シャッターチャンス Photo Opportunity

シャッターチャンス

 

　昨日、山崎川にかかっている新瑞小橋の上から川を見ると、小魚が一杯泳いでいた。５00匹もいたろうか。群のあちこちで、きらきらひかっていた。小魚が横向きに泳ぐとき白い腹に日の光が当たり、反射しているのだ。写真を撮ろうとしてスマホを取り出して、小魚の群の動きを見ていると、どこからともなく鴨が三羽ほど飛んできて、群の上をかすめて、着水した。着水と同時に群は鴨からパッと遠ざかった。私がシャッターを押したのは、鴨が着水したときと同時であったらしい。取った写真を見ると、なんと鴨のくちばしが、小魚を捉えた瞬間であった。こんな写真はめったにとれるものではない。

Photo Opportunity

 

When I was crossing Aratama-kobashi Bridge over the Yamazaki River, I saw a lot of small fish swimming under the bridge. There were about ５00 of them. They looked like a school of sardines. Some of them glittered reflecting the sunshine. Then, hardly had a few ducks come flying from nowhere and splashed down on the river when the fish dispersed. At that instant, I pushed the smartphone camera shatter.
　　The photograph caught the very moment when one of the ducks caught a small fish with its beak. I did not intend to take such a rare-chance photograph, but the picture showed the very moment.

桔梗屋さん、ありがとう Kikyoya-san, Thanks a Lot

桔梗屋さん、ありがとう

 

　１０月１７日、女房と多度大社に行った。養老線多度で下車して、駅員に多度までの道と、歩いてかかる時間を聞くと、道順を教えてくれて、「まあ、１５分ぐらいです」と言った。１５分なら歩けないことはない。

川沿いに歩いて行くと４０人ぐらいの幼稚園児に会った。孫のように可愛いかった。
　道は緩やかな上り坂で、天気はかんかん照りで、歩くのがえらかったが、とにかく歩いた。２０分ぐらい歩いたが、神社の気配がない。疲れ切って、「桔梗屋」という和菓子店の女の人に女房が訊いた。
「神社まであとどれぐらいですか」
「ここは駅と神社の真ん中ですよ。あと今まで歩いた分歩かなきゃなりませんね」
「ええっ！　駅員が１５分ぐらいと言ったのに」
「駅員はいつもそう言うんですよ。神社まで歩く人が迷惑している」
「もう歩けません。この辺に休むところはないですか。喫茶店とか」
「ないですが……。じゃ、車で送ってあげますよ」
　ということで、店の奥さんらしき人が、車で神社まで送ってくれた。店から数分であった。天の助けとはこのことだ。へとへとで、もう一歩も歩けなかった。多度の神様のおかげかもしれない。
　ありがとうございました。桔梗屋さん

Kikyoya-san in Tado, Thanks a Lot

　　I went to Tado Shrine with my wife on October 17. We got off the train on the Yoro Line at Tado Station. As we did not know how to go to the shrine, I asked one of the station employees. He kindly told me the way.
　　“How long does it take to walk there?” I said.
　　“Oh, about 15 minutes,” he said.
　　A 15 minute walk is not a long walk, so we decide to walk to the shrine although a tax was standing in front of the station.
It was a sunny bright day. As we walked along a river, we met a group of kindergarten children—about 40 of them. They were very cute.
　　Because the road to the shrine was a gradual ascending slope, it was hard to walk, but we walked and walked. Even though we walked for about 20 minutes, we did not see any bit of a shrine. We were so tired that we stopped in front of a Japanese-style confection store named Kikyo-ya. My wife asked a middled age woman in the shop:
　　“How long does it take to Tado Shrine?”
　　“This is only a halfway point between the station and the shrine. 　　　
　　You have to walk the same distance you have covered so far,” she said.
　　“A halfway! What shall I do? I can’t walk. The station man said it would take only 15 minutes,” my wife said.
　　“He always says so. Many tourists have suffered from his fake information,” she said.
　　“Are there any place to rest? A coffee shop or something like that?” my wife said totally exhausted.
　　“OK, I will give you a ride,” the woman said.
　　And luckily, she gave us a lift to the shrine. It took only a few minutes.
　　Tado Shrine God must have bestowed us a blessing.
　　Kikyo-ya san, thank you very much.

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.

 

英国総督最後の家 Viceroy’s House

　「英国総督最後の家」　
 

 

英国総督最後の家を見た。インド独立に際して、ヒンズー教徒とムスリム教徒の激しい対立、暴行、はては虐殺のために、インドを二つの国、インドとパキスタンに分けるまでの経緯が描かれている。どこに国境を引くのか、分離した場合に各国民はどちらの国を選ぶのか、総督の館の家財（書籍からフォークに至るまで）どう分けるのか。総督の館の下僕の間でいがみ合いが生ずる等、次々と問題が起こる。
　特に注目すべきはこの映画の中に「ロミオとジュリエット」が組み込まれていることだ。ヒンズー教徒の青年とムスリム教徒の娘の恋が引き裂かれ、（ネタバレ）最後に結ばれるというドラマが独立の情勢を背景に描かれている。
　あれ程激しい宗教紛争があったとは知らなかった。大移動で国境を越えた者の総数は、１２００万。死者数は１００万人もあったという。
　お勧めの映画だ。

Viceroy’s House

 

二つの同窓会 TWO ALUMNI MEETINGS

二つの同窓会

 今月は同窓会が二回あった。一つは教え子の同窓会で、もう一つは私の高校時代の同窓会だ。

 教え子の同窓会は南山男子部の教え子達で、１０人集まった。４４歳か４５歳の連中で、独身もいれば、まだ一ヶ月前に赤ちゃんが生まれた（それも双子）という者もいる。Ｋ君は九州から来てくれた。もっとも盆休みで名古屋の実家に来ていたのだが。今年はＳ先生の身体の調子が悪くて欠席されたが、色紙に寄せ書きをして幹事のＡ君がＳ先生に渡してくれる。同僚のＭ先生とは「文禄・慶長の役」の話をしたが、スペインに対抗するため秀吉が朝鮮出兵したのではないらしいことが分かった。

 大垣北高の同窓会は約７０人が集まった。皆７５歳か７６歳で、後期高齢者ばかり、男性は白髪か禿げ頭ばかりであった。Ｗ君と久しぶりに長く話した。彼の娘さんがエコノミー症候群で五年前に亡くなった事情を話してくれた。ご冥福を祈るばかりだ。今年も４人の同窓生（親友のＨ君を含めて）が亡くなっていた。３００人いた同窓生が、もうかれこれ４０人か５０人ぐらいは亡くなっているはずだ。恩師のＳ先生も奥さんの世話でご欠席であった。来年の喜寿７７歳で北高同窓会は終りになる予定だ。

　わたしもこの先、長年にわたり教え子に囲まれることができるよう、身体を大事にしなければならない。

 

TWO ALUMNI MEETINGS

　　Recently I attended two alumni meetings: my Nanzan High School ex-students’ and my high school days’ meetings.
　　Ten ex-students attended the Nanzan alumni meeting. They are around 44 years old. Some are bachelors, and others married. One of them had a twin babies about a week ago. K-kun came to the meeting all the way from Kyushu. (His home is in Nagoya, though.) Mr. S, my ex-colleague teacher was absent because of his disease. The students and I wrote letters in a shikishi paper, which A-kun took it to Mr. S.
　　Sixty-seven people attended Ogaki Kita Senior High School alumni meeting. They are either 75 or 76 years old. All of them are so called “Koki Korei sha” (elderly over 75). Men were either bald or had gray or white hair. I talked with my close friend, W-kun after a long absence. He said his daughter had died of economy-class syndrome five years ago after she flew back from London and arrived home. I offer my sincerer prayer for her.
　　Four alumni members had died during the past year, including H-kun, my close friend. There were 300 fellow alumni, but about 50 of them had died. My home room teacher, Mr. S did not attend the meeting; he had to take care of his wife. The alumni meeting will end next year, our Kiju (77-year-old year).
　　I hope I can attend my ex-students’ alumni meeting as many years as possible.

歴史文芸賞応募 Submission to Historical Novel Contest

歴史文芸賞応募

文芸社主催「歴史文芸賞」に本日応募した。運慶とと快慶の話を書いた。原稿用紙換算１５５枚である。このような大作？を書いたことがないので、この一ヶ月半、執筆にかかりっきりであった。特にこの１０日ぐらいは、コンピューターとにらめっこで、目を酷使した。
プロの作家が、２００枚も、３００枚も書くけれど、その苦労が分かった。見直すだけでも時間がかかるのに、体力、気力、眼力が必須だと分かった。
発表は９月下旬だが、さてどうなるやら。
あれ以上の話は書けない。

　Submission to Historical Novel Contest

　　I submitted my work to Historical Literature Contest held by Bungeisha today. It is the story about two Buddhist statue sculptors: Unkei and Kaikei. It consists of 155 pages of manuscript paper. I have never written such a long story. I have spent most of my time during the past month and a half. I devoted myself to it, especially during the past 10 days, facing my computer from morning to night, even if I had pain in my eyes.
　　How could professional writers write as many as 300 or 400 pages, I wonder. Now I understand their invincible power. Just checking the wrong spellings takes a lot of time. Writing a novel needs energy, spirit, and strong eye sight.
　　The names of the prize winners will be announced in September. I hope my name is included.