Kenji Nakagami has been one of the heros to me when I think about the Japanese literature. His stories are so attractive just like Tono Monogatari(遠野物語) or Kenji Miyazawa's short stories. His story telling reminds me of old men or women who told me stories about when they were younger. I was the type of the child who liked to sit and hear stories from elderly people.
私は年寄りなどから話を聞くのが好きな子供だったので、中上健次の物語に接すると、遠野物語や宮沢賢治の童話に接するような、どこか身近なものを感じます。
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中上健次『千年の愉楽』（[半蔵の鳥]より）
[1]
明け方になって急に家の裏口から夏芙蓉の甘いにおいが入り込んできたので息苦しく、まるで花の匂いに息を止めらるように思ってオリュウノオバは目を覚まし、仏壇の横にしつらえた台に乗せた夫の礼如さんの縁に入った写真がかすかに白く闇の中に浮き上がっているのを見て尊い仏さまのような人だった礼如さんと夫婦だったことがあり得ない幻だったような気がした。体を横たえたまま礼如さんの写真を見て手を組んでオリュウノオバは「おおきに、ありがとうございます」と声にならない声で呟き、あらためて家に入ってくる夏芙蓉の匂いを嗅ぎ、自分にも夏芙蓉のような白粉のにおいを立てていた若い時分があったのだと思って一人微笑んだ。
The day was dawning when Nanny Oryu woke up by the sweat smell of cotton rose hibiscus that suddenly entered her nostrils. The smell must have come from the back of the house, and she thought it was hard to breathe. Then she gave a glimpse of the framed portrait of Ren'nyo that was placed on the little table right beside the Buddhist altar. Looking at that dimly shining picture in the darkness, she thought it was like a perfect dream that she was married to this man. This Ren'nyo was one holy Buddha for her. Having laid her body still, she folded her arms and whispered, "Thank you... so much." It was a voice that didn't become. Then, once again, she smelled the cotton rose hibiscus that came into her house from outside. This reminded her that there was a time when she was still a young lady, attracting guys around her like the flower pollen. This idea was good to let her smile to herself.
[2]
明けてくるとまるで瑠璃を張るような声で裏の雑木の茂みで鳥が鳴く。それが誰から耳にしたのか忘れたが、昔から路地の山に夏時に咲く夏芙蓉の蜜を吸いに来る金色の身体の小さな鳥の声だと教えられ、オリュウノオバは年を取ってなお路地の山のわきに住み続ける自分がだれよりも幸せ者だと思うのだった。夏芙蓉は暮れ時に花をひらきはじめて日が昇る頃一夜だけの命を終えてしぼむので金色の小鳥が蜜を吸いに来た鳴き声を耳にするたびに、幻のようにかき消えた夜を惜しむのか、あかるい日の昼を喜ぶのか問うてもみたい気がした。オリュウノオバの耳にその金色の小鳥の鳴き声は、半蔵が飼っていた天鼓という名の鶯の鳴き声のように響くのだった。半蔵が大事に育てていた天鼓を、年の寄りすぎで体のどこが悪いと言うのではないのに寝たきりになってしまったオリュウノオバに聴かせてやるというように、毎年夏時に裏の茂みに放って声を聴かせてくれる。
A day has dawned and there was a bird's singing at the back yard bushes. It sounded just like when shamisen gave out a sharp and strong note. She doesn't remember who said it but she heard that it is a gold colored bird that keeps singing. It comes all the way down here to suck the honey of the cotton rose hibiscuses that bloom in the mountain of the district. Nanny Oryu thinks she is luckier than anyone else for having this opportunity that she has lived here in the district. Her place is located at the foot of the mountain. The cotton rose hibiscus starts blooming with the sunset and it ends up its life the next morning. There is only one night to live. She feels like asking the bird. “Do you miss the night because it was like a happy dream, or are you happy with the bright sunrise?” Nanny Oryu was no longer able to get up from the bed despite not being sick. But she believed that the voice of the gold colored bird must be a tenko, a family of nightingale, which Hanzo used to keep. She imagines that Hanzo comes back around here every summer to let go of his beloved bird in the bushes behind her house. She thinks he does that, so she would be able to enjoy the bird’s singing.
[3]
夫の礼如さんが突然永い間年季奉公して身につけた靴作りをやめ、坊主になると言って京都の寺に修業に行ったのが、三歳まで育った男の子が茶がゆを頭からかぶって大やけどをして死んだ翌年のことだったので、オリュウノオバが路地のたった一人の産婆になったのは二十三の歳だった。それからは、今、路地の親のあらかたはオリュウノオバが取り上げた。その半蔵もそうだった。オリュウノオバは床に就いたまま、朝が明けて方々から軍鶏や鶏が時を作り、子供らの声がするのを閉ざした雨戸の向こうからひびいてくるのを耳にしながら、眠っているのか起きているのかわからぬまま眼に浮かんだ半蔵の姿に向かって、「ねえ、半蔵。誰よりも先にこの手に抱いたんじゃのにねえ」という。半蔵はバツの悪い顔をつくる、白い刃のこぼれるほどの屈託のない笑みをまた浮かべ、「わがの飯の種じゃだ」と憎まれ口をつくる。「おうよ、飯の種やよ。そうじゃけど半蔵、お前を生んだ女の親よりも先に、この手に抱いたんじゃぇ。そんやで今こんなに年寄ってから、おまえに天鼓の声も耳にさせてもらうよ」
Her husband Renryo left his family to be a Buddhist monk in Kyoto when he had suddenly quit his work as a shoe maker. He did that although he had finally learned the skill after a long time of working as a trainee. This all happened one year after they had lost their three-year-old son when he turned over the boiling rice gruel on himself to get terribly burned. It must be that Nanny Oryu was twenty three years old at that time when she became the only one midwife in the district. She'd dealt with almost all of the babies of the district ever since. This Hanzo was one of them. Nanny Oryu, with her body still laid on futon, is hearing when chickens and fighting cocks make a noise as if counting the time. She is also hearing little kids’ voices sounding from across the house shutters of the neighbors. She looks like she was still half asleep, when her eyes get sight of Hanzo and says, “Y’know, Hanzo. I’m the first one to hold you when you were born.” Hanzo makes a shy and uneasy face. Then he smiles so openly as to show his shiny white teeth and says, “You never stop saying that.” He pretends speaking ill words but Nanny Oryu continues, “Oh yeah, I never stop that. I am the first one. It's not even your mom you showed up from. - But I am very old now, my dear. That's why you let me hear the tenko's voice like that.”
[4]
半蔵の姓は中本、オリュウノオバの夫の礼如さんの一統にもあたり、西村へ養子に行った勝一郎や弦とはイトコ同士だった。中本彦之助が半蔵の男親で、彦之助の男親がタツ、女親がナミノで、彦之助の弟が勝一郎や弦の親キクドウになる。タツとナミノはその二人の子を産んで別れ、タツは田口マサエの腹に女の子を一人もうけている。彦之助は半蔵一人を女に産ませて、それで町の後家と駆け落ちして田辺に行き、三人ほど子を作ったという風の噂が路地に届いた。半蔵の女親は有馬から来たが、有馬出の女があらかたそうであるように情が強く気性をおさえることが出来ず、それに彦之助の弟のキクドウに弦が生まれたこともあって、中本の血がよどみ腐っていると言い、半蔵が十の歳に紡績の口入れに来た男の後を追って出奔した。半蔵は二親から置き去りにされて育ったが、昏いかげりは毛ほども見せずに中本の血を引いたのか、路地の中でも一、二位を争うほどの男ぶりの若衆に育ち、十九の時にはもう人を三人ほど使う土方の親方になっていた。
[4]
Hanzo’s family name was Nakamoto. It was a relative of Ren’nyo, Nanny Oryu’s late husband; and it was also a cousin of Katsu-ichiro and Gen, who were later adopted to the Nishimura family. Hiko-no-suke Nakamoto was Hanzo’s father, who was born from Tatsu as the father and Namino the mother. Hiko-no-suke’s younger brother was Kikudou, who later became the father of Gen. Tatsu and Namino had two children but they divorced. And then, Tatsu begot one girl between Masae Taguchi. Hiko-no-suke matched with a girl to become the father of Hanzo, but then he ran away to Tanabe City with some widow. A rumor came to the district one day that they had got three kids. Hanzo’s mother was from Arima, and she was, like most of the girls of this place, had too much desire to control herself. Hiko-no-suke’s younger brother (Kikudou) begot Gen, which made her think that she no longer wanted to be involved with the Nakamotos, saying that the whole family was rotten on the blood level. It was when Hanzo was ten years old that she ran away with a guy who came to the district to introduce some jobs of cotton-mill. Hanzo, even though his both parents had abandoned him, never let anybody notice he had this unhappy background. Maybe it was because of a DNA of the Nakamotos. Hanzo grew up to become one of the coolest young men in the district, and by the age nineteen he had already become a boss of construction work to manage some three guys.
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