This English translation of 坊っちゃん (1906) was published in Tokyo by
Ogawa Seibundo in 1918. It is a first-person narrative of a young man's
two-month tenure as assistant mathematics teacher at a provincial middle
school in 1890s Japan. A native son of Tokyo, with all its traits and
prejudices, he finds life in a narrow country town unappealing - with
its dull and mischievous students, scheming faculty, bland diets,
stifling rules, and gossipy inhabitants. Impulsive, combative, committed
to strict ideals of honesty, honor, and justice, he is quickly enmeshed
in the strategems of the head teacher, "Red Shirt." His sufferings and
confusion continue to mount until finally he and fellow-teacher
"Porcupine" are able to deliver a "heavenly chastisement" and escape the
island, back to his one emotional attachment, Kiyo, the old family
retainer.