先生は私たちに努力しなければらないといつも教訓された。「このごろ或る新劇の團體で、三箇月も火花をちらして努力したとプログラムに書いてゐるのを見 た。三箇月の努力では幾ら火花をちらしてもたいしたことはあるまいと思ってゐるとその努力にむくひられなかつたといつて後になつて不満を述べてゐる。私の ごときは五十年も火花をちらして努力して来たが、一向にその努力の結果は現はれない。
Our sensei, Mr.Tsubouchi Shozo, always taugh us that one should keep one's best to improve oneself. "Recently," he said, "I have read an article written by one shingeki-group (a western-style theatrical group) that said, 'we have been making considerable efforts for good three months'. Three months of considerable efforts sounded to me unlikely to be fruitful, and I found that the group was grumbling over its unrewarded efforts. I, as an ordinary person, have made considerable efforts for good fifty years, and I have got no results that would be rewarding.
藝術の道は遠い。涯しないかのごとくである」と教訓されるときには、 先生は声をしんみり落し、教場はしんとするのであった。もっとも先生は涙をながさうと思へば自由に涙をながす訓練が出来てゐて、本讀みのときにはときどき その技術を用ゐられた。どうすれば涙をながすことができるのか私たちは研究してみたが、誰も出来るものはゐなかった。
（昭和十五年 井伏鱒二）
The path of this craft is long. It's as though there is no limit." When he taught us this, teacher's voice was solemn and the classroom fell silent. It was the best of teacher's drills for making tears flow by thinking about it, and when doing a reading sometimes this technique was put to use. We tried to study what we could do to make our tears flow, but not one one of us was able to.
(Showa 50 (1975) Masuji Ibuse）
