The full text of Izu's Dancer

(Japan) Yasunari Kawabata

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The road became tortuous, and I was about to reach the top of Tiancheng Mountain. Just as I was thinking about it, the shower had enveloped the dense fir forest into glistening flowers and chased me from the foot of the mountain at an alarming speed.

I was twenty years old that year and wore a college hat. With a schoolbag on my shoulder, I traveled to Izu alone, and it was the fourth day. I stayed in Xiushan Temple Hot Spring for one night, stayed in Tangdao Hot Spring for two nights, and then climbed Tiancheng Mountain in my high-toothed clogs. Although I was fascinated by the autumn colors of overlapping mountains, virgin forests and deep valleys along the way, my chest was throbbing nervously, and an expectation urged me to hurry. At this time, Douda was in a hurry. Because my wish has been successfully fulfilled, the group of touring artists are resting there.

When the dancer saw me standing there, she immediately gave up her seat cushion and put it on the side.

"Ah ..." I just answered and sat down. Because I was out of breath when I ran up the hillside, and I was a little scared, the sentence "thank you" had arrived. Hurriedly took out the cigarette from her sleeve. The dancer pulled the ashtray in front of her partner's woman and put it near me. I still didn't speak.

The dancer looked about seventeen years old. She wore an unusually large old bun on her head, which I couldn't even name, which made her serious goose egg face look very small, but beautiful and harmonious. She is like a portrait of a girl in a historical novel with rich hair. Among the dancers, there is a woman in her forties, two young girls, and a man of fifteen or six years old, wearing a coat with the name of Changgang Hot Spring Hotel.

So far, I have met the dancers twice. The first time was on the way to Tangdao. They were on their way to Xiushan Temple and met near Tangchuan Bridge. The dancer was carrying a drum. As soon as I went back to visit them, I felt a feeling of travel seeping into my body and mind. Then on the second night in Tangdao, they toured the hotel. I sat down in the middle of the stairs and watched the dancer dance in the corridor at the gate wholeheartedly. I figured: I was in Xiushan Temple that day, I will go to Tangdao tonight, and I will cross Tiancheng Mountain to the south tomorrow, and I will probably go to Tangye Hot Spring. I will definitely catch up with them on the mountain road of Tiancheng Mountain, which is more than 2 kilometers long. I came in such a hurry in my dream, and I happened to meet them in a teahouse sheltered from the rain, and my heart thumped.

After a while, the old woman in the teahouse led me to another room. This room is probably not needed at ordinary times. The beautiful valley is so deep that I can't see the bottom. My skin has goose bumps, I'm shaking all over, and my teeth are chattering. The old woman came in to deliver tea, and I said it was so cold. She took me to their own house like holding my hand.

"Alas, young master is soaked through. Come here and have a fire. Come on, dry the clothes." < I stood at the threshold and hesitated. An old man was sitting cross-legged by the stove, bruised and drowned, and his eyes were yellow, like rotten. He looked at me gloomily. Old letters and paper bags piled up around him, so it can be said that he was buried in these rags. I witnessed the monster in the mountain and stood there, but I couldn't imagine that this was a living person.

"Let you see!" It looks ugly, but he can't move. Please be patient. "

The old woman said hello like this. From what she said, the old man suffered from stroke for many years, and his whole body was paralyzed. A lot of papers were letters from various places to treat stroke, as well as paper bags of stroke drugs bought from various places. He never missed anything he heard from travelers who walked over the top of the mountain or saw in newspaper advertisers. Drugs for sale. He didn't throw away any of these letters and paper bags, but piled them up around him and watched them live. After years, these old pieces of paper piled up into mountains.

I didn't answer the old woman's words, so I bent down on the stove kang. The car over the top of the mountain shook the house. I thought to myself, it's already so cold in autumn, and snow will cover the mountain soon. Why doesn't the old man go down the mountain? Steam rose from my clothes, and the fire made my headache rise. The old woman went out of the shop to chat with visiting female artists.

"Isn't it? The girl I brought last time has grown into this appearance, and she has become a beautiful girl, and you are in your early days! Girls grow so fast, they are so beautiful! "

Nearly an hour later, I heard the voice of the touring artists preparing to set off. Of course, I was not calm, but I was so anxious that I didn't have the courage to stand up. I thought that although they were used to walking, it was a woman's footsteps after all. Even after walking for a kilometer or two, I could catch up with them, but I was still uneasy sitting by the fire. But once the dancers left, my dreams were like.

"This kind of people, young master, who knows where they live? Where there are guests to stay, they will stay. What's the definite place to stay tonight?"

The old woman's words were very contemptuous, which even made me think that, if that's the case, I would let the dancer stay in my room tonight.

When the rain subsided, the mountain peaks began to light up. Although they kept asking me to stay, it would clear up in ten minutes, but I couldn't sit still.

"Take care, old man. It's going to be cold. The old man moved his yellow eyes with difficulty and nodded slightly.

"Young master, young master!" The old woman shouted and chased me out. "You are so expensive. I'm really sorry."

She refused to give me my schoolbag with her arms. I repeatedly stopped her, but she refused, saying that she would take me there. She followed me with small steps and walked a long way in a hurry, always repeating the same words: "I'm really sorry that I didn't treat you well. I .. But I wanted to catch up with the dancer as soon as possible, and I felt that the old woman's faltering footsteps had given me trouble. Finally, I came to the tunnel at the top of the mountain.

"Thank you very much. The old man is alone at home, please go back." I said so, and the old woman only handed me the schoolbag.

When I entered the dark tunnel, cold water drops fell down one after another. In front, the exit to Nanyidou showed light slightly. < p Looking down from here, the scenery at the foot of the mountain looks like a model, and artists can be seen below. I caught up with them after walking for less than one kilometer, but I couldn't slow down suddenly. I pretended to be indifferent and passed those women. About 2 meters further on, the man was walking alone. He stopped when he saw me.

"Your steps are so fast ... it's already sunny."

I relaxed and started walking side by side with the man. He kept asking me questions. Several women saw the two of us talking and ran to catch up from behind.

The man was carrying a big wicker bag. A 4-year-old woman was carrying a puppy. The older girl was carrying a bag, and the other girl was carrying a small wicker bag, each carrying a big bag. The dancer was carrying a drum and a drum rack. The 4-year-old woman talked to me slowly.

"She's a student from an institution of higher learning," the older girl whispered to the dancer. When I turned around, I heard the dancer say with a smile, "Yes, I know that. Students often come to the island."

This group of artists are Bofu Hong Kong people on the big island. They said that they came out of the island in spring and have been on the road all the time. As soon as I heard about Oshima, I felt more poetic. I looked at the dancer's beautiful bun again and inquired about the situation of Oshima.

"Many students came to our place to swim," the dancer said to her companion.

"It's in summer," I said, turning around.

The dancer panicked and seemed to answer in a low voice: "Winter."

The dancers still look at the women in company and laugh.

"Do you swim in winter?" I said it again, and the dancer blushed, but she nodded her head gently in a serious way.

"This child is an idiot." The 4-year-old woman said with a smile.

It's about 2 kilometers down the river along the valley of Hejinchuan to Tangye. After crossing the top of the mountain, the colors of the mountains and the sky make people feel the scenery of the south, and the man and I continue to talk and get completely intimate. After passing through the small villages such as Shencheng and Liben, we can see the thatched roof of Tangye at the foot of the mountain. At this time, I made up my mind to travel with them to Shimoda. He was very happy to hear that.

When I arrived at the inn in Tangye, when the 4-year-old woman's face showed farewell to me, he said for me:

"This one said that he would go with us."

"Yes, yes.' Traveling as a companion, there is much friendship in the world.' Like us, it's boring. The girls looked at me together, without any unexpected expression on their faces, and looked at me in silence with a little shyness.

I walked up to the second floor of the inn with everyone and unloaded my luggage. The mat and paper partition were old and dirty. It came from downstairs. She sat in front of me, her face flushed, her hands shaking, and the tea bowl was tilting down from the saucer. She was afraid to pour the tea bowl and put it on the mat, and the tea had already spilled. Look at her shame, I froze.

"Oh, what a nuisance! The child's heart is broken. This ... this woman of forty frowned as if stunned, and threw the rag over. The dancer picked up the rag and wiped the mat mechanically.

This unexpected remark suddenly made me reflect on my original idea. I felt that the fantasy stirred up by the old woman on the top of the mountain was suddenly broken.

At this moment, forty. Isn't it the same pattern? " Then she said to me, "In my hometown, I left a child who went to school, and now I think of him. This patterned cloth is the same as that worn by the child. It's too bad that navy blue and white cloth have become more expensive recently."

"What school do you go to?"

"Grade five in an ordinary primary school."

"Oh, Grade five in an ordinary primary school is really ..."

"Now I go to a school in Jiafu, and I have lived in the big island for many years, but my hometown is Jiafu in Jiafei."

After an hour's rest, the man took me to another hot spring hotel. Until now, I just want to talk to artists. I crossed the bridge next to the river near the public bathing place. Opposite the bridge is the courtyard of the hot spring hotel.

I entered the small bathroom of the hotel, and the man followed me from behind. He said that he was twenty-four years old, his wife had miscarried twice and gave birth prematurely, and the baby died, and so on. Because he was wearing a coat with the name of Changgang hot spring firm, I thought he was from Changgang. Besides, he was quite knowledgeable in his appearance and manner of speaking. I imagined that he was probably out of curiosity or fell in love with buskers, so he followed me.

I had lunch immediately after taking a shower. I left Tangdao at eight o'clock in the morning, but it was not yet three o'clock in the afternoon.

When the man left, he looked up at me from the yard and greeted me.

"Take this and buy some persimmons to eat. Sorry, I won't go downstairs." As he spoke, he threw the paper bag up and landed on the thatched roof. I threw it down again. He took it away.

There was a heavy rain in the evening. The images of the mountains were indistinguishable from each other, and they were all dyed white. The river in front of them turned cloudy and yellow, making a loud noise. I thought that the dancers would not perform in the streets because of the heavy rain, but I couldn't sit still. There are electric lights hanging from the upper beam, and one lamp is for two rooms.

In the heavy rain, there was a slight drumming in the distance. I pulled it away like I was going to scratch the wooden cover and leaned out. The drums seemed to be closer, and the wind and rain hit my head. I closed my eyes and listened to it, wondering where the drums came from. Soon, I heard the sound of Sanxian. Heard the woman's long voice; I heard the lively laughter. Then I learned that the artists were called to the lobby of the restaurant opposite the inn, and I could distinguish the voices of two or three women and three or four men. I waited, thinking that as soon as the performance was over there, I would turn here. But the booze was so lively that it seemed to go on forever. The sharp voice of women always penetrated the night like lightning. I was a little nervous and sat there with the window open all the time. My heart lit up.

"Ah, the dancer is at the banquet. She is sitting and beating the drums."

As soon as the drums stopped, people became impatient. I was immersed in the rain.

Soon, I didn't know whether everyone was chasing each other or dancing in circles. The chaotic footsteps lasted for a long time, and then suddenly quieted down. I opened my eyes wide.

I closed the wooden window and went to bed. I was still very miserable inside. I went to take a shower and washed it casually for a while. The rain stopped and the moon appeared. The autumn night washed by rain was bright and bright. I thought, even if I walked out of the bathroom barefoot, I still had nothing to do. It took me two hours.

Wednesday

The next morning, just after nine o'clock, the man came to me. The eyes are beautiful, and the rising river is warmly covered with sunshine under the bathroom. I feel my troubles last night are like dreams. I said to the man,

"You were so jubilant last night."

"Why, did you hear?"

"Of course I heard you."

"