[70] 伝説の魔術師 A LEGENDARY MAGICIAN

The delagation ship reaches China. 遣唐使船中国に到着

伝説の魔術師

　皆さんは吉備 真備（きび の まきび）を知っていますか。奈良時代の学者・公卿です。716年遣唐使として唐に渡り、唐の先進文化を学び、735年に帰朝します。その時吉備は碁、刺繍、琵琶などの唐文化を日本に持ち帰りました。後に東大寺建造長官となり、765年には右大臣になりました。

Kibi is confined in a tall house.吉備、楼閣に幽閉される

　吉備は伝説的人物でもあります。唐の長安に行った時、朝臣が吉備を殺そうとして鬼が住むという楼閣に幽閉しました。ところが鬼は遣唐使であった阿倍仲麻呂の霊で、吉備を救います。またあるとき、吉備は難解な詩を玄宗皇帝の前で解読する羽目になりますが、鬼の助けで前もってその文献を読むことができました。吉備は宮廷に呼ばれた時、あたかも初めて見る詩のように見せかけつつ、難なく解読し朝臣たちを驚かせました。次に、皇帝は碁の勝負を挑みます。吉備は碁のことは何も知りませんでしたが、阿倍の霊が碁の打ち方を教えてくれました。吉備は部屋の天井の格子を碁盤の目に見立てて碁の練習をしました。玄宗と碁の勝負をしているとき、吉備は負けそうになって、皇帝がわき見をしているとき碁石を飲み込んで碁に勝つのです。朝臣は吉備が碁石を飲み込んだのではないかと疑い、吉備に下剤を飲ませ、糞便を調べますが碁石を見つけることができませんでした。吉備が碁石を胃の中に留めておくという魔術を使ったのです。今度は、朝臣は吉備を毒殺しようとしますが、吉備は双六の道具を使って月と太陽の動きを封じました。吉備は万物の運命をつかさどる陰陽道の達人だったのです。朝臣は驚いて吉備を日本に帰しました。

Kibi plays go with the emperor.玄宗皇帝と碁の勝負

　この伝説は12世紀に「吉備大臣入唐絵巻（きび だいじん にっとう えまき）」という絵巻物になりました。現在、アメリカボストン美術館の所蔵品です。

A LEGENDARY MAGICIAN

　　Do you know Kibi Makibi? He was a Japanese scholar and noble during the Nara period (AD 710-794). He went to China as one of the Japanese official diplomatic delegations to China during the Tang dynasty in 716 and returned to Japan in 735. The mission of the delegations was to import Chinese advanced culture. Kibi is supposed to have brought back a number of things including the game of Go, the art of embroidery, and the biwa (a kind of lute). He was the project leader of the construction of Tōdai-ji Buddhist Temple. He took the office of Udaijin (second rank minister in the court) in 765.
　　Kibi became a legendary figure. When he went to Changan (present Xian), the capital of the Tang Dynasty, the courtiers, intending to kill him, confined him in a high palace house where a demon lived. However, the demon was actually the spirit of late Abe Nakamaro, one of the delegations to Tang. The demon saved him. At another time, he had to read one of the most difficult documents before the Tang emperor but the demon again helped him by letting him read the document beforehand. When he was called to the court, he pretended as if he had seen it for the first time, and surprised the nobles by reading it easily. The emperor then wanted to play Go (Chinese chess game) with him. Kibi did not know anything about Go, but the spirit taught him how to play go. Kibi practiced go by looking at the grid-patterned ceiling of his room. During the game, Kibi was nearly losing the game, but when the emperor was looking aside, he gulped down a Go stone and won the game. The emperor’s men, suspecting him, made him to take a laxative. When they checked his stool, they failed to find the stone. Kibi had used magic to keep it in his stomach. Next, Tang nobles tried to poison him, but he used tools of sugoroku (Japanese backgammon) and stopped the movement of the moon and the sun. He was the master of the Way of Yin and Yang, which influenced the destinies of creatures and things. The courtiers were surprised and allowed Kibi to return to Japan.
　　The legend was made into Kibi Daijin Nitto Emaki (narrative pictorial handscroll of Kibi Minster in Tang) in 12 century. It is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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