法事でいとこ集合

法事でいとこ集合

昨日、叔母の三回忌が催され、母方の従兄弟が６人集まった。最高年齢は８１歳。最少年齢は５５歳。
私の祖母は６人の子供がいた。四人の姉妹と二人の兄弟だ。三回忌は三人目の娘で９３歳まで生きた。
６人の子供のそれそれに子供がいて合計１６人であった。祖母から見れば孫が１６人ということだ。夏休みになると岐阜県海津郡南濃町にある祖母の家に遊びに行った。家は養老山脈の麓にある。遊びに行っている期間が１週間以上あり、従兄弟たちは一緒に遊んだ。それが、今日の法事の従兄弟会となった。
出る話は、祖母の家で遊んだこと、山で松茸狩りをしたこと。川に泳ぎに行ったこと。祖母が孫の世話をし、柿やミカンを届けてくれたことなどだ。最近では、実家の栗林に鹿が出るとか。鹿の他にアライグマ、雉、猿、猪が出るそうだ。山から下りて来て、農家の旨いものを物色するそうだ。
２時間ほど話の花を咲かせてお開きとなった。
叔母さん、従兄弟たちは元気にやってます。安らかにお眠りください。

Cousins’ Gathering

Yesterday, six members of my cousins gathered at the 3^rd Buddhist Ceremony for my late Aunt M. The oldest cousin was 81 years old and the youngest 55.

My grandmother had six children (four daughters and two sons). Aunt M was the third daughter. She lived to be 93 years old.

My late grandmother had 16 grandchildren. They used to visit her house in Nanno-cho, Kaizu-gun, Gifu Prefecture during the summer vacation. It stands at the foot of the Yoro Mountain Range. While they stayed there for a week or so, they played together, walked in the mountain together, and swam in the river together. Six of them (Each was the representative of her six children) got together yesterday.

We enjoyed talking for two hours about the days we spent at her house. We talked about matsutake mushroom collecting, swimming, and how she carried persimmons and tangerines to her children’s houses. According to her grandson, deer appear in the chestnut field. Besides deer, monkeys, raccoons, pheasants, and boars appear, too. They come down the mountains looking for food. They seem to be accustomed to eating delicious food human being eat.

Aunt M, the cousins are doing well. Please rest in peace.

 

恐竜コーシエン、絶滅の危機 Unfair Kosihien Baseball Tournament

 

 

恐竜コーシエン、絶滅の危機

 甲子園高校野球は県を代表しているか

 

Out-of-prefecture Scouting Should be Limited

for High School Baseball Teams

　　What if I told you Koshien High School Baseball Tournament would face extinction like dinosaurs within ten years? We all know that dinosaurs are dead. Likewise, Koshien Dinosaur is on the verge of extinction. The dinosaur fans are no more enthusiastic but losing interest in the hulking fake animal.
　　Koshien Baseball Tournament is no more battle between prefectures, but the battle of wallet. Out-of-prefecture scouting is undermining the fair play spirit. The players no more represent the prefectures they claim.
　　First, fat-wallet schools, especially private high schools, spend plenty of money to scout talented baseball players from other prefectures, make spacious baseball playgrounds, build gorgeous baseball training camps, and afford to employ famed coaches. On the other hand, public high schools whose budgets for baseball teams are limited cannot vie with them. Budget-restricted high schools train their students who are not from other prefectures but from the ones they are located in.
　　Secondly, the above phenomenon is against the fair play spirit. Take a boxing match for example. Suppose boxer A, a small thin sickly man, is going to fight against boxer B, a huge, muscular, well-fed man. Boxer B will surely knock out Boxer B in the first round. This is not fair. Similar things are practiced in Koshien baseball games. A rich high school has a good hand over a poor one. Can this be called fair play?
　　Thirdly, what would you say if a team that represented X Prefecture had more than five players from other prefectures? Does it represent X Prefecture? No, it doesn’t. It represents no particular prefecture, but mixed prefectures. This is not INTER-prefecture, but mingle-mangle baseball games.
　　Wallets should not influence the result of the games. High school baseball players in Koshien Stadium are 100 percent amateur and not professional. If high school baseball teams involve money, the fair play spirit will be ruined. Without fair play spirit, no sports would be interesting, nor attract baseball fans, and eventually lose them. Koshien Dinosaur is a mixed animal consisting of alien bloods. Its extinction has already begun.