狂言鑑賞 ENJOYING KYOGEN

　狂言鑑賞

能楽堂で狂言を観てきた。演目は「佐渡狐（さどぎつね）」「寝音曲（ねおんぎょく）」「千切木（ちぎりき）」。「千切木」では、人間国宝の山本東次郎がシテを演じた。
「佐渡狐」は佐渡に狐がいるかの問に対して、いると答えた百姓の話。「寝音曲」は酒を呑んで膝枕で謡を謡う話。「千切木」は連歌の会で仲間外れになった男の話。
いずれの狂言もユーモラスで落語に似ており、くすくす笑った。（皆、真面目に聞いているので、落語みたに大笑いするところも、笑いを皆さん御していた）
以前、能を観に行ったことがあったけれど、テンポがゆっくりで、間延びして、話の中身が分からず、眠りはしなかったが、エンジョイできなかった。今日は分かりやすく面白かった。
また、狂言あれば行きたい。

Kyogen Performance

 

I went to Nohgaku-do to see three kyogen plays (traditional short comedic drama): Sado-gitsune, Neongyoku, and Chigiriki.
　　Sado-gitsune is a drama where a farmer asks a Sado-Islander if there is a fox in the island, to which the islander tells a lie, saying that there is; Neongyoku is about a man who sings an ancient song with his head on the listener’s lap; and Chigiriki is about an old man who is ostracized by the group of haiku lovers which he wants to belong to.
　　Each kyogen was humorous and similar to rakugo (funny story telling). I couldn’t help chuckling, but most of the kyogen viewers were too serious to laugh.
　　A few years ago I went to see Noh plays (traditional masked dance-dramas), but the Noh actors’ movements were so slow and the background music so soft that I felt sleepy. However, I enjoyed the kyogen very much. I would like to see kyogen again.

空海 KU-KAI 美しき王妃の謎 Kukai: Utsukushiki Ohino Nazo

全然面白くなかった。宣伝につられて期待して見に行ったが、期待外れもいいとこであった。

問題点

１．空海が主役だが、密教や恵果和尚や仏教修行の話は一切出てこない。こんなことなら、別に空海でなくても誰でもいい。

２．阿倍仲麻呂

仲麻呂が登場するが特にこれと言った役割もない。

３．化け猫の怨念というが、楊貴妃を生きたまま殺しにした怨念が末代の天子を殺すと言う動機としては納得いかない

４．化け猫はなぜ目だけを食べるのか解説しない。

５．空海が謎を解くといううたい文句だが、解いていく過程が分かりづらい。猫が話すからそこからヒントを得ているようだが、腑に落ちない。

６．派手で物々しく、仰々しい映画だが、内容がそれに見合っていない。

７．最初に猫が夾竹桃の下を掘れば、銭が出てくると言ったが、これとなぞとどういう関係があるのか、分からない。

８．最初、どういうミステリーなのかがきちんと伝わらない。テンポが速すぎる。

 Kukai: Utsukushiki Ohino Nazo

I was disappointed at the film “Kukai: Utsukushiki Ohino Nazo” (the Mystery of the Beautiful Queen) It fell far short of expectations. I was lured to the movie theater because of the exaggerated advertisement.

Some problems about the film:
1. Although Kukai is one of the most famous Buddhist priests in Japan, the movie does not deal with Buddhism, nor show Keika, Kukai’s teacher in China.
2. Abeno Nakamaro, an influential politician in ancient Japan, appears in the film, but he has no important role.
3. The cat’s revenge triggered by the murder of Yang Kuei Fei is not persuasive.
4. Why does the strange cat only eats human eyes.
5. Kukai does not seem to solve the problem. The process to reach the conclusion is difficult to understand.

辻井伸行ピアノ演奏会 Nobuyuki Tsujii's Piano Concert

辻井伸行ピアノ演奏会

 

岐阜サマランカホールで開かれた辻井伸行さんのピアノコンサートに女房と行ってきた。ショパン、ドビッシー、ラヴェル、リスト、ガーシュイン、サティ、カプースチンが演奏された。

辻井さんのピアノ演奏は今まで私が聞いたピアノ演奏とは、まるで違っていた。ピアノの音とは思えない。個々のキーの音が繋がっており、まるで弦楽器の演奏を聴いているようであった。激しい強音と優しい弱音がはっきりしており、特に最弱音は繊細であった。よく超絶技巧演奏とかいうけれど、辻井さんの演奏は超絶を乗り越えている。ピアノを自由自在に操る。

 アンコールに応えての演奏はフォスターの「金髪のジェニーへのオマージュ」で、彼が作曲し、カーネギーホールで演奏したものだと紹介された。懐かしさと美しい演奏に目が潤んだ。

Nobuyuki Tsujii's Piano Concert

 

　　I went to the Nobuyuki Tsujii’s piano concert with my wife at Salamanca Hall in Gifu. He played the music composed by Chopin, Ravel, Gershwin, Liszt, etc.

   When I heard his piano for the first time in my life, I was astonished. His performance was quite different from other pianists’. The quality of his piano sound was very different. The individual key sound he made was so closely connected with each other that the sound of his piano sounded like that of a string instrument.   

His fortissimo is dynamic and strong while his pianissimo is extremely week and subtle. I often hear such-and-such man’s piano technique is excellent. However, Tsujii’s piano is beyond technique. He freely plays the piano. To illustrate this, let me give you an example. When a native speaker of English says to you, “Your English is excellent,” this means your English does not sound natural, meaning you have a long way to brush upon your English.

   In an encore, he played The Homage to Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair, which he composed and played in the Carnegie Hall. It was so moving that tears filled my eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

梅を見に行く Plum Blossom Viewing

梅を見に行く

 

 

昨日（３日）大高緑地公園の梅林に女房と梅を見に行った。暖かな日で、紅白の梅がいっぱい咲いており、きれいだった。４割ぐらいが満開で、後は７８分咲きであった。露店も出ており、甘酒を飲んだ。女房は鉢植えの木を買った。大道芸人がいたり、子供が池の鯉に餌をやっていたりして、面白かった。

Plum Blossom Viewing

I went to Ohdaka Ryokuchi Park with my wife to see plum blossoms on April 3. It was a warm day and we saw a lot of plum blossoms, some red and others white. The blossoms are about 40 percent in full bloom. There were a dozen of stands selling food and drinks. We drank Amazake (sweet mild sake) and saw a street entertainer’s performance. Children were having fun. My wife bought a nursery tree.

ペースメーカー A Pacemaker

A Pacemaker

“Stop using the smartphone. I’m scared,” the man next to me said.

He and I were sitting on a subway priority seat for the aged, pregnant, or disabled people. He was around 40 years old, and was a large stout-looking man.

“I’m sorry,” I said to him.

When I had sat on it a moment before, I had noticed that he was placing his right palm on his chest. I wondered if he had a weak heart, but apparently he had a pace-maker implanted.

When the subway stopped at the next station, a woman stood in front of him, using a smartphone. My neighbor immediately told her not to use it. She bowed to him apologetically and stopped using it. Whenever the train stopped and one or two passengers stood near him using smartphones, he said to them, “Don’t use that around me.” Once when he asked a young man to stop using the gadget, he ignored his request and continued using it. So my neighbor stood up and told him to stop doing so again. The young man turned around. He was listening to the i-phone music with earphones. He took off one of them from his ear, comprehended his request and stopped using the phone.

I sympathized with him, because I myself have irregular heartbeat and take a pill every morning.

Worrying about the malfunction of his pacemaker whenever he takes trains or buses may be bad for his heart, I am afraid.

I have resolved that I would not use my smartphone near priority seats.

シェイプオブウオーター The Shape of Water

シェイプオブウオーター　

この映画は「美女と野獣」と同じテーマを扱っている。外見は醜いが、中身は優しい心を持っている魚人と美人ではないが魚人を愛する女イライザの物語である。アンタゴニストは魚人の番人ストイックランド。

コンフリクトは魚人を助けてアマゾンに帰そうとするイライザ対魚人を殺そうとするストイックランドとの闘いである。この設定で、ハラハラドキドキする。

ネタバレ：最後に運河に魚人が飛び込めば、これで愛は結ばれないが魚人はアマゾンに帰ることができる。このようには話は終わらない。ひねりもひねりがあるエンディングだ。イライザと魚人が落命したかと思いきや、魚人のパワーで、二人は生き返る。あとは観る人の想像に任せられる。ストイックランドもエンディングではまだ息がある。ある意味ハッピーエンディングだ。

仕掛け

１. 単純な話に、ソ連対米国の魚人をめぐるスパイ戦がある。

２．水中でのセックス

３．最後に魚人とアマゾンに行くかと思われるエンディングは「未知との遭遇」のエンディングに似ている。最後に電気技師ロイはUFOに乗り込む。あちらの世界に行くことを思わせる。

４．水中接吻をするため、魚人の口は人間の口と全く同じにしてある。

５．水槽をイライザが叩いたところ、びっくりするような反応があった。ここが引っかけになっている。

(３月１日記述）

 

The Shape of Water

　　The theme of The Shape of Water is the same with that of Beauty and the Beast. A plain-looking cleaning-woman Elisa falls in love with a captured ugly humanoid amphibian. Her antagonist is Strickland, who is in charge of the weird creature.

The movie develops around the conflict between Elisa, who wants to free the creature into the sea, to the Amazon River, and Strickland, who wants to kill it. The battle between the two keeps the audience in suspense.

The ending scene reminded me of The Close Encounter of the Third Kind, in which an engineer, Roy, enters the UFO mothership, suggesting that he fly to an alien star.

Near the end of the movie, Elisa takes the creature to a pier where she intends to free it. However, before she releases it to the sea, Strickland shoots Elisa and her beloved creature. Strangely, thanks to the creature’s supernatural power, both recover from the wounds. In the ending scene, Elisa’s body held by the creature’s arms gradually sinks deep in the sea. This is, in a sense, a happy ending.

 

 

優秀賞受賞 EXCELLENT TRANSLATION FROM JAPANESE TO ENGLISH

　優秀賞受賞

実践ビジネス英語３月号の和訳で優秀賞を受賞した。以下は課題と私の訳文

　

　It is a very snowy day.
　　“My flight has been canceled due to the snow. So, I’ve just got on the train!　I nearly missed it.”
　　My mother’s loud voice over her cell-phone resonates in the deck.
All I can see through the window of a limited express, Super Soya, which started from Sapporo Station, is nothing but snow. It is running north on and on in the snowstorm that blocks the view from the window.
　　“I feel sorry for the passengers when the train schedule is disrupted because of heavy snow. I am always worried while I am on-board on a snowy day,” says the train attendant, who newly entered the Hokkaido Railway Company in April, 2004.
　　A wagon for in-train sales loaded with lunch boxes, drinks, and what not weighs surprisingly heavy 80 kilograms or so. Pushing or steadying it in the swaying train, you are likely to suffer from muscle pain if you are not used to it.
　　“I am still under strain,” she says. “So, I cannot enjoy the scenery from the window. I am doing my very best so that I won’t make any mistake.”
　　Super Soya connects Sapporo and Wakkanai in about five hours. Today, I’m going to get off at Asahikawa Station on the way, take a bus, and head for Asahiyama Zoo.