then.” She added.

“What is she doing for living?” Tugino asked Yasukichi.
“She is so good at sewing that not even a red dot shows when she sews a white habutae silk with red thread.”
“But it is said she stopped to do sewing job from Kawagin.” Osei says.
“Because Kawagin follows her, I'm sure.” Yasukichi snapped.

“What does his father do?” Tsugino asked.
“That's the problem.” says Yasukichi.
Then Yasukichi asks Osei if Shogo, Goichi's father, had always twisted character.
“No one is born in bad character.” Osei starts to talk about Shogo's father, that is Goichi's grandfather.

According to Osei, Shogo's father was railroad station employee who died in the line of duty when Shogo was around Goichi's age.
It happened like this; an old woman with poor eyesight dropped her walking stick on the tracks and tried to go down to pick it up, even though a train would be coming soon. Frightened, Shogo's father pushed the old woman away, climbed down onto the tracks himself, picked up the cane, and threw it toward the old woman.
“So far so good.” Osei shook her head.
However, for some reason, his father collapsed on the tracks. Then the train came.
“It was said he suddenly got dizzy or his shoe got struck on the track. No one knows.”

“Cane and junshoku (death on duty). Interesting.” said Tsugino, who seemed to have found a subject for his novel.

Osei continued,
“Because of such tragic death, Shogo-san received a lot of public sympathy and was paid money for console. He came back to this town with the money, but young Shogo was preyed upon by cunning people. Since then, Shogo has lost his trust in people, and he has started to do something like bogus himself. Shogo-san gradually lost his place in the town and left Oren and Goichi to go to Tokyo.

Children walk past the store singing "Matsu-okure, hime-okure" (give me pine tree, give me princess). Presumably this is New Year's children's play song.

In the Night, Goichi's house. Goichi is making paper bags. Mother is tired and dozing off. But suddenly she realizes what Goichi is doing and scolds him.
Goichi says, “You just dozed off, mother.”
Mother said,
“Sorry, yes, I did.”, then, finally she said, “ OK. Help me. I have to finish these by tomorrow morning.”
“I can do as much as you need.” Goichi said confidently.
Mother watched his hands occasionally, perhaps she had subconsciously noticed something was wrong.
The two of them were busy at making the bags as they listened to the sound of the night train running by.

“Done!” Goichi shouted triumphantly.
But, alas! The binding of Goichi's bags were made with left-front.

Seeing O-ren redoing it, Goichi finally cries out.
Oren soothed him,
“You worked so hard. You did your best. It's not your fault. It's your mother's fault for making you do this.”

The next day, Goichi visited Asa-chan at Iseya. He was invited by Onui to visit the children's hut to play.

The children's hut was built in the backyard of Iseya. Daruma doll is hung high in the air, and smoke is rising from the roof of the hut, which shows toasting mochi (rice cakes) or boiling zenzai (sweetened red bean soup).

When Goichi comes close to the hut, everyone has already arrived, and it seems to be full inside.
However, Onui, who quickly spotted Goichi's arrival, said to him,
“Come Goichi-chan, there is a space for you. Asa-chan, you must move. You can't stay in the best place so long.” She pushed Asataro and led Goich to sit down next to her. She is the boss of the hut.

The boys were doing boastful talk. Kacchan was boasting that he had pulled three hairs out of a horse's tail.
Next was a story about an adventure in which a boy straddled the back of a sleeping cow, the cow suddenly woke up, the other cows joined in and chased after him with moo-moo.
Then there was a story about walking on the parapet of bridge.
“All boring stories,” Onui says.
Then turned to Goichi.
Kacchan challenged him, saying, “You're going to junior high school, such boy wouldn't do like we we do, would you?"
To which Goichi replied that he could pass a train by hanging from the railroad bridge's railroad ties.
“I don't think you can do such a thing. If you really can do, do it.” Kacchan presses Goichi to do it now. Goichi is unable to back down.
Kyozo looks Goichi thoughtfully.

Finally, they all start walking toward the railway bridge by singing Railway song.


With a single whistle
my train leaves the Shinbashi Bridge
Soon entering the mountain of Atago,
with a journey friend of remaining moon

When the group arrived at the train tracks, the train had just passed by.
“We should have come a little earlier.”
“But the up-train will be coming soon. Let's go to the railway bridge and wait for it.”
As boys move to the bridge, Kyozo pulled on Goichi's hand.
Kyozo puts his hand on Goichi's shoulder and says,
“You're going to die if you do this. If you want to stop I can tell them so for you.”

Goichi hesitated for a moment, but Onui was watching him, and there was no way he could back down now.
“You're so stubborn, aren't you?”
Kyozo got offended.

The up-train was finally coming. Onui was getting scared.
“Kyo-chan, let's not do this anymore.” she said to Kyozo.
But Kyozo was now really angry at Goichi's stubbornness.
“There's no way to stop. Goichi-chan said he would do. He must do it.”

Goichi slowly walks to the center of the bridge. Whistle of train.
Goichi bends down and grabs onto one of the sleepers. His geta clog falls into the river below. Goichi bends over to hug the sleeper.
The train whistle sounds. The driver can see Goichi, but he can no longer stop.
The whistle blares. Again and again.

Terrified, Onui runs away.
The boys also run away when the train approaches. Only Kyozo watches on with a helpless expression.

The train whistles loudly. Goichi's consciousness fades away.

“Don't move, Goichi-chan. Keep calm.”
Goichi heard the voice of Inabaya's oji-san coming from somewhere.

“What a stupid thing you had done. Did you tell him to do so? A railroad bridge is no place for a man to hang. So who else was there besides you”
In what appears to be the station-master's office, Kyozo is being scolded along with his father the lumberman. Goichi, who had fainted, was lying on the couch by the stove. His mother peeks in anxiously.

“How many others were there?”
The stationmaster asks Kyozo again.
“No one sir.”
“So it was just you and this boy who made the bet. Is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Then you forced him to hung on and he did. Is that right?”
“Yes.”

Goichi suddenly gets up.
“No!　No!　No!”
Goichi rushes over to Kyozo.
“Kyo-chan!”
“Goichi-chan!”
The two hugged each other and cried.
“Kyo-chan didn't tell me do it!　I said I would do it!”

Goichi and Tsugino sensei are in a classroom at school.
Tsugino writes “Aikawa Goichi　愛川　吾一” on the blackboard.
“Aikawa, have you ever thought about your name?
The name 'Goichi' means 'I am alone', meaning that I am the only one in the world. Life is not meant for dying, but being alive. On the name of yourself, you must make yourself alive. If not, there is no meanings to be born as human being. You can do whatever if you have a will. Where there's a will there's a way. Hanging down the railway bridge is a wrong example, but, you have done it which nobody can do. You see Aikawa? Leave the dying to your grandfathers and grandmothers.”
Then Tsugino smiled.
“Aikawa, don't you want to go to junior high school?”

Goichi runs home.
On the street, hanagasa flower-hat performers are playing from house to house.
Before returning home, Goichi stops by Inabaya.
“Oji-san,I can go to junior high school. Tsugino sensei said so.”
“I see, that's great.” Inabaya smiled.
The school fund is to be provided by Inabaya, but Goichi does not know that yet. Inabaya does not need to tell either. He just said, “Well then, I'll give you a good book as an advance gift.”
He offers a book. It is “Gakumon-no-susume (Encouragement of Learning) by Fukuzawa Yukichi”.

When Goichi returns home, he immediately told his mother,
“I can go to junior high school. I was told that there is someone who provides financial support for children who can study well but cannot go to junior high school due to family reasons. That's what Tsugino sensei told me. I'm going to study for the entrance exam after school.”

Goichi sat down at his desk and began reading the book given to him by Inabaya.
“Heaven does not make a man above another man, nor a man below another man..."

His mother, who was watching over him, said.
“I'm going to Inabaya-san to talk.” she said, and left. She knew that Inabaya was the provider of the school cost.

Goichi is absorbed in reading book.
“But now, as I look out over the human world, there are wise people and foolish people, poor people and rich people, noble people and lowly people, and their condition is like the difference between the clouds and the mud.”

After his mother leaves the house, a man dressed in Western-style clothing walks toward Goichi's house amid the sounds of street performers beating drums.

The man enters the house. Goichi is so absorbed in his readings that he doesn't notice the man until he comes up behind him.
“Where is mother?”
The man is Goichi's father.
“She went to Inabaya.” Goichi said.
“Go call her.”

Goichi went to Inabaya and quietly called his mother, who was talking with Inabaya in the corner of the bookstore.
Goichi said, “Father is...”
Mother was surprised. But she quickly regains her composure, greets Inabaya, and returns to the house.

Osei, the mother of Inabaya, who had brought the tea, said
“Oh, did Oren-san leave already?”
“Yes, she went home just now.”
Inabaya probably guessed what was going on, suspected a trouble.

“Extra!” The shouting voice of newspaper seller on the street.
If it was an extra issue at this time of the year, it is very likely on the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. (January 30, 1902)

At home, mother was telling father about the matter of their son's junior high school.
She said,
“Goichi is very eager to go. His grades are good, and Inabaya-san is willing to finance his education...”
Shogo, Goichi's father, glanced Goichi and said,
“Goichi, go and play outside.”

When they are alone, Shogo says to Oren,
“I don't trust people. I've had terrible experiences trusting people in the past. It is my philosophy not to take any help from others. I don't understand the kindness of Inabaya. He doesn't collect the rent when it's overdue, he takes care of you, and he even pays for Goichi's tuition. Do you think that's a simple kindness?”
One might be tempted to ask him whose responsibility is for the overdue rent, but he is such shameless man after all.
He added,
“You must be tired of trusting people. See? You trusted me and ended up with such terrible life. You must regret it, mustn't you?”
Saying so Shogo was about to light a cigarette. Oren stood up quietly, grabbed a box of matches from the kitchen, and lit it for him. It was an action that came naturally and unconsciously.
With smoking Shogo continued,
“On the way I met Kawagin, the tailor, who usually doesn't even say hello to me, but strangely he approached me and started to talk. He said you recently quit the sewing job for him. He asked me to tell you do the job again. Then, he also said he can ask Iseya to provide job to Goichi as kozo (apprentice).”
Shogo added with a sly grin, “But, again, who knows what his kindness for?”
Shogo could see right through Kawagin's ulterior motives toward Oren. He also knows that Kawagin is jealous of Inabaya.

Goichi stands alone on the bridge. His dream of going to junior high school is dashed.

Late at night. Father enters Oren's house and soon leaves again.
This scene requires a lot of imagination; Shogo has probably talked with Kawagin about Goichi's apprenticeship at Iseya and about Oren's resumption of his tailoring business. The note that were later hung on the front door of the house are thought to be tenant tag. Perhaps he moved Oren to another, smaller house. The father must have had money (from Iseya) in his hand when he left.

Then came the graduation ceremony.
Song of Aogeba tootoshi;
“Aogeba tootoshi wagashi-no onn... (on the day of graduation, we gratitude our teachers who taught us...”

After the graduation ceremony, Goichi and Kyozo walked to the bank where the cherry blossoms are in bloom.
Kyozo asked Goichi.
“Hey, you're not going to junior high school after all?”
“No.”
The junior high school had not many applicants so no entrance exam performed.
Therefore Asa-chan, Takachan, and Ko-chan are all going.

“Kyo-chan I'm going to Iseya as an apprentice boy.”
“To Asa-chan's?”
“Yes.” Goichi answered painfully and started to cry.
“Don't cry, I'm also going to work as a lumber merchant.”
Kyozo tried to console Goichi, but unfortunately it doesn't work.
“Look Goichi-chan,” Kyozo says lightly, “there's a train running on the railway bridge. The railroad bridge you're hanging from.”

At Iseya Store. Goichi is sitting in front of the big master.
“What did you say the name of this child?”
“Goichi sir.”
Kawagin, the tailor who introduced Goichi to Iseya, answers.
The master does not like the name. He said it was difficult to call and did not sound like a merchant. Chusuke, the banto (manager), agrees.
“Yes sir, you are right. What should we call him? Gokichi is also difficult to call,”
Master says,
“Let's call him Gosuke. And, the character for "go吾" is difficult to write. I think it's better to use五for five. Gosuke五助. Yes, that's better.”
Like that Goichi's name was changed to Gosuke.
The manager, Chusuke, nods, “Yes sir, akindo (merchant) must be direct in everything, including their names.” and says to Goichi.
“You see, from now on, your name is Gosuke. When you are called Gosuke, you must say hey.”
Chusuke reminded Goichi that he was now Gosuke. When Goichi nodded his head, the master said, “No, no, no. That's not good. You must say 'Hey!' when you are called.”

In the back room of the shop, the son, Asataro, is changing into his new junior high school uniform.
“Are you happy that you got into junior high school or happy that you got to wear the uniform?”
Onui says as she spins the hand-cranked organ.
The organ that Onui is playing is called a paper koto, a kind of hand-cranked organ.

Asataro said, "Well, now I entered junior high school, so I can wear a school uniform. Which makes me happier, I don't know.”
“You are an idiot. If you are like that, you will fail again even if you enter junior high school.”
Onui, who was much more capable of studying than Asataro, is outspoken in her remarks.

Then, Chusuke comes to introduce Goichi to them.
“Oh, Goichi-chan!”
Asataro tries to run up to Goichi, but Chusuke quietly corrects him,
“No bocchan (young master), you mustn't call him Goichi-chan anymore.”
“Why?”
“He is not Goichi anymore but Gosuke since the day he came to Iseya.”
“Gosuke? That's a strange name. It sounds like coolie. Don't you think so, big-sis?”
Asataro looked Onui, who said nothing.
“No sir, there is nothing strange at all. He is no longer bocchan's friend, so you must call him Gosuke without friendly term. Otherwise, you will disturb the order of the store.”
With the dignity of manager, Chusuke told the three children firmly and politely, then told Goichi to greet them.
“Bocchan, ojo-chan (missy), thank you for my new job.”
Pushed by Chusuke, Goichi has to greet his friends of yesterday as servant.
It was the first humiliation he has to experience.

Chusuke and Goichi leave the children's room. Chusuke says,
“Now, you have a lot to learn from now on.”
Chusuke is stern, but not in a bullying way.
But as Goichi listened to the sound of the hand harp, he had to know that he had entered a very different world from that of Asataro and Onui.

When dinner was over, the servants went one by one to the master's room to say thanks for the meal. In the room, the family of master were eating happily with his wife, and Asataro and Onui.
Goichi, too, finishes eating and goes to greet them.
“Gochisosama (Thanks for the meal).”
The master scolds him.
“What's that bow?”
Goichi tries again.
“No, no, no. How can it be a bow of akindo (merchant)? It is not enough to just bow your head.”
Seeing Goichi being made to redo his bow again, Asataro stifled a giggle. Onui took one cold look at him and continued eating her meal.
“Gosuke-don, you are training to become an akindo (merchant), so you must be able to bow properly.”
The madame said gently.
The master continued,
“To what do we owe for our meals which we can eat without worry? Think about it carefully. Then your bowing will change a little.”
The master is not saying this to tease Goichi. He was a merchant from the bottom up, and his own philosophy of business manners was unshakable.

In the servants' place,
“I will take a rest before you sir.”
Before going to bed, now Goichi addresses his seniors who are playing Go-chess.
“The problem of your bowing is; head-up is too strong than head-down. That is a sign of contempt. That's not good. Do it again.”
“I will take a rest before you sir.” Goichi did again.
“Very well. Now rest.”

“Heh heh heh, you have said exactly what the big master told you to do so.”
After Goichi left, other senior made fun of the man who had scolded Goichi.
It means it was not only Goichi, but everyone has been taught in the same way.

Time to sleep for employees. It seems that they are supposed to sleep in the tatami space of the store with their pillows side by side.
Goichi folded his kimono, placed it over his pillow, and climbed into the futon.

Meanwhile in the beautifully decorated back room with a folding screen, Asataro and Onui were on the bed being taken care of by a maid.

Goichi was having a hard time falling asleep. His mother must be making paper bags again by now. The image of his mother was still in his mind's eye.

“Gosuke, Gosuke, wake up Gosuke-don!”
Goichi, who had been unable to fall asleep last night, finally awoke to find that his senpai (senior) had woken him up. He hurriedly folded the futon and pulled it up on top of him. Each person carries his futon in one piece. This seems to be the way of this shop. As Goichi staggered to his feet, his senpai on the stairs poked him from above.
“Oh, you are small but very strong. Most guys would have been beaten up by this.”
The newcomers had probably been in this situation before.

“Gosuke-don!”
“Hey!”
All day long, Goichi was called here and there incessantly. Goichi's replies sound natural now.

Goichi recites Gakumon-no-susume (Encouragement of Learning) while working by the well.

Goichi is cleaning shoes by the shoes-box.
“Gosuke, what are you doing?　Give me my geta sandals. No, not that one, that one.”
To Onui, Goichi was already a servant. Giving a cold glance to Goichi, Onui walked away briskly. Goichi watches her back.

“Give me my shoes.” says Asataro in a laid-back voice. Goichi wipes his eyes quickly.
As Goichi takes out Asataro's shoes, he hears a voice saying,
“Gosuke-don! deliver the goods to the station now.”
He was ordered another job.

On the way to the station with the goods, Goichi sees his friend, now in junior high school uniforms coming. Goichi hurriedly hides himself in the shadows.

“Aikawa-kun!”
At the station Goichi unexpectedly meets Tsugino sensei. Tsugino quit the job of teacher and is on his way to Tokyo. Yasukichi of Inabaya is also there to see Tsugino off. Inabaya asked Goichi gently.
“Goichi-chan, how are you doing? Do you think you can endure?”
“Yes,” Goichi nodded weakly. Inabaya continued,
“I wanted to send you to junior high school, but I couldn't do it because your father had a different idea. Is your mother well?”
“I haven't seen her since I went to Iseya.”
Tsugino encouraged Goichi.
“You have to be patient. Don't forget what I told you one day. You are Aikawa Goichi. Even if you are working as an apprentice, you should continue your studies. Sensei also plans to work hard in Tokyo. Take care of yourself. Good-bye.” said so, Tsugino left.
Goichi called Tsugino's back,
“Sensei, please write to me when you arrive in Tokyo.”
“Yes, I will send you the most beautiful postcard.”

The storefront of Iseya is bustling with business.
“Gosuke-don, bring me omeshi xx (high quality kimono).”
It is Gosuke's role to pick up items for customers from the back of the store. However, the items he picked up from among the many fabrics were different from what his senpai had instructed.
He snapped Gosuke, “Don't you understand this kind of thing yet?”
He took the items himself from the shelves in the back of the store.
Goichi waits him with tray. “Hey, I carry for you sir.”
Goichi seemed to have learned to show respect to his senpai in his own way.

The kozo's work is endless. To light the firewood for the bath is also Goichi's job. When he was stoking the fire with a fireblower, he heard “Gosuke!”
“Hey!”
Goichi turned around and found Asataro calling him.
“Gosuke, come here for a minute.”

Asataro showed Goichi an arithmetic problem from junior high school.
“Gosuke, can you do this? Isn't it difficult?”
“But I think I can do sir.”
“OK. Do it.”
As a poor student, Asataro tries to use Goichi's brain.

The smoke from the bath had died down.
The first problem was solved. Asataro says,
“Then, try number five.”
As Goichi was absorbed in the problem, he heard a voice saying, “Gosuke, Gosuke!”
The big master yelled from the bathroom.
“Don't you know whether the water is boiling or not? You probably doesn't even stir the water. That's not good. Come on, light the fire!”
Goichi rushed to light the fire. As he stoked the fire, he wrote numbers on the bricks and began to think about the problem again. The big master sneezes. Goichi hurriedly moves the fan again.
“Nanmandabu, nanmandabu.” the master chants after sneezing.
The master is a man of a fussy disposition, but at least he has rational sense as is typical of merchants. He also knows that Gosuke is still a small boy who is new to the business.

At the junior high school. Asataro is writing the solution to a problem on the blackboard. It was the problem that Goichi had solved yesterday.
The teacher praises him, saying, “Good, you did well.”

After returning home, Asataro calls Goichi.
He said,
“Yesterday's arithmetic, you got it all right. You're a smart.” and asked Goichi to do today's homework by tomorrow.
“You must do your homework by yourself sir.” Goichi protested.
“But today's homework is much harder than yesterday's, So I lend you my textbook. Please.”
Onui comes in, but she doesn't say anything and silently pulls out koto instrument.
The textbook that Asataro lent Goichi was the textbook of the junior high school that Goichi had dreamed of. Goichi stares at it.

At the back of store, in a corner of the fabric closet, Goichi is working on Asataro's homework. Then, a senpai sneaks in. He poked Goichi on the head.
“What are you doing here? I will tell the master. Now, go and work.”
After Goichi left, he grins and pulls out a cigarette from his pocket. The tanmono cabinet corner must have been a place for the servants to relax.

In the store, big master and manager were looking at the newspaper. The master mumbles,
“Up, up, soaring,”
“That's great sir.” the manager follows the master.
“We must do the same.”
“The sooner the better sir.”
“Shall we start changing the codes tonight?”
"Very well sir."
It sounds like the stock market, but no, they were talking the rise in prices.
'We must do the same' means the price of their products must be raised. Here they never use the word “price” but “fucho (code or sign)”. The codes could only be understood within the store.

At night, the store was extremely busy with the process of changing the tags on the merchandise.
The servants were making koyori, twisted paper, in a familiar manner. This koyori was used in stores for a long time, even up until around the 1950s. The apprentices are first made to learn how to make koyori.
“Now Ichi no kura (first warehouse) is finished sir.”
“All right. Next, let's work on the middle warehouse.”
The work was endless.

Goichi, along with the others, is carrying the tanmono fabrics.
“Gosuke,” Asataro stopped Gosuke and asked if he had done Asataro's homework.
“I am too busy with the shop work today, can't find the time to do it sir.”
Goichi told Asataro so and left quickly. Asataro is a son of merchant, so he can't be unreasonable in such occasion.

In a corner two servants complain.
“The shop is earning, but we were exhausted for nothing.”
“O, God, please no price rise anymore.”

Finally the master said, “Let's take a break for a while.”
The manager shows the abacus to the master and says,
“This is what we get by the change sir.”
Both men are in a good mood. The madame who brought tea asked the master to borrow Gosuke. Asataro must have cried to his mother for help. The master, who was in a good mood, immediately said, “No problem.”
The madame calls Goichi,
“Gosuke-don, come to the back room.”
“Hey!”

In the back room, Goichi is working on Asataro's homework. The clock strikes eleven.

At his house, his mother, Oren, is sewing.

Goichi is still doing Asataro's homework. The clock strikes one. Asataro is already in bed.

Goichi's house. Oren, tries to stand up and collapses.

The next morning, neighbors gather in front of Oren's house. Kawagin walks by.
The neighbors are whispering.
“Repairing of umbrella!” A peddler shouts.
“There are sick person here, please be quiet.”
A woman of the neighborhood cautioned the peddler, then explains to Inabaya in front of Oren's house.
“The doctor says she's not well nourished and her heart has been damaged by the hard work. He says she needs to be hospitalized, but hospital is too much for the people like us.”

Later in the house, Goichi is sitting beside Oren.
“I'm sorry for making you worry, Goichi-chan.” Oren says Goichi weakly.
“No, I'm just surprised when Kyo-chan came to tell me,” says Goichi, pulling money out of his sleeve.
“I can buy medicine. The master gave me this money for pocket money. He said I could get more if I worked harder. I'll work harder and buy as many medicines as you need,” Goichi said, putting the money in his mother's hand.
“I can't take care of you as much as you did for me because I'm too busy with the store. I also have to help Asa-chan with his studies. But I'll ask Kyo-chan, oba-san of the next door, and oji-san of Inabaya to take good care of you.”
The mother's face is clouded. It must be unbearably painful for a mother to be a burden to her son.

Outside, Inabaya asked Kyozo, “Will you call doctor from Yamato-cho? Tell him that Inabaya needs him.”
Inabaya is determined to have Oren admitted to the hospital, no matter what people say.

After the people left, Kawagin hung around in front of Oren's house some more, but finally left without being able to enter the house.

Several days passed, and one night.
Goichi is woken up in the middle of the night by the manager,
“Gosuke-don, Gosuke-don! Wake up!”
“Hey.”
“Wake up! Your mother is dead.”
Gichi's eyes remained wide open, he could not move.
“Go home now. I'll come later after you.”
the manager said to the dazed Goichi and left.
Goichi was still in a daze, but his senpai said,
“You need to change kimono.”
The senpai took Goichi's kimono and put it on him.
In a big store like Iseya, the employer has to be very careful when hiring people, especially when it comes to children, their family's situation must be taken into consideration. The manager's words, “I'll come later after you,” expresses this. Even if his true intention is to just keep the respectable shop name to the public.

When Goichi ran home, he heard the voices of his father and Kawagin coming from inside the house.
“It sounds good, yes, very kind for him to hospitalize her because she was sick,”
It was father's drunken voice.
“but I don't know why Inabaya had to visit her every day?”
“Don't say that sir. If you mention it, the kindness of Inabaya-san becomes nothing.”
Kawagin soothed Shogo.
Shogo, Goichi's father, said in a sarcastic tone,
“Well, then, you, Mr. Kawagin, who told me the visit of Inabaya, your kindness will also become nothing, isn't it?”
Shogo knows that Kawagin loved Oren and jealous of Inabaya, but he can do nothing but inform Shogo about Inabaya.

“Stop it. If the deceased hear what yo say she will cry.”
The neighbor's wife couldn't stand it any longer and interrupted him.
“Thank you for your kind advice, lady,” Shogo replied,
“but fortunately the dead got the peace finally.”

How could this man be so cruel?
If there is a reason, if any, that the man hated Oren so much, it might be that he was tired or frustrated of her absolute obedience, her obedience could be seen as a challenge to him.

Kawagin drooped his head at Shogo's words.
“Oh, it's Goichi, isn't it?”
At this point, Shogo notices that Goichi is standing at the entrance.
The neighbor's wife also notices him and says with tears in her eyes, "Goichi-chan, you're back. Your mother had done a terrible thing.”
What is “terrible thing” ?
We find later Oren had thrown herself into the water.
After knowing this, the cruelty of Shogo's words pierced harder.

“Your mother was always worried about you Goichi-chan, come in and pray for her.” sobbing, the neighbor's wife told Goichi. But Goichi runs away.
The woman and father call his name again and again.

Kyozo sees Goichi running and runs after Goichi.
In the dark shrine, Goichi cries out loudly for the first time.
“Mother, don't die! Don't!” Goichi's cries continue.
Kyozo watches Goichi silently.

A few months or a year later, the master talking with the manager in master's living room, where he was practicing his nagauta song chanting.
He said, “It's no good. No hope. He doesn't work and often hides out reading books.”
They talk about Goichi.
“He can't be akindo (merchant).”
“You're absolutely right sir.”
Chusuke agreed.
“Can't we return him to his father's in Tokyo.”
“If it's a piece of tanmono fabric, we can send back with a return slip, but...”
“Is it impossible?”
The master had no intention of keeping Goichi anymore, who has no interest in being merchant.
The manager says reluctantly,
“I am not sure sir. After all, he is still a child, and if something happens to him on the way to Tokyo, the reputation of the store will be damaged.”
The master says coldly,
“The damage is not caused by it, but the rumor that a kozo of Iseya is the child of the woman who recently threw herself into the water. That's not good. Do something.”
The master was very strict. Then he resumes his nagauta practice,
“... do you remember that, Kunisawa no...”
That was the end of the conversation.
At this point, the audience learns that Oren has thrown herself into the water.

The manager Chusuke, who has been entrusted with the issue, asks Kyoya, the dyer, for help. Kyo-ya is going to Tokyo on a business trip, as he is probably a peddler as well. Chusuke asks Kyo-ya to take Goichi to Tokyo.
“Yes sir. How can I refuse the request from Iseya-san.”
Kyoya answered quickly and added shrewdly,
“However, about the cost....”
“That's the responsibility of Iseya, of course. How much do you need?”
Kyoya showed Chusuke the abacus he had set up.
“That's too much. Make this.”
The manager put off the beads from the abacus. The business deal was concluded.

On the street, Goichi follows Kyoya, carrying a big baggage on his shoulder.
“Kyoya-san,” Goichi calls out.
“Again! I told you, you must call me danna (master).”.
Probably Goichi always called him Kyo-ya-san in the store. Kyoya had an idea for making Goichi call him 'danna'.
Goichi asked if he could stop by Inabaya for a while.
“Make it quick. Danna keeps walking toward the station. OK?”

Goichi entered Inabaya bookshop and says hello to Osei, who was keeping the shop.
“Hello, Goichi-chan,”
Osei greeted him happily, but unfortunately, the owner of Inabaya was not at home.
“I'm going to Tokyo,” Goichi said, “I was hoping to get Tsugino's address.”
“Are you going Tokyo? Oh, I'm so sorry oji-san is not here. ”
“Good-bye.”
“Good-bye. Take care of yourself.” Osei said.
On the train for Tokyo.
The train ride made Goichi's spirits lift.
“Danna, train is wonderful, isn't it?”
“Yeah.”
At a familiar railway bridge, Goichi shouts loud banzai (hurray).

However, the stop they got off was still 21 ri (82 km) to Tokyo.
Walking along the country road with his luggage on his shoulder, Goichi asks,
“Danna, when are we going to arrive Tokyo?”
“I guess we'll go after we finish this village.”
“ I hope it is not lie again.” Goichi grumbling.
Kyoya was planning to use Goichi as carrier for his business and selling the products in the villages to Tokyo. That's why he told Goichi to call him danna.
“Danna, when are we reach Tokyo?”
Goichi asked the repeated question again at night by the hearth of the house where they had taken lodgings.
“I guess we'll have to wait until we finish the next town,” Kyoya said.
“How many towns and villages are there before Tokyo?”
“Well, no, even danna doesn't know.”
Kyo-ya was again indifferent.
Giving up, Goichi took up a book and began to read.
“Once upon a time, there was a man called Noin-hoshi...　The city is in the distance..."
A passage from "Oku no Hosomichi" by Basho.
Another few days had passed. The load on Goichi's shoulder was getting smaller.
At a station, Kyoya tells Goichi,
“Hey, buy two tickets to Tokyo.”
and handed him money.
Happily, Goichi ran to the ticket office and bought two tickets with a cheerful voice.
“Two tickets for Tokyo please.”
The tickets were shown for Tokyo from Hokota (Ibaragi prefecture).
The next tickets were of street car to Kaminarimon, for 6 sen.

At last, they arrived Tokyo. The two get off the streetcar pulled by horses.
Chindon-ya (ding-dong men) walks by, making loud noises. Goichi is attracted for a moment, but soon runs after Kyoya.

Checking the houses one by one, Kyoya says,
“Oh, here it is. It's a very fine house, isn't it? Come on, you can see your father.”
Kyoya said, pushing Goichi back. Before he calls the house, Kyoya hurriedly tells Goichi.
“Gosuke, listen to me, you lost the tanmono goods. OK?”
“What?”
Goichi was puzzled by Kyoya's words but he did not argue.
The nameplate of the house reads 'Kumita Sumie'.

The woman who greeted them seemed to be a landlady of this lodging house. She is probably Aikawa Shogo's mistress.
She is a woman who seems to have a lot of experience in the field of cunning people.
“So you are saying that, this child lost the shop goods, he is useless, so he is returned.”
“Yes, that's right, ma'am. And about the lost items...”
The shrewd Kyo-ya was not about to let a potentially lucrative opportunity pass him by.
He calculated from the appearance of the house she can afford to pay some money.
“After all, it was his fault so you must pay for it.”
“Huh? If a kozo loses an item, does his family have to pay for it?”
The woman was not to be outdone.
“Yes, if he loses a customer's goods, he must take responsibility for it.”
“I seeee. You are called Kyoya-san or something, aren't you? Then let me ask you something.”
The woman grinned and leaned out from the brazier.
“What will you do if you lose someone's precious child?”
“What? What do you mean?”
Goichi listened in silence, but gradually began to understand the situation.
“Don't play innocence. You deceived and dragged around the child for long while.”
The woman must be used to this kind of man. She knows how to attack him.
“Well... I was just asked by Chusuke-san, I know nothing...”.
Kyoya is getting staggered. The woman continued,
“I don't know who Chusuke-san is. No big shopkeeper, no manager, no one has the right to move someone's child here and there without parent's permission.”
This kind of line can be a threat only when it is with a big store as Iseya. When the conversation comes to Iseya, Kyo-ya is getting uncomfortable. He promised Chusuke he could send Goichi safely. Chusuke worried this kind of situation, that's why he asked Kyoya just in case.
The woman presses him further. Kyoya begins to realize that he is no match for her.

Goichi is listening carefully, he is beginning to understand the cunning of the adults.

Then a young girl enters the room.
“Ne-san, Mr. Umehara wants charcoals.”
Umehara is a medical student who lives at the lodgings.
The woman glanced the girl and said,
“You can get the charcoals yourself.”
“Yes, but...”
The girl doesn't want to make her hands dirty.
The woman turned to Goichi and yelled.
“Hey, you, when you come to someone's house, you should work. Go to the kitchen and serve the charcoal to the lady.”
The woman was unrelenting in her attitude toward Goichi as well as to Kyoya.
“The kitchen is this way.”
The girl nudged Goichi with a pout.

When Goich went to the kitchen, Kyo-ya sidles to the woman,
“Heh heh heh, ma'am”.

As Goichi is taking charcoals into a basket in the kitchen he hears the woman's voice.
“OK. But, Kyoya-san, you can't think that everything is settled by this. When Aikawa comes back, he will go to greet you again.”
“No, no, no, ma'am. Enough. Excuse me.”
Kyoya seemed to have left quickly.

Aikawa Shogo seems to be away for a long time here as well. Goichi immediately goes to work here as well as at Iseya. While wiping down the hallway, a door opens and a student named Umehara throws coins at him.
“Hey, kozo, go buy some cigarettes xx. Don't make a mistake.”
He is a man of rich family so presumably he ordered foreign cigarettes.

Goichi stood up quickly and said,
“I have a name, so please call me by it.”
“Don't be cheeky.”
“My name is Goichi.”
“Stop kozo,”
And then the girl appears.
She shoved the sliding door shut and said,
“Don't be against university student. You really are a cheeky little kozo.”
“I'm not a kozo anymore.”
“Then you are male maid.”
The daughter said mockingly, Umehara followed.
“No difference at all, ha-ha-ha.”
The girl and Umehara laughed at each other behind the sliding door.

Goichi continues cleaning the corridor. Another bearded lodger appears.
“Well, you are not kozo. What did you say your name?”
“I'm Goichi sir.”
“Oh, you're Goichi. Well, Goichi-kun, go and buy me a cigarette, too.”
“Hey.”
“Hey?　You'll be called a kozo again by those guys because you answer like that. Say 'hai'.”
“Hai!'
“Good, good.”
Kumakata, the bearded lodger, smiles at Goichi and sings a sarcastic song to Umehara and the girl.

“In a bright spring day, there's a simple room to let with a girl and meals included..."

He enters his own room and continues to sing,
“Buy, buy, buy, everything is 200 and 8-mon, Everything is 100-mon in the front street, everything is 200 and 8-mon in the bearded street.”
He then draws a ponchi-e picture of the woman and the girl's faces as candies. The cost of candies two sen and five-rin.

In the living room, the girl is whining to the woman. Kumakata's sarcasm is unbearable.
“Terrible! He drew our pictures and ne-san and I are cost only 2.5-sen (penny), both of us.”
It may sound as if she is not happy that she is valued same as ne-san. But, anyway, no one is happy if you are told your value is 2.5 penny.

“That's Kumakata guy again, isn't it? How dare! He hardly pay the rent on time.”
The woman said disgustedly as she tapped her smoking pipe.
“I don't want him staying here.” the girl said, smoldering.
“Forget it. Today we are going to the play. Mr. Umehara will be home soon. Hurry up and get ready.”
The girl's face lit up when she heard that.
“Oh, yes, yes. What should I wear?”
Then she noticed Goichi,
“Hey, what are you doing, kozo?”
She scolded Goichi, who was peeking between his legs as he wiped the floor.

The girl was sitting in front of the makeup mirror.
“Ne-san, hurry up!”
“Yes, yes, I know. By the way, we can stop by the Mitsui Kimono Store on the way.”
The woman talks the girl with sweet tone.
“If we go Mitsui Kimono Store, I want a new shawl.”
“Oh, yes, you can buy one.”
The two woman are talking while the woman is applying white powder to the girl's collar.
Goichi, who was listening to the conversation while cleaning the lamp on the porch, called out to the woman, “Okami-san.”
“What is it?” the woman answered insolently. Goichi continued,
“I'll work as hard as you want during the day, so will you let me go to school at night?”

The girl turns around and says, “You want to study?　What a laugh.”
“You must have suddenly felt like that when you saw Mr. Umehara reading a book. No, you can't do that. Mr. Umehara, you know, he has a very respectable parent who sends him money for his education, so he is able to go to medical school or anywhere. It's different from the poor family like yours.”
The woman told him the cold reality. The girl continued,
“What are you going to study when you go to school?”
The woman says,
“Forget about school. Do well cleaning of lamps. Your cutting of wicks is always irregular.”
Goichi continues to clean the lamp in silence.

In the dimly lit room, Goichi lies down and writes a postcard. Goichi's place is under the stairs, just like Harry Potter.
He writes to Kyozo,
“To Kyozo-kun
I arrived Tokyo in the fall.
The best thing about Tokyo is
the sound of the bell of
the streetcar pulled by horses.”

“Tadaima (I'm home).”
Then Kumakata came home.
“It's so quiet. Where is everyone?”
“They went to the play.” Goichi answered.
“They are with the rich again. Come on, while the devil is away, come and play in my room. What's the matter with you? You've been scolded again, haven't you? Don't mind whatever the buy-buy-buy woman says. Come on.”
It is guessed that 'buy-buy-buy-woman' is Kumakata's way of commenting on a person.

In Kumakata's room.
“Okami is such kind of woman. I know you have hard time, but it's good to have a hard time at your age. Well, sit down right there.”
Kumakata tossed off his school cap.
“Even babies have to take bitter medicine. A man who didn't drink bitter water when he was young will never grow well.”
He then removed his hakama pants. Goichi looks at Kumakata's comical drawings one by one.
At the picture of Daruma, Kumakata says,
“This is you. Can you see?”
“Is it a ponch cartoon too?”
“No, don't say. You don't understand, do you? All right, read the voice here.”

“Daruma-san, daruma-san,
stretch out your feet,
try to walk by your own feet”

“How do you feel, do you understand a little?”
Kumakata asks again but Goichi cannot answer.
“All right. I'll give it to you. You take it and stare at it for a few days.”
“Thank you very much sir.”
Then Goichi continued,
“But Kumakata-san, why do you keep drawing pictures like this and why don't you draw real pictures?”
“Hmm? Real pictures, huh? You beat me.”
“Most painters would paint Mount Fuji or Yasukuni. If you paint something like that you can get...”
“Money? Ha, ha. I can't pay room rent, so you also think I am stupid.”
“No, it's not so sir.”
“Really?”
Kumakata stared into Goichi's eyes and said,
“You know, there are two kinds of pictures in the world: those that are voiced and those that are not voiced. Usually, a picture is considered to be a silent poem. But look at the picture these days, it's just a bunch of paint, there is no poetry in it. What is poetry?　It is a voice. In this day and age, when even a stone can shout, how can a painting be without a voice”
Kumakata's remarks here, "Even a stone can shout," must be in German.
“Unfortunately I don't have the gentle voice of a poet, so I shout and yell, and I am sarcastic. The real inside voice doesn't come out of my belly until someone or something kicks me out or holds me down. When we are pushed around and something heavy is placed on our backs, we can get the strength to bounce back. Great poets are sure to be born out of such hardships.”
Goichi nodded.
“Ponch is an interesting thing, isn't it?”
“Well, how much do you understand about it?”
“I'd like to be a poet myself too.”
“You want to be a poet? Funny!”
After laughing out loud, Kumakata said.
“However, even a great poet is getting hungry. Hey, go and order kaika.”
“Do you mean Kaika-donburi bowl sir?"
Goichi, however, would not budge. Kumakata saw this and said,
“I know, the woman told you something. Something like, do not take anything from the food delivery for Kumakata.”
He was right on the mark.
“Don't worry. I'll pay when I have to. Just go for a run.”
At that, Goichi finally said, “Yes sir.” and stood up.
“Wait a minute,” Kumakata.
“Two bowls, OK?”
“Two? You're going to eat that much sir?”
“Well, just go ahead and say so.”

Shortly later, the two were eating Kaika-donburi.
“Kaika donburi is so good.” Goichi said.
“Is this your first time? Good. Eat up, eat up!”
Kaika (new culture)-donburi is a very Meiji-like name. It might have beef in it.

The next day, Goichi is cleaning the lamps again, reading a book on the porch floor beside him.
The front door rattles open. The voice of a man,
“Hello, thank you very much. I have come to pick up empty bowls.”
“Strange. We don't have your bowls.” the girl replies.
“Yes, I delivered yesterday two kaika donburi bowls. Oh, here they are. I'll take them. Thank you.”

“Ne-san, did you order them yesterday?”
“I don't know. Ask the kozo.”
The girl asks Goichi,
“Who took the kaika yesterday?”
“Kumakata-san.” Goichi answered.
“Did he have a visitor?”
“No.”
“Then why did he take two?”
“I was treated one.”
Goichi replied clearly.
“Oh, my God”
“ Come here, kozo.”
The woman calls him from inside, but Goichi does not move.
“Go to ne-san.” the girl grabs his arm.
“I'm cleaning the lamp.” Goichi said.
“You fool!”
With her toe the girl kicks off the book which Goichi was reading. The book falls off the porch and the picture of a dharma doll spreads on the ground.
Goichi grabs the lamp and throws it to the porch as hard as he can.
“Oh, ne-san!”
The girl is startled and runs away to the room.

Goichi picks up the book and the picture of Dharma and puts them in his breast of kimono.
The woman, who had been watching silently, slams the shoji shut.

Goichi slowly returns to the porch and picks up another lamp again to polish it.
The woman's cursed voice comes from behind the shoji.
“When Aikawa comes back, I'm going to kick him out of this house.”

Hearing this, something in Goichi snapped.
With a cry of "ah," Goichi throws the lamp at the garden stones. One and then another.

Without paying attention to the two women who are anxiously watching him, Goichi goes to his corner place, takes off his hat, opens the front door, and walks out of the house.

Goichi's back is shown as he walks away. He walks across the main street where the street car passing by, he keeps walking.