The task of the translator becomes doubly hazardous in case of
translating a European language into Japanese, or vice versa. Between
any of the European languages and Japanese there is no visible kinship
in word-form, significance, grammatical system, rhetorical arrangements.
It may be said that the inspiration of the two languages is totally
different. A want of similarity of customs, habits, traditions, national
sentiments and traits makes the work of translation all the more
difficult. A novel written in Japanese which had attained national
popularity might, when rendered into English, lose its captivating
vividness, alluring interest and lasting appeal to the reader.

These remarks are made not in way of excuse for any faulty dictions that
may be found in the following pages. Neither are they made out of
personal modesty nor of a desire to add undue weight to the present
work. They are made in the hope that whoever is good enough to go
through the present translation will remember, before he may venture to
make criticisms, the kind and extent of difficulties besetting him in
his attempts so as not to judge the merit of the original by this
translation. Nothing would afford the translator a greater pain than any
unfavorable comment on the original based upon this translation. If
there be any deserving merits in the following pages the credit is due
to the original. Any fault found in its interpretation or in the English
version, the whole responsibility is on the translator.

For the benefit of those who may not know the original, it must be
stated that "Botchan" by the late Mr. K. Natsume was an epoch-making
piece of work. On its first appearance, Mr. Natsume's place and name as
the foremost in the new literary school were firmly established. He had
written many other novels of more serious intent, of heavier thoughts
and of more enduring merits, but it was this "Botchan" that secured him