吾輩は猫である。名前はまだ無い。

吾輩は猫である。名前はまだ無い。どこで生れたかとんと見当がつかぬ。何でも薄暗いじめじめした所でニャーニャー泣いていた事だけは記憶している。吾輩はここで始めて人間というものを見た。しかもあとで聞くとそれは書生という人間中で一番獰悪な種族であったそうだ。この書生というのは時々我々を捕えて煮て食うという話である。しかしその当時は何という考もなかったから別段恐しいとも思わなかった。ただ彼の掌に載せられてスーと持ち上げられた時何だかフワフワした感じがあったばかりである。掌の上で少し落ちついて書生の顔を見たのがいわゆる人間というものの見始であろう。この時妙なものだと思った感じが今でも残っている。第一毛をもって装飾されべきはずの顔がつるつるしてまるで薬缶だ。その後猫にもだいぶ逢ったがこんな片輪には一度も出会わした事がない。のみならず顔の真中があまりに突起している。そうしてその穴の中から時々ぷうぷうと煙を吹く。どうも咽せぽくて実に弱った。これが人間の飲む煙草というものである事はようやくこの頃知った。

I AM A CAT. As yet I have no name. I’ve no idea where I was born.
All I remember is that I was miaowing in a dampish dark place when, for the first time, I saw a human being. This human being, I heard afterwards, was a member of the most ferocious human species; a shosei , one of those students who, in return for board and lodging, perform small chores about the house. I hear that, on occasion, this species catches, boils, and eats us. However as at that time I lacked all knowledge of such creatures, I did not feel particularly frightened. I simply felt myself floating in the air as I was lifted up lightly on his palm. When I accustomed myself to that position, I looked at his face. This must have been the very first time that ever I set eyes on a human being. The impression of oddity, which I then received, still remains today. First of all, the face that should be decorated with hair is as bald as a kettle. Since that day I have met many a cat but never have I come across such deformity. The center of the face protrudes excessively and sometimes, from the holes in that protuberance, smoke comes out in little puffs. I was originally somewhat troubled by such exhalations for they made me choke, but I learnt only recently that it was the smoke of burnt tobacco which humans like to breathe.