カッパドキアで気球に乗る BALLOONING IN CAPPADOCIA

2012年5月16日

５時15分、モーニングコール。雲一つなく、風もない美しい朝。素晴らしい気球日よりだ。6時にホテルのロビーに10人（私を含めて）が集合。みんな眠そう。マイクロバスに乗って気球打ち上げセンターに行く。バスの窓から見ると、いくつか気球が美しい朝焼けの空にあがっている。今からふわふわ浮かぶのだ。下界はどんな風景だろう。ドキドキする。
センターに着いて、パンとコーヒーの簡単な朝食をすませ、７時の順番を待つ。ガイドが言っていたが、風があったり、曇り空なら飛ばないそうだ。運が悪いと、気球に乗ってさて飛ぼうという瞬間に中止になることがあるという。でも、今日は完璧な青空だ。そよ風もない。
７時前に、ガイドがやって来て「キャンセルです」と告知する。耳を疑った。ええっ！　こんな素晴らしい日に？　朝早く起きたのに。気球に乗る気が全身にみなぎっているのに。中止とは！　どっと疲れが出た。みんながっかりし、唇を噛んで、ウンウンうめき声をあげた。

一寸先は
闇だ
と言うけど

５月１７日

また５時１５分に起きる。空は青空、風もない、しかし気球に乗れると楽観してはいけない。最後の土壇場でキャンセルだってあるのだ。最悪の事態を覚悟しなければ。バスで打ち上げセンターに向かう時、窓から気球が１０個ぐらい空をふわふわ浮いているのが見える。だからと言って、乗れるとは限らないのだ。ドタキャありだ。
でも、運がいいことに、ガイドが来て「飛びますよ」とうれしい声。またバスに乗って打ち上げ場所に移動する。到着して気球を見るとその巨大なこと。みんなカゴに乗り始めたが、カゴが背が高くて、またいで乗込むなんて芸当は出来ない。カゴの側面に切りこんである階段になったいくつもの穴に足を突っ込んで慎重によじ登るのだ。巧く登れば拍手喝采。みんなが登る人にあれやこれやと足の置き場を指示する。「そう、それでいいのよ。今度は右足をこの穴に入れて。そう。ＯＫ。じゃあ今度は左足をここに入れて、そうじゃなくって！　身体の向きを変えてよ。もうじれったい！」
無事に全員乗カゴ？すると、気球操縦士が、気球の真ん中の空間に向かって数回火を放つ。私の頭が火熱で熱くなった。気球が熱を十分とりこむと、あらあら、ふんわり浮き出した。始めはほんの１０センチ、またたくうちに１０メートル。

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　ふわふわふわと漂って

ふんわりふわふわ気球浮き
見渡す限りの地平線
地面を離れて１００メートル
高い高い６００メートル

円錐形の無数の岩
眼下に広がる奇岩群
樹木や緑の大平原
谷間を通り、谷を見下ろす

小鳥がどこかで鳴いている
狐がいるよと、パイロット
おもちゃのトラック小道を走り
遠くや近くに浮く気球

青い山々遥かに霞み
気球の影が地面に映る
視界に入る白虫の群れ
羊だ、犬が無言で吠えている

ふんわりふわり
ふんわりふわりと
自然を感じ
わたしは自然に溶け込んだ

気球は約50分間飛行して草原に無事着陸。みんなカゴをよじ登り地面に降りた。見るとシャンペンとテーブルが用意してある。無事の帰還おめでとう。
コルクをポーンと引き抜いて、それっ、乾杯だ！

BALLOONING IN CAPPADOCIA

May 16, 2012

The morning call rang at 5:15. It was a beautiful day with no wind and no clouds. I was sure we could ride a balloon. Ten sleepy people including me gathered at the hotel lobby at 6:00, and got on a microbus to go to the balloon-flight office. From the bus windows we saw dozens of balloons floating in the beautiful blue sky. How exciting it would be to float in a balloon! How wonderful it would be to look down at the landscapes! Just imagining made me excited.
After arriving at the office, we ate bread and drank coffee. We waited for our turn at seven o’clock hoping that we could ride one. Our tour guide had said that ballooning would be canceled when it was windy or cloudy. In some unlucky cases, she said, immediately after your balloon began to lift off, the flight could be canceled. On this day, however, the sky was a perfect blue and there was not even a breeze.
Just a few minute before seven, the guide came to announce that the flight had been cancelled. I couldn't believe my ears. Why? Cancelled? On such a beautiful fine day? I woke up so early and was more than 100 percent ready to ride in a balloon, but oh, the cancelation! Suddenly I was exhausted. We all muttered disappointment, bitterness, and groans.

only God knows
what’s around　
the corner

May 17, 2012

Again I woke up at 5:15. The sky was blue. It was not windy, but I did not expect that I would be able to ride a balloon. I knew the flight might be canceled at the last moment. I prepared myself for the worst. Even when I saw dozens of balloons floating above our bus on the way to the office, I was not sure that we could fly. The tables could be turned at the last moment.
Luckily, however, the guide came to tell us that we would fly as scheduled. We took a bus again and rushed to the flight-site. When we reached it, the balloon was enormously huge. We began to climb into the basket. Everyone had great difficulty getting into it because the sides of the basket were so high that you couldn’t stride over them. You had to climb it by carefully putting your foot in the holes notches in the side of it. Everybody suggested to each other how to climb over it. “Easy. All right, put your right foot here. Good, then put your damn foot in this hole. No, you must first turn around.”
When all were aboard, the pilot shot the fire into the center of the balloon several times. My head felt the heat. When the balloon absorbed enough heat, it gently took off from the ground. First, it was only 10 centimeters above the earth, but in a few minutes it was floating about 10 meters above it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FLOATING AND DRIFTING

smoothly floating balloon
the endless panorama view
100 meters above the ground
300 meters, and the highest 600 meters

innumerous cone-shaped rocks and
weirdly-shaped pillars down below
above tall trees and green fields,
in and over the vast valleys

hear the chirp of birds
look! a fox is running, the pilot says
a toy truck is running along a narrow road
other balloons drifting far and near

misty blue mountains far away
the shadow of our balloon on the ground
suddenly dozens of white worms into view
a soundless dog driving the sheep

floating and drifting
floating and driftiing
feel nature
you are one with nature

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a 50 minute flight, the balloon landed softly on a grassy land. We climbed out of the basket onto the ground. They had prepared a champagne bottle and a table to celebrate a happy landing.
Pop the cork! Cheers and Kanpai!

漫画と小説の書き方 HOW TO WRITE COMICS AND NOVELS

漫画と小説の書き方

最近、漫画界の重鎮、浦沢直樹が描いた「モンスター」（全１５巻）を読み、漫画と小説の書き方の異差について考えた。

１．顔つき・体型
漫画も小説も、登場人物は一人一人が独特の体型的特徴を持っていなくてはならない。小説では体型を「がっしりした」「痩せた」「丸顔」「垂れ目」「禿げ頭」などと表現するが、漫画では体型を言葉で表すのではなく、描かなくてはならない。「モンスター」の登場人物は独特の顔つきや体型をしているので、読者はその人物を見たとたん誰だかわかる。例えば、主人公ドクター天馬を追跡する警部は逆三角形顔で禿げ頭、目が鋭くて、つり上がっている。

２．服装
小説家は登場人物が何を着ているか言葉で説明する。「擦り切れた上着」「黄色い長袖シャツ」「茶色のブーツ」「金色のブレスレット」「白い帽子」等。漫画家は登場人物の身なりについては頭の天辺から爪先まで全てを描かなくてはならない。帽子を例にとれば、材質・形・大きさ・デザインなどだ。小説家は登場人物の身なりを全て事細かく書く必要はない。必要な特徴のみ書けばよい。この点、漫画家の仕事は大変だ。

３．場面描写
小説家は話の場面を言葉で説明する。例えば、「古くて湿った暗い部屋」「半月が雲に隠れた」「木製の玄関が朽ち果てている」など。漫画家は場面を描いて見せなくてはならない。例えば、主人公がある家の前に立っている場面なら、その家、門構え、屋根、屋根瓦、生垣、樹木、草、空など全て場面にふさわしく描かなくてはならない。小説家は場面を全部書き表す必要はない。もし場面を言葉で全部表そうとしたら何ページあっても足らない。

４．心理描写
小説家は登場人物が何を考えているか言葉で読者に伝える。例えば、「次郎は嬉しそうに見えたが、心では悔しくて泣いていた」「貴子は静かに語っていたが、激しい嫉妬でワーと叫びたいほどであった」とか。漫画家は登場人物の心の状態を説明することはできない。できるのは、心理状態に合った顔を描くことである。眉毛の形、目の表情、顔や額の皺の寄り具合、唇の曲がり方などだ。漫画家は、ダヴィンチのように、顔の表情筋を全て熟知していなくてはならない。ここは漫画家の腕の見せ所だ。

５．ページの見え方
小説家がページに関してできることは、論文のようにぎっしり言葉を書きこんで読む気を挫けさせるか、対話や改行を多く使って余白だらけのページにするか、その中間かの何れかである。あまり余白が多いと、ページ稼ぎのためだと思われかねない。また、小説家はひとつの文の文字数を多くしたり、少なくしたりできる。ただし、一文があまり長いと読む気がそがれる。逆に短いと文が軽く感ずる。ディケンズの「ニコラス・ニクルビ」を読んだことがあるが、一文が２０行ぐらい続く文があり、窒息しそうになったことがある。
漫画家はページを自由自在に分割できる。枠の数や大きさは勿論、一ページ全部をショッキングな場面に使って、読者がページをめくった途端びっくりするような仕掛けもできる。また登場人物が枠からはみ出すのも立体的なインパクトがある。アクション漫画で「ギャー」とか「ワーッ」とか擬音を漫画的に描けるが、その量と形も考えなくてはならない。

６．プロット
漫画も小説もプロット（出だし、コンフリクト、クライマックス、結末）は最も大切だ。漫画の場合、プロットが巧くできていれば読者は次の展開を知りたい一心で、少しぐらい登場人物の外見、服装、場面描写が変でも気がつかない。小説の場合は、文字を追っていくのがもどかしいほどのプロットがいい。
プロットは読者の心を引っ張り、動かし、考えさせるものが良い。

Comics and Novels

Recently I read a series of comic books titled Monster written by Naoki Urazawa, a prominent Japanese comic writer. As I was reading them, I realized similarities and differences between comics and novel writing.

1. Appearance
The appearances of the characters must be distinct from each other in both genres. Each character has to have his or her peculiar bodily characteristics. In novels, the writer depicts them by describing their bodily features like: stout, skinny, round faced, big eyed, or bold headed, while in comics the writer does not have to explain their features in words but must draw them. Each character in Monster is so skillfully drawn that the readers can easily identify each character the moment they see them in the page. For example, the police officer who pursues Dr. Tenma, the protagonist, has an inverted triangular face with a bold head and sharp sloe eyes.

2. Clothes
The novel writer describes what the characters are wearing such as a black jacket, yellow long sleeves, dark boots, golden bracelets, or white hats, while the comic writer shows the characters’ wears from top to toe such as the shape, size, and design of a hat. A novelist does not have to show all the details of the clothes. All he has to do is to describe their striking features. In this respect, the comic writers have to pay more attention to the details of the clothing. However, the novelist must choose what to describe and what not to describe. Unnecessary description confuses the reader. The novelist must know that even a slight description of the clothes can play the role of foreshadowing.

3. Background scenery
A novelist depicts the background scenery of the character by writing some of the characteristics like: George was confined in an old dark room, The moon above him began to hide behind the clouds, or The wooden front door was decayed, while the comic writer shows them. Sometimes the comic writer shows the whole background scenery in detail. For example, if the character is standing in front of a house, the comic writer draws the whole house including the windows, walls, roofs, roof tiles, fences, grass, trees, and the sky. The novelist, however, doesn’t have to describe all the details of the background. If the novelist describes them, he has to spend pages and pages. Effective description is expected of a novelist.

4. Psychology
A novelist describes what the character is thinking like: Tom looked happy, but at heart he was crying with vexation; Nancy was talking quietly but she just wanted to scream out of jealousy. The comic writer cannot describe the character’s state of mind. All she can do is to show the character’s psychology by drawing the character’s face paying attention to all the muscles on his face: the shape of eyebrows, lips, eyes, and wrinkles in the forehead. She should draw them so well so that the reader can grasp the character’s psychology at a glance. This requires skillful technique.

5. Appearance of the page
All a novelist can do about the appearance of each page of his book is to fill it with many words or not. Some novelists fill each page with so many words like academic papers that the reader doesn’t feel like reading it. Others leave so much room by writing a lot of dialogue and using many line breaks that each page looks like a blank page with scattered words. The reader of such a scant-word novel might suspect that the novelist is trying to earn the number of pages.
Another thing a novelist can do is choose the number of each sentence. Some writers prefer a long sentence embedded with commas, semicolons, and hyphens. I remember I was suffocated by reading Charles Dicken’s Nicholas Nickleby because there were a lot of sentences, each of which lasted more than 20 lines. The skillful writer knows the right number of words in the right situation.
The comic writer cannot use such a technique. She uses the page effectively. She sometimes draws the whole one page with a shocking scene on a new page aiming at the reader’s surprise as he turns the page. She can also divide the page into any number of frames, some big, some small. Sometimes the character pops out of the frame to give the reader a three dimensional feeling. In this point, comics are more dynamic.

6. Plot
The plot is the most important for both novels and comics: the beginning, conflicts, the climax, and the ending. If the plot is superb, the reader is, without even noticing, involved in the story and turns the pages to satisfy the anxiety to reach the ending as fast as possible. While the reader is turning pages, he pays little attention to the characters’ appearances, surrounding sceneries, or the look of the page. Whether a comic or a novel succeeds or not depends on the plot, I should say.