Botchan

In the opening chapter he hurts himself jumping from the second floor of his elementary school, fights the boy next door, and tramples a neighbor's carrot patch by wrestling (sumo style) on the straw that covers the seedlings.

After Botchan's mother passes away, Kiyo devotes herself fervently to his welfare, treating him from her own allowance with gifts and favors.

Botchan initially finds her affection onerous, but over time he grows to appreciate her dedication, and she eventually becomes his mother figure and moral role model.

Six years after his mother's death, as Botchan is finishing middle school, his father falls ill and passes away.

After several missteps, he concludes that Squash and the head mathematics teacher (Porcupine) hold the moral high ground in the conflict.

They stake out Red Shirt's known haunt, an inn near the hot springs town, and catch him and his sidekick Hanger-on sneaking home in the morning after overnighting with geisha.

After dispensing justice with his fists, Botchan drops a letter of resignation into the mail and immediately heads for the harbor.

Jiro Taniguchi adapted parts of the novel into his ten-volume series—published in Japan beginning in 1986—called The Times of Botchan in English.