Sayonara: A Novel by James A. Michener

Author:James A. Michener [Michener, James A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780804151443
Publisher: Random House LLC
Published: 2014-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

EASY LESSONS IN ENGLISH, 1879: “Ever your devoted and humble servant.”

In the days that followed I often recalled the stories I had read about American and English sailors who had fallen in love with island girls and of how idyllic it was. But these damnable stories invariably ended with the big kiss and it had not occurred to me that after the big kiss these island lovers must have had things they wanted to talk about. But how did they talk without any language? How in hell did they talk?

I do not think that those who have always stayed at home can understand how terrible a thing language is, how dependent we are upon it. During the tremendous weeks that followed when May flowers bloomed along our canal there were times when I almost tore at my throat trying to find some way to express an emotion to Hana-ogi. It’s all right to gesture at a girl’s eyes and indicate that they are lovely but if you feel your heart expand at the very sound of her quiet approach along the canal—if you feel the earth tremble at night when she brings your soft pillow to the bed roll while beside it she places her canvas pillow filled with rice bran—then you feel that you must speak to her or perish.

I knew exactly four Japanese phrases. Ichi ban meant number one and I used this interminably. When I first saw Hana-ogi undressed I gasped at her amazing beauty and cried, “Ichi ban!” When she cooked a good meal it was “Ichi ban.” When she saw President Truman’s picture in the paper I said, “America ichi ban.” And once when she suggested that her breasts were too small I protested, “Ichi ban! Ichi ban!”

I also knew Domo arigato gozaimasu, which meant thank you. I used it all the time and it was curious how this phrase of courtesy came to mean so much to us. We were deeply indebted to each other, for we had undertaken unusual risks, so there was an extra tenderness about all we did. When I spread the bed roll I would say, “Dom’ arigato” but more often I used the full phrase. I was in a land of courtesy where great courtesy had been extended me.

Of course I knew the universal Japanese words takusan and sukoshi for much and little. Every American in Japan used these words as his final comment upon an infinity of subjects. The words look strange to me as I write them, for in Japanese the letter u is not pronounced in connection with k and it was taksan this and skoshi that just as it was Ta-ka-raz-ka and skiyaki rather than sukiyaki. I remember once when I was moved to great depths by something Hana-ogi had done and I pointed to my heart, put her golden hand above it and cried, “Takusan, takusan!” And I indicated that it was for her that it had become takusan after having been sukoshi for so many years.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.