仙人The Hermit

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What you'll learn

In Osaka, a country man named Gonsuke asks an employment agency to place him as a live-in servant so he can become a hermit. After a clever argument about the agency's sign, a doctor's sly wife takes him in for 20 years of unpaid labor. When the time comes, she orders him to climb a pine tree and let go; instead of falling, he becomes a hermit and floats into the sky.

Key vocabulary

Grammar points you'll meet

• ～てしまう N4Emphasizes completion, often with regret or a sense of finality. Here Gonsuke reflects that even great people die in the end.
  ただあの大阪の御城を見たら、太閤様のように偉い人でも、いつか一度は死んでしまう。
• ～そうです（伝聞） N4Hearsay: 'it is said that...' The narrator uses it to report the legendary detail about Yodoya Tatsugoro.
  何でも淀屋辰五郎は、この松の雪景色を眺めるために、四抱えにも余る大木をわざわざ庭へ引かせたそうです。
• ～ながら N4Means 'while doing...' It describes Gonsuke moving his knees as he starts making his argument.
  すると権助は不服そうに、千草の股引の膝をすすめながら、こんな理屈を云い出しました。
• ～ば / ～れば N4Conditional 'if'. The doctor warns that if Gonsuke lets go, he will fall onto the stones below.
  落ちれば下には石があるし、とても命はありゃしない。
• ～ために N3Expresses purpose: 'in order to'. Here it explains why the great tree was moved.
  何でも淀屋辰五郎は、この松の雪景色を眺めるために、四抱えにも余る大木をわざわざ庭へ引かせたそうです。
• ～ず N3Negative, literary equivalent of ないで: 'without doing'. Gonsuke does not fall.
  が、離れたと思うと落ちもせずに、不思議にも昼間の中空へ、まるで操り人形のように、ちゃんと立ち止まったではありませんか？

Cultural notes

• The Noren Shop Curtain and Edo-Period CommerceNoren are short curtains hung at shop entrances, often bearing the shop's name or trade. Gonsuke cleverly uses the sign '万口入れ所' (all-purpose placement) to argue that the employment agency cannot refuse him.
• Taikō and Osaka CastleTaikō is the title commonly used for Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the great unifier who built Osaka Castle. Gonsuke is moved by the thought that even a figure as great as Hideyoshi eventually dies, which sparks his desire to become an immortal hermit.
• Yodoya Tatsugorō and Osaka Merchant WealthYodoya Tatsugorō was a legendary wealthy Osaka merchant. The story's closing line connects the pine tree myth to his famous extravagance, a light nod to Osaka's commercial culture.
• The 'Old Fox' Trickster WifeThe doctor's wife is nicknamed 'Old Fox' (古狐), meaning a sly, cunning person. In folklore, foxes are shape-shifting tricksters, and her cunning behavior drives the story's humor.

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Topics & grammar

Short Storycomedyfolklorehistoricalambitionpersistencetransformationhumorousphilosophical〜はずですhazu desu · supposed to / should be〜ながらnagara · while (doing both)〜そうだsou da · I heard that (hearsay)てみるte miru · try doing〜てしまうte shimau · ended up (regret)〜ためにtame ni · in order to / because of〜ずzu · without / not (literary)