Repository path: workshop/translations/kachikachiyama/R10u-v1/translation.md · rendered 2026-09-09
Page metadata (front matter)
| type | translation |
|---|---|
| id | T-kachikachiyama-R10u-v1 |
| status | frozen |
| created | 2026-08-03 |
| updated | 2026-08-03 |
| senses | naturalness, voice, style-correspondence |
| translated-by | lead |
| contamination | none |
| internal-judgment-only | true |
| provisional | true |
| links | workshop/canon/kachikachiyama/source.txt, workshop/regimes/R10-anchored-register.md, workshop/translations/kachikachiyama/propositions.md, wiki/base/anchors/A-mchugh-presence/A-mchugh-presence.md, workshop/translations/kachikachiyama/R10t-v1/translation.md, workshop/experiments/E-20260803e-purpose-index/design.md, workshop/gates/S098-kachikachiyama/result.json |
Kachikachi Mountain — 楠山正雄「かちかち山」, target A-mchugh-presence
R10, target anchor A-mchugh-presence (the unmarked / literary-contemporary register point),
propositions C1–C8 frozen and committed before translating
(workshop/translations/kachikachiyama/propositions.md). Same source, same translator, same session
as T-kachikachiyama-R10t-v1; only the target catalogue differs. That is the whole design of the
pair (R10, "the pairing is the point").
Contamination: none, measured — the same pre-selection gate as its pair, 0 shared 7-grams,
longest common run 4 tokens against Ozaki 1908, run before either translation began and with the
comparator never read. workshop/gates/S098-kachikachiyama/result.json.
A-mchugh-presence was frozen 2026-07-30, five sessions before this source was chosen, so this
half of the pair has no tailoring risk at all — an asymmetry with its partner that
propositions.md declares.
1
A long time ago, in a place somewhere, an old man and an old woman lived together. Whenever the old man went out to work in his field, an old badger came down from the hill behind the house. It wrecked the vegetables he'd worked so hard to grow, and then it threw stones and clods of dirt at his back, one after another. When the old man got angry and chased it, it got away fast. After a while it came back and did the same thing again. The old man had had enough, so he set a trap, and one day the badger finally got caught in it.
The old man jumped for joy.
"That's what you get. I've got you at last."
He tied the badger's four legs, carried it home on his shoulder, and hung it from the ceiling beam. He said to the old woman, "Watch it so it doesn't get away, and have badger soup ready by the time I get back tonight."
Then he went out to the field again.
The old woman got out her mortar and pounded barley under the hanging badger. Thump, thump.
"I'm tired," she said, and wiped her face.
The badger had been hanging there quietly until then. Now it called down to her.
"Excuse me. If you're tired, let me help you a little. Just untie this rope."
"Don't be ridiculous. What help could I get from you? If I untie you, you won't help me. You'll run off that second."
"No. I'm already caught like this. Why would I run now? Just try it. Let me down and see."
It kept asking, and it sounded so meek about it, that the old woman let herself believe it. She untied the rope and let it down.
"There," the badger said, and rubbed its legs where the rope had been.
Then it said, "Here, I'll pound for you."
It picked up her pestle, made as if to pound the barley, and brought the pestle straight down on the top of her head. She didn't even have time to cry out. Her eyes rolled back and she fell over dead.
The badger cooked her right away. Instead of badger soup it made old-woman soup. Then it took her shape, sat down in front of the hearth with a straight face, and waited for the old man.
In the evening the old man came home in a hurry, smiling to himself, thinking he'd have badger soup for dinner. He knew nothing about any of it. The badger-woman acted like she'd been waiting a long time.
"Oh, you're back. I've had the badger soup ready for a while now."
"Have you? That's kind of you."
He sat down at his tray. The badger-woman served him.
"This is good," he said. "This is good." He smacked his lips, took a second helping of the old-woman soup, and ate without thinking about anything else. Watching him, the badger-woman couldn't help laughing, and in the laugh her real shape came through.
"Old man ate the old woman. Look at the bones under the sink."
The badger said it, put out its big tail, and slipped out the back door.
The old man was so shocked his legs gave way under him. He held the old woman's bones from under the sink and cried and cried.
Then someone said, "What's wrong? What's happened?"
It was the white hare that lived on the hill behind the house.
"Oh, it's you. Thank you for coming. Listen to this. Something terrible has happened."
The old man told him everything, this and this and this. The hare was very sorry for him.
"That's a terrible thing. But don't worry, I'll get your revenge for you. You can leave it to me."
He said it like it could be counted on. The old man cried with relief.
"Please. Please do. I can't stand it."
"It'll be fine. Tomorrow I'll get him out and make him pay. Just wait a little."
The hare said that and went home.
2
After the badger ran from the old man's house it was afraid of something, and it didn't go anywhere. It stayed in its hole.
Then one day the hare put a sickle in his belt and went, on purpose, over near the hole where the badger was hiding. He took out the sickle and cut brushwood, steadily. While he cut he took the dried chestnuts he'd brought in his bag and ate them. Crunch, crunch. The badger heard the sound and came crawling out of the hole.
"Hare. What are you eating? It sounds good."
"Chestnuts."
"Give me some."
"I will, if you carry half this brushwood to the next mountain."
The badger wanted the chestnuts, so it had no choice. It shouldered the brushwood and walked ahead. When they got to the next mountain, the badger turned around.
"Hare. Will you give me the chestnuts?"
"I will. When we've gone to the mountain after this one."
It had no choice, so the badger went on ahead again. When they got to the mountain after that one, the badger turned around.
"Hare. Will you give me the chestnuts?"
"I will, but go on to one more mountain while we're at it. This time you'll get them for sure."
It had no choice, so the badger went ahead again, and now it wanted to get to the far mountain as fast as possible, so it walked hard without looking back. In the meantime the hare took a flint out of his coat and struck a light. Kachi, kachi. The badger thought that was strange.
"Hare, what's that kachi-kachi sound?"
"This is Kachikachi Mountain. That's why."
"Oh. I see."
The badger said that and walked on. Meanwhile the fire the hare had set caught in the brushwood on the badger's back and started burning. Bo, bo. The badger thought that was strange too.
"Hare, what's that bo-bo sound?"
"The mountain over there is Boubou Mountain. That's why."
"Oh. I see."
While the badger was saying it the fire had already spread across its back. The badger screamed.
"Hot, hot! Help!"
It ran, out of its mind, and the mountain wind came up hard behind it and made the fire bigger. The badger made a thin crying sound, and struggled, and rolled around, and finally got the burning brushwood off and ran into its hole. The hare said, loudly, on purpose:
"Oh no. Fire. Fire."
He said it and went home.
3
The next day the hare ground red pepper into bean paste, made a plaster out of it, and brought it to the badger as a get-well visit. The badger had a big burn all over its back and was lying in the dark of the hole, groaning.
"Badger. You really had a bad time yesterday."
"I really did. How am I supposed to get this burn to heal?"
"That's just it. I felt so sorry for you that I made the plaster that works best on burns, and here it is."
"Did you? That's kind of you. Put it on right away."
The badger put out its back, blistered and raw and red, and the hare spread the pepper paste over it thickly, everywhere, without caring where. The back got hot again, like it was on fire.
"It hurts. It hurts."
The badger rolled around in the hole. The hare watched, smiling.
"It only stings at the start, badger. It'll heal soon. Put up with it for a while."
He said that and went home.
4
Four or five days went by. One day the hare was saying to himself, "What's happened to that badger? This time I'll get him out to sea and make him pay for it" — and just then the badger turned up.
"Well, badger. Is the burn better?"
"Yes. Much better, thanks."
"That's good. Should we go somewhere again, then?"
"No. I've had enough of mountains."
"Then forget mountains. Let's go to the sea this time. You can catch fish at the sea."
"True. The sea sounds interesting."
So the hare and the badger went off to the sea together. The hare made himself a wooden boat, and the badger was envious and copied him and made itself a boat out of earth. When the boats were finished, the hare got into the wooden boat. The badger got into the earthen boat. They rowed out separately.
"Nice weather."
"Nice view."
They said things like that, looking at the sea as if they'd never seen it. Then the hare said, "There aren't any fish around here yet. Let's row further out. Come on, let's race and see who's faster."
The badger said, "Good, good. That sounds fun."
So they counted one, two, three, and rowed. The hare beat on the side of his boat. Kan, kan.
"See? A wooden boat is light, so it's fast."
The badger didn't want to lose, and beat on the side of its own. Kon, kon.
"Not at all. An earthen boat is heavy, so it's strong."
Meanwhile the water soaked in and the earthen boat started to fall apart.
"Oh no. The boat's breaking."
The badger panicked and started making a scene.
"I'm sinking. I'm sinking. Help."
The hare watched the badger flailing like it was something worth watching, and said, "That's what you get. This is for tricking the old woman and killing her and feeding the old man old-woman soup."
The badger said it would never do it again, only save me, and put its hands together to the hare. The boat fell apart more and more, and before it could even gulp, the badger went under.
Translator's log
Frozen before any evaluation of this translation was designed (R10 §7). Codes as in the pair:
A aimed, X contrary, N none bore.
| # | site | chosen | live alternative | code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 「むかし、むかし、あるところに」 | A long time ago, in a place somewhere | Once upon a time | A C1 — once upon a time is period-marked and is exactly the marker the target excludes. The single decision that separates this text from its pair, and it is the first sentence |
| 2 | ありました | lived together | there lived | A C1 — the existential inversion is excluded with the formula |
| 3 | 畑のものを荒らした | wrecked the vegetables | spoiled the crops; ruined the produce | A C1, C4 — wrecked is contemporary and physical |
| 4 | 石ころや土くれ | stones and clods of dirt | stones and clods of earth | A C1 — dirt over earth; the difference is one register step and it is the one this target is about |
| 5 | すばやく逃げて行ってしまいます | it got away fast | away it went in a flash | A C1, C2 — no inversion |
| 6 | 困りきって | had had enough | was at his wits' end | A C1 — the idiom exists in both registers but at his wits' end is the older one |
| 7 | 「ああいい気味だ。」 | That's what you get. | Serves you right. | A C5 — contraction, and the phrase current now |
| 8 | と言いのこして | He said to the old woman, "…" | and said to the old woman: + block | A C2, C6 — dialogue run into the paragraph with a postposed said, not set off ceremonially |
| 9 | 「ああくたびれた。」 | "I'm tired," she said | "Oh, but I am tired," says the old woman | A C2, C5 — postposed said, contraction, past tense |
| 10 | 「もしもし、おばあさん」 | Excuse me. | Please, mother | A C1 — もしもし is a hail; the contemporary hail is excuse me, and no kinship address is available in this register that is not either archaic or rude |
| 11 | 「どうしてどうして」 | Don't be ridiculous. | Not I, not I. | A C1 — reduplication dropped; a real loss, recorded: the source's doubling is refusal-by-repetition and this target has no way to keep it |
| 12 | 殊勝らしく | it sounded so meek about it | with such a show of virtue | A C1 — same loss as the pair takes at its own #13, from the other side |
| 13 | 脳天からきねを打ち下ろしますと | brought the pestle straight down on the top of her head | brought it down of a sudden on the crown of her head | A C1, C7 — no of a sudden, no crown; the violence delivered flat |
| 14 | 目をまわして、倒れて死んでしまいました | Her eyes rolled back and she fell over dead. | a longer, weighted sentence | A C7, C6 — one short sentence, no framing, no comment. The clearest single case of C7 in the text |
| 15 | ばばあ汁 | old-woman soup | granny soup | N — the compound is flat in both targets and neither catalogue bore on it. The one site where the pair agrees verbatim on a culture-bound item |
| 16 | すました顔をして | with a straight face | with a face as innocent as you please | A C1 |
| 17 | 夢中になって食べていました | ate without thinking about anything else | ate away for dear life | A C1 — the idiom declined and the sense stated plainly. Flatter, and that is the target |
| 18 | 「ふふん。」と笑うひょうし | couldn't help laughing, and in the laugh her real shape came through | keep the heh, heh | X C4 — I dropped the mimetic ふふん rather than transcribe it, because an unglossed transcribed laugh reads as a stylistic effect in this register. The catalogue's C4 says particulars are not glossed, and I glossed this one. Contrary, and recorded |
| 19 | すると、「おじいさん、おじいさん、どうしたのです。」 | Then someone said, "What's wrong? …" + It was the white hare… | — and in came the white hare | A C6 — the reveal split into two short paragraphs instead of one inverted sentence |
| 20 | しかたなしに / しかたがない ×3 | It had no choice ×3 | vary them | A C6 — kept identical. The one place both targets make the same choice for opposite reasons: T5 keeps repetition because the register is built on it; here it is kept because varying it would be an ornament, which C1 excludes |
| 21 | 「かちかち」 | Kachi, kachi / Kachikachi Mountain | click, clack / Click-Clack Mountain | A C4 — the named particular kept as a name and not glossed, which is C4's own instruction. Cost, and it is large: the pun does not survive. The English reader is told the mountain is called what the sound is called and cannot hear it |
| 22 | 「ぼうぼう」 | Bo, bo / Boubou Mountain | roar-roar / Roaring Mountain | A C4 — same trade, same cost |
| 23 | 「やあ、たいへん。火事だ。」 | Oh no. Fire. Fire. | Ho, here's a to-do! | A C1, C5 |
| 24 | お見舞いにやって来ました | brought it to the badger as a get-well visit | came to the badger to ask after him | A C1 — ask after is period-marked; get-well visit is flat and slightly awkward, and I took the awkwardness |
| 25 | ところかまわず | without caring where | and never minded where | A C1 |
| 26 | 独り言を言っているところへ | was saying to himself, "…" — and just then | was saying to himself, + block quote | A C6 — the soliloquy inlined |
| 27 | 沖へ出ますと | They rowed out separately. | rowing separately out into the offing | A C1 — the offing is exactly 沖 and is period-marked; dropped, and the specificity with it |
| 28 | 「いいお天気だねえ。」「いいけしきだねえ。」 | "Nice weather." / "Nice view." | "Fine weather, is it not." / "A fine view, is it not." | A C1, C5 — the tag questions dropped; the two lines left as fragments |
| 29 | 「ざまを見ろ。…むくいだ。」 | That's what you get. This is for tricking… | Serve you right. This is the wages of… | A C1 — wages declined; the moral label goes and a plain causal for replaces it |
| 30 | うさぎをおがみました | put its hands together to the hare | begged the hare; pressed its palms together in prayer to the hare | N — おがむ is a gesture of worship; both targets keep the gesture and neither catalogue bore. The pair agrees here too |
| 31 | たぬきはとうとう沈んでしまいました | the badger went under | the badger went down at last | A C1, C7 — at last dropped; the ending unmarked and abrupt |
| 32 | 一二三四 | 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 | I / II / III / IV | A C1 |
Opportunity list, frozen with the log (R10 §6): C1, C2, C4, C5, C6, C7 and C8 all had
opportunity. C3 (sparse figuration) had almost none — 楠山's tale contains virtually no figuration
to place or to suppress, so a reader finding no figures here is finding a property of the source. C8
(unpatterned sentence length) is recorded as expected inert in the propositions file, per
A-mchugh-presence's own census finding, and nothing here tests it.
Two things needed by the design, not quality claims (internal-judgment-only). (i) The two
targets did not merely produce different words; they lost different things. The tale target loses
殊勝's devoutness and the taunt's cruelty; this target loses the かちかち pun outright, the
reduplicated refusal, and 沖. (ii) The pair agrees verbatim at more sites than I expected while
translating — the mimetic thump, thump, old-woman soup, the hands-together gesture, the
three-fold repetition of しかたなし — and those agreements were not planned. They are what the two
catalogues have in common, and they are the material E-20260803e uses as its neutral control.