Night on the Milky Way Railway
by Kenji Miyazawa
Copyright Paul Quirk 2013
Translated from - Gingatetsudo-no-Yoru by Kenji Miyazawa
Bonus story translated from – Gongitsune by Nankichi Niimi
Cover image: Starry Night over the Rhone by Vincent van Gogh
Discover other titles by Kenji Miyazawa and Nankichi Niimi published by Little J Books at https://www.littlejbooks.com/
Please note, copyright on the original works have expired, however, Little J Books holds all copyrights for these translations. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. The moral right of the translator has been asserted.
License Notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. However, if you would like to use any of the stories that make up this ebook for business or educational purposes, please contact Paul at the email address below. We look forward to hearing from you.
This book is published by Little J Books
Facebook: littlejbooks
Website: https://www.littlejbooks.com/
Contact:
[email protected] Postal mail: 394-2 Kubohara, Yamaoka-cho, Ena-shi, Gifu-ken, Japan, Postcode 509-7601
Note on this translation
The original manuscript for this story contained multiple revisions, but a small number of sentences remained incomplete at the time of its discovery (after the death of the author).
In this translation, small sections of previous versions were used to supplement the missing sections. All effort was made to create a translation faithful to the author's vision. No material has been used in this translation that wasn't written by the author, and the names of the characters have not been changed.
Dedication
This series is dedicated to my wife Yuuki, who has provided me with the support and encouragement to make this project a reality.
Contents
About the Author
No-spoiler Introduction
Milky Way definition (reference)
Constellation Maps & Artwork (reference)
Night on the Milky Way Railway
Glossary
The Cello Voice
The Story of the Scorpion
Star Safari Song (lyrics)
The Celestial River (lyrics)
Bonus story – Gon the Fox
About Little J Books
Other Titles by Little J Books
About Kenji Miyazawa
Born in 1896, Kenji was brought up as the eldest child in a wealthy household in Iwate Prefecture, Japan. From a very young age he had an insatiable appetite for knowledge, with interests spanning geology, astronomy, through all types of flora and fauna, cinema, music, painting and literature. A devout Buddhist, Kenji turned his back on the family pawn broking and second-hand kimono business, becoming a teacher at the local agricultural high school, and writing poems and fairytales to help spread a Buddhist message of universal peace.
Although now an internationally renowned author, at the time of his death at the age of 37, he was relatively unknown, having only received payment for a single short story, and apart from two volumes of short stories and poems that he self-published in 1924, the majority of his work was still unpublished. However, before his death, his work attracted the attention of several successful artists and poets, who, along with his brother Seiroku, collaborated on the publication of the majority of his works over a number of years. He is now one of Japan's best known poets and authors of the modern era.
The Kenji Festival, where local children and adults act, sing and read the works of Kenji, is held annually in Kenji's hometown of Hanamaki, Iwate, each year on the anniversary of his death, September 21.
A 'No-Spoiler' Introduction
This translation includes a simple glossary (just click on the featured word to jump to the explanation) to help you navigate your way through the galaxy, which can also be accessed at the back of the book after you have finished reading the story. I have also added the translation of the 'Cello Voice' sections that Kenji cut from the final version. The Cello Voice sections provide an interesting insight into the author's motivation for writing the story.
Although I did compile a detailed glossary, including all of the, gemstones, trees, plants and flowers mentioned in the story (with pictures), it was too big to be included in this book, and has been added to the Little J Books website. Please take a look if you are interested in learning more about this story.
Kenji Miyazawa was the creator of a dreamland called Ihatov (sometimes spelt Ihatovo), a place where he set all of his short stories. It is a place where all kinds of things are possible. There are animals that talk, there are children that can fly and there are horse carriages made of mushrooms. At first, this story seems quite different to those, and when you notice that the main character's name is Giovanni, you may start thinking: Surely this story is set in Italy, isn’t it? But this story is also set in Ihatov, so please do not be distracted by the characters' names.
I hope you enjoy reading the story as much as I enjoyed translating it and I look forward to seeing you sometime at the Kenji Festival held every year in Hanamaki, Iwate on September 21.
Translator and Founder of Little J Books
Paul Quirk
Milky Way - The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains our Solar System. The Milky Way contains 100–400 billion stars and may contain at least as many planets as well. Our Solar System is located about 27,000 light-years away from the center of the Milky Way, which is thought to contain a supermassive black hole. The Milky Way is just one of many galaxies; Andromeda and the Large Magellanic Cloud examples of two others.
Constellation maps and artwork
Depiction of the northern sky constellations by Albrecht Dürer (1515)
Map of the constellations of the northern sky
(Courtesy Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Depiction of southern sky constellations by Johan Gabriel Doppelmayr (1742)
Map of the constellations of the southern sky
(Courtesy Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Night on the Milky Way Railway
Chapter 1 - Afternoon Class
"So class, this white cloudy area that some people call a river, and others the remains of spilt milk; does anyone know what it really is?" asked the teacher, pointing to a white cloudy region stretching all the way down the constellation chart hanging in front of the blackboard.
Campanella raised his hand. Four or five others raised their hands after him. Giovanni raised his hand too, but he quickly pulled it down again. He was pretty sure he'd read in a magazine a while ago that they were all stars, but these days Giovanni was always sleepy during class, and he didn't have any books or time to read them, and he felt as if he didn't really know anything.
But the teacher quickly spotted him.
"OK, Giovanni? You know what it is, don't you?"
Giovanni got straight to his feet, but as soon as he was standing it was clear he wouldn't be able to answer. Zanelli, sitting directly in front, turned around and snickered. Giovanni became flustered and his face turned red. The teacher asked him again:
"If we look closely at the Milky Way through a large telescope, what is it that we mostly see?"
Giovanni was now even more certain that they were stars, but still he couldn't answer.
The teacher hesitated for several moments unsure what to do, but then shifted his gaze toward Campanella.
"Ok then, Campanella?"
But then Campanella, who only moments ago had put his hand up so confidently, could now only get slowly to his feet, and
of course he couldn't answer either.
For some moments, the teacher gave a puzzled look at Campanella, but then, turning to point at the constellation chart, he said:
"Right then. If you look at this white cloudy area through a good quality large telescope, you will be able to see lots and lots of tiny stars. Isn't that right Giovanni?"
Giovanni nodded, his face turning red once more. But now his eyes had filled with tears.
They are stars, I knew they were, and Campanella must have known they were too, because it was in that magazine that Campanella's dad, the professor, gave us to read when I was at his house. And then, after we finished reading the magazine, Campanella went and got that big book from his dad's study and opened it up to the section on the Milky Way, and we spent ages and ages looking at that beautiful photo of all those white spots on the shiny black page. Campanella couldn't have forgotten that, so the only reason he didn't answer right away was because he knows I've been working really long hours, before and after school. And even when I'm at school I'm too tired to play with the others, and I hardly even speak to Campanella anymore. He must have felt sorry for me and didn't answer on purpose.
Giovanni was overcome with a feeling of pity; for himself and for Campanella.
The teacher continued.
"So if you think of the Milky Way as a real river, then each one of those tiny stars corresponds to the sand or the pebbles on the bottom of that river. But if you think of it as a large stream of milk, then it is even more like the Milky Way. In that case, each one of those stars corresponds to a tiny globule of oil floating in the milk.
"So you might ask, what corresponds to the water in that river? Well that is something known as a vacuum, which allows light to pass at a certain speed, and in which our sun and earth are also floating in right now. Which means that we are also living in the water of the Celestial River. So when we look out from inside the water of this Celestial River - just as water looks bluer the deeper it gets - when we look at the deepest and farthest parts of the Milky Way, all the stars appear to be concentrated in the one place, which gives it the appearance of a big white cloud. Let's take a look at this scale model here."
The teacher pointed to a large biconvex lens filled with hundreds of shiny grains of sand.
"The shape of the Milky Way is just like this. Now, think of every one of these specks as stars that shine all on their own, just as our Sun does. The Sun would be almost in the middle, here, so the earth would be right next to it, here. Now imagine it's the middle of the night and you are standing in the center of this lens, looking all around you. This part of the lens is quite narrow, so you'd only see a few specks, or stars. But here, and here, the glass is very thick, so you would be able to see lots and lots of specks, or stars, and at the farthest reaches it would appear all white and cloudy. This is today's theory of the Milky Way.
"So then you are probably wondering how big this lens is, and all about the different stars inside it, but we are out of time today so we'll discuss that the next time we have science. Of course tonight is the star festival, so make sure you all go outside and take a good look up at the sky.
"That's all for today. Pack up your textbooks and notebooks please."
The classroom was filled with the clatter of desk lids opening and closing and books being stacked on top of one another, but soon the children stood up straight, thanked the teacher with a bow, and headed outside.
Chapter 2 - The Printing House
As Giovanni was walking out the school gate, he saw there were a group of seven or eight boys from his class that were hanging back, standing by the cherry blossom tree in the corner of the school yard, with Campanella in the middle. They must have been talking about going to get some of the raven gourds for the star festival that were sent down the river with candles inside, and which gave off a blue glow as they floated downstream.
But Giovanni continued walking hurriedly out the school gate, swinging his arms high in front of him. All of the houses in the street had put out their decorations for tonight's star festival; hanging out yew leaf balls and covering the cypress trees in lights.
After turning down the last of three streets, he came up to a large printing house. He walked inside and nodded a greeting to a man in a loose-fitting white shirt sitting at the accounts desk, took off his shoes and pushed open the large door at the end of the corridor. Inside, all of the lights were on, even though it was still bright outside, and there were a dozen or more printing presses going clunk - clunk, as they spun noisily around; and the people inside, some with handkerchiefs tied around their head, some wearing sun visors; were reading and counting as if they were singing some kind of song.
Giovanni walked straight up to a man sitting at a very tall desk, the third from the entrance, and nodded a greeting. The man took a quick look up on his bookshelf and then handed Giovanni a scrap of paper, and said:
"Just get these ones for me today."
Giovanni then pulled a small flat box from under the man's desk and took it over to where the type for the printing press was leaning against the wall, all brightly lit up with electric lamps. Squatting down in a corner with a pair of tweezers, he began picking out the tiny lead letters the size of bird seeds, one at a time.
A man in a blue apron passed behind him, and said,
"Afternoon bug eyes!" after which four or five others standing nearby, smiled coldly to themselves without taking their eyes from their work.
Giovanni had to wipe at his eyes again and again as he continued picking out the type.
Not long after the clock had struck six, Giovanni checked the letters in his box against those written on his scrap of paper one last time, and then took them back to the man sitting at the desk. The man silently took the box, and then gave Giovanni a nod of approval.
Giovanni bowed his thanks and then went back out through the door and up to the man sitting at the accounts desk. That man then handed Giovanni a small silver coin, again, without saying a word. The color rushed back into Giovanni's face, and, after bowing enthusiastically to the pay clerk, he grabbed his bag from beneath the counter and raced out through the entrance. Whistling happily at the top of his voice, he stopped by the bakery and bought a loaf of bread and a bag of sugar cubes, before taking off again as fast as he could run.
Chapter 3 - Home
The house that Giovanni raced inside was a small building down one of the back streets. There were three doors lined up in a row, with an old box containing purple kale and ornamental asparagus plants by the doorway on the left. Two small windows were covered with a shade.
"Ma, I'm home. Do you feel better today?" he asked as he took off his shoes.
"Oh Giovanni, you must be worn out. It's been quite cool today. I feel a lot better."
Giovanni's mother was lying with a white cloth tied around her head in the room next to the entrance. Giovanni walked inside and opened the window.
"I got you some sugar cubes today. I thought you might like some in your milk."
"Thank you, but you go ahead and eat first. I don't feel like anything just yet."
"Ma, when did sis' get back?"
"She came back about three. She did all the housework for me."
"Didn't your milk get delivered today?"
"I don't think it did."
"I'll go fetch it."
"Yes, but I don't feel like anything just yet. You go ahead and eat first. Your sister made you something with the tomatoes. She left it over there for you."
"Ok then."
Giovanni took the plate of tomatoes from over by the window and began eating them noisily together with the bread.
"Hey ma, I think pa will be home soon."
"Yes, I think so too. But what makes you think that?"
"Because in this morning's newspaper it said that this year there was a really good catch up north."
"Ah yes, but perhaps your father is not on a fishing boat."
"I'm sure he is. Pa would nev
er do anything bad that he'd have to go to prison for, like what people say about him poaching otters and seals and stuff. You know how last summer pa brought back that huge crab carapace and the reindeer antlers, and gave them to the school; now they are on display in the science room and the teachers all say how unusual they are, and take turns bringing them in to show the six graders during class."
"Your father said that next time he would bring you back an otter fur coat."
"The other kids say that to me all the time. They always tease me about it."
"Do they say bad things about your father?"
"Campanella never would though. Whenever the others talk like that, Campanella always has a sad look on his face."
"You know his father and your father have been friends since they were at school, just like the two of you."
"I know. Pa used to take me over to Campanella's house. That was fun then. I used to stop in at Campanella's on the way home from school all the time. They have a train powered by an alcohol lamp. There are seven rail sections that are all connected into a big circle, and it has power lines and traffic signals, and the traffic signals only go green when the train passes. Once when it ran out of alcohol we used gasoline, but afterwards the canister was all covered in black soot."
"Was it really?"
"I still go there every day when I deliver the paper, but it's always so quiet inside."
"That's because it's so early."
"They have a dog named Sour. It's got a tail like a broom. Whenever I go there it follows me, sniffing the whole time. It follows me all the way to the next street; sometimes even further. Tonight, everyone's going to be sending the raven gourds down the river. I bet Sour goes there too."
"Oh that's right, the star festival is tonight."
"Yeah, I'll have a look when I go get the milk."
"Yes, you should go. But don't go out on the river."
"No, I'll just watch from the bank. I'll only be an hour."
"You can take longer than that. If you are with Campanella then I'm sure there'll be nothing to worry about."
"Yeah, I'll be with him, for sure. Mum, do you want me to shut the window before I go?"