Shunshoku Umegoyomi Vol. 1: The Apprentice Girl

Fig. 1: 此頃目見え
に来て居るしたじツ子
が（これげいしや
したじの子といふ
りやくしことばなり）
ありまはアな。

We now start to find out how Yonehachi tracked down Tanjirou:

"It was a shitajikko (this is an abbreviation for a child being trained as a geisha), who has been recently coming for meetings with me (fig. 1)."

The most interesting feature of this sentence is the use of parallel lines that I previously thought were reserved for togaki （ト書き） for a parenthetical explanation. That is, the parenthetical sentence above is not a gloss that I added ― it was included by Tamenaga, for clarification.

Presumably, the term shitajikko (written as 「下地っ子」 in modern Japanese), meaning "young boy or girl being trained as a geisha or as a kabuki actor", wasn't one that the average reader would be familiar with. Since Yonehachi is a geisha herself, we can assume that it's referring to a young girl being trained by her. I wasn't completely sure how to parse the last part of the sentence (after the togaki), but it seems most logical to assume that 「ありま」 (Arima) is a name, since a new character had just been mentioned for the first time in the novel. There are both female given names and family names that are "Arima", but since most commoners didn't have family names before the Meiji Restoration, it is most likely the girl's given (and only) name.

Edit: Matt's comment here explained the grammar for the end of the sentence in fig. 1. 「ありまはアな」 is a form of 「あります」 where 「ます」 has first been modified to the geisha-specific form 「まふ」, and then 「まはあ」 is a sound-shifted form of 「まふ」, similar to the transformation that resulted in 「まさア」 in fig. 1 of this post.

The use of the humble word 「目見え」 to refer to the meetings between Yonehachi and the shitajikko shows the difference in their ranks ― Yonehachi is a full-fledged geisha, which puts her in a position of superiority with respect to her student.

Fig. 2: その
子の宅を
聞たれば
本所の方
だといいま
したが。

I'm not positive, but it looks like 「りやくしことば」 (i.e., 「略し言葉」 in modern Japanese) , meaning "abbreviated word", doesn't use premodern Japanese conjugation. Assuming that 「し」 is the modern verb 「する」 ("to do"), the equivalent premodern Japanese verb 「す」 would have been 「する」 in its attributive form （連体形）. In any case, the term is still used in modern Japanese. This is an interesting juxtaposition with the clearly premodern copula, 「なり」, that follows it.

"When I asked the girl where her house was, she said it was in Honjou (fig. 2), and so while talking and having a good time with everyone (fig. 3), when that girl was talking about her neighborhood (fig. 4), the circumstances of the conversation became gossip about you (fig. 5)." 

This is the first time we're encountering the conjunctive particle 「ば」, in 「聞たれば」 (outside of the kotowaza 「住めば都」). Note that the particle's meaning changes based upon the form of the verb preceding it. If the verb is in the imperfective form （未然形）, then it takes on a hypothetical (if X, then Y) meaning. But in this case, it follows the realis form （已然形）, meaning it implies a logical connection (i.e., "when").

Fig. 3: それから皆々
と種々なことを
聞て遊んで居るとき。

Deciphering the kanji for 「本所」 was challenging, as the kanji 「所」 does not usually have a lengthened vowel in its on'yomi. After exhausting the list of possibilities for kanji with a lengthened vowel, I ran into 「所」 by chance when I accidentally converted 「ほんじょ」 to kanji with my IME, and it happened to fit the calligraphed kanji quite well. I'm still not quite sure how to correctly determine the kanji there, other than by context/practice.

Fig. 4: 其子が宅
の近所の咄を
する中で。

Note the repeated used of the iteration mark in fig. 3, which is of course written as 「々」 in horizontal text. Less often encountered is the vertical equivalent, 「〻」, which is a cursive derivative of 「二」.

I'm not sure about the kanji for 「あそ」, since the kuzushiji version doesn't look anything like 「遊」. I couldn't find any kanji that had a similar meaning or reading, but the meaning of the word itself is quite clear.

In fig. 4, you can see a nonstandard kanji for 「はなし」, namely 「咄]. The kuzushiji form of 「近」 is interesting because it seems to have entirely dropped the "advance" radical （之繞）, or 「辶」. Also note how the kuzushiji form of 「所」 here is entirely different from the one observed in fig. 2, in 「本所」.

Fig. 5: どふも
はなしの様子
がおまえはん
の噂のよふだ
から。

In fig. 5, we encounter a slightly modified version of 「おまはん」 ― 「おまえはん」. But given the context and the replacement of 「ま」 with 「まえ」, which a valid reading of 「前」, we can safely assume the meaning remains the same.

Note the unusual kanji choice for the kuzushiji form of 「す」 in the furigana for 「様子」 ― the most common one is 「寸」, which is the origin of the modern hiragana 「す」. I was able to decpiher the kanji, as we have seen 「様」 in Umegoyomi several times before, and 「子」 was quite straightforward too. But without the kanji, it would have been easy to overlook the squiggle at the top of 「す」 and think it was actually 「て」.

Fig. 6: 其の晩
一所に寝か
してよくゝゝ
聞たら。

"So that night I had her sleep with me and when I asked her [about it] more (fig. 6), [she said that] that in [your] house there is a beautiful wife (fig. 7)."

In fig. 6, once again we see the use of a modern verb ― 「寝かす」, as this sentence takes places within a character's dialogue.

The first thing to note about fig. 7 is the use of the word 「意気」 ― although its literal meaning is heart/spirit, it seemed to me that Yonehachi was primarily referring to the wife's appearance.

Fig. 7: 宅に意気
な美しいお内室
さんが居ると
言ましたから。

Next, we see a new word ― 「お内室さん」, read as 「おかみさん」. The second kanji in 「内室」 was a little difficult to read, so I turned to Nihongo Resources again, knowing only the first kanji. From the meaning of 「おかみさん」, it was clear that Yonehachi thought that Tanjirou was already married, although she is likely referring to Tanjirou's fiance, Ochou. 「内室」, literally "inside the room", is a not-so-common term for a wife.

Fig. 8: 夫じや
ア違つたかと
思つたて。

Since the guy was married, I thought that [she] must be mistaken [that it was you] (fig. 8), [so] when [I] asked her for yet more detail (fig. 9), she said that there was a wife whose age seems to be greater than your age (fig. 10).

At first glance, it appeared that the first word in fig. 8 was just 「それ」 (as in "that"), written with a nonstandard kanji. However, when trying to find that kanji, it turned out that it was actually a nonstandard reading for 「夫」, meaning "husband", of course. Thus, it seems to me that 「夫」 is used here to refer specifically to Tanjirou, while also alluding to his (supposed) marital state.

Fig. 9: 猶くわ
しく聞たれば。

The word 「なほ」, meaning "yet more", is usually written using kana nowadays, but seen written here with the kanji 「猶」. This usage still exists in modern Japanese, but just isn't seen very often.

The word 「くわしく」 would be grammatically valid according to either premodern or modern Japanese rules. In premodern Japanese, the continuative form （連用形） of the adjective 「くわし」 is also 「くわしく」, with the primary distinction being in the dictionary forms, where the premodern version doesn't end with an 「い」 (thus「くわし」, instead of 「くわしい」).

Fig. 10: おまはん
の年よりおかみ
さんの方が年
うへのやうだと
いひますし。

Not much to remark about fig. 10 other than the use of 「須」 as the kanji from which the kuzushiji form of 「す」, at the end of the sentence, was derived. I mostly just figured that out from context, since there wasn't much else that was grammatically correct that could fit between 「ま」 and 「し」.

I have to say, this dialogue is much easier to understand and follow than the narration. It's almost as if two different languages are in use. After transcribing the kuzushiji into typewritten kanji/kana, reading the dialogue is quite similar to reading modern Japanese.