Eminent Authors of Japan
spot on the young man’s face, he began to feel impatient. The more impatient he became, the more his irritation increased. His body was feeling fatigued, his spirits were falling again, and he seemed to be getting very feverish.
The young man, who at first had been rather talkative, now became silent, for he noticed Yoshisaburo’s sullenness. By the time the barber was shaving the youth’s brows, his customer had fallen into a doze, perhaps caused by his hard day’s work. The apprentice Kin-ko was also dozing near the window. In the inner room O-Ume-san’s lullaby was no longer heard, and the night seemed to be very silent. The only sound now was the swishing of the razor.
The irritation of the barber now changed into a sentimental mood, and his body and soul seemed tired out. His feverish eyes became as hot as molten iron.
He continued to shave on from throat to chin, from chin to cheek, and from cheek to brow, but he could not make the soft part of the youth’s throat as smooth as he wanted. After going over it again he lost patience, and had a wish to tear off that part of the skin altogether. As he looked at the rough face of the youth, with the pores of the skin full of grease, this mad feeling increased more and more in his heart. The young man was now asleep, his head hanging languidly behind, and his loose mouth was open showing his yellow, uneven teeth.
The exhausted Yoshisaburo could no longer bear to continue his shaving. He felt as if every joint of
