御園座社長殿 Dear President of Misonoza Theater

御園座社長殿

以下の文は２０１８年４月１９日の「ＭＡＴの目」のコピーです。趣旨を公開状（Open Letter)として、下記のように英語に直しました。

先日、御園座柿葺落四月大歌舞伎（夜の部）を観てきたが客の入りが少ないのに驚いた。三等席はほぼ満員であったが、二等席の三列か四列が、列ごとずらりと空席であった。旧御園座を解体してから五年間経って、やっと名古屋地域の歌舞伎フアン待望の新御園座がで落成したというのに、この入りである。それも二代目松本白鸚と十代目松本幸四郎の襲名披露公演であるのにである。友達に訊いたら初日からすでに空席が目立っていたという。
これは御園座のチケットが高すぎるからではないかと思う。七月公演の大阪松竹座の同襲名披露は一等席2万円、二等席一万円、三等席六千円であるのに対して、御園座はＳ席二万四千円、Ａ席二万円、Ｂ席一万２千円、Ｃ席八千円である。
空席が目立つまま公演するくらいなら、もっと安くするとか、約千三百円で鑑賞できる幕見席を設けるとかしなければ、この地方の歌舞伎フアンを増やすどころか、この先またもや経営が困難になるのではないかと危惧する。

Open Letter

Dear President of Misonoza Theater,
I am writing this letter because I am a great fan of kabuki and want your Misonoza to prosper and attract more kabuki fans in the Nagoya and Tokai area.

Five years ago, the old theater was demolished to construct a new one. I had been looking forward to the opening of the new Misonoza Theater for these five years.

This April, the new theater was at last completed to the delight of all the kabuki fans in this district. What added to the excitement of the opening was the “shumei” performances commemorating the succession to the names of Matsumoto Hakuho and Matumoto Koshiro (2^nd and 10^th respectively).

I went to the theater on April 15, but was greatly shocked because I saw so many empty seats. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Although the third-class seats were nearly full, almost a dozen rows of the second-class seats, probably one-third, were empty. I wondered why there were so many empty seats despite the occasion of the grand opening of the new theater and the “shumei” performances.

Considering the frugal characteristics of Nagoya citizens, one of the main reasons of the scarce audience is, in my opinion, the expensive tickets. The same “shumei” performances cerebrating the new Matsumoto actors to be held in July in Osaka Shochikuza Theater cost 20,000 yen for the first-class, 10,000 yen for the second-class, and 6,000 yen for the third-class seat, while Misonoza cost 24,000 yen for the special seat, 20,000 yen for the A-class seat, and 12,000 yen for the B-class seat. On average, Misonoza seats are 120 to 200 percent more expensive than those of Shochikuza.

A theater with almost a third of its seats empty will inevitably lead to poor business results. Empty seats earn no money. Even a child knows that the more the seats are occupied, the more you can earn.

Therefore, I would like to ask you sincerely: could you consider reducing the ticket prices and also introducing a “makumi” (standing room) system? Otherwise, the new theater will lose kabuki fans in the area and ultimately face the financial difficulties again. It will surely be a tragedy to see another demolishing.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Sincerely yours,

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Hiroshi Matsuoka

自然の驚異 Wonder of Nature

自然の驚異

 

 

昨年の６月だったか、徳重図書館のプランターに咲いていた菜の花が枯れて七八個の黄色い鞘をつけていた。鞘は極小エンドウというか、エンドウの赤ちゃんのようで、長さ２センチ、幅１ミリぐらい。鞘の中に黒ゴマのような種が３つか４つ入っていた。鞘から一ダースぐらいの種を採って保管しておき、去年の１２月ごろ庭に蒔いた。１０日ぐらいたつと芽が出てきた。あんな小さな種から芽が出てきて驚いた。その後、芽は小さな葉になり、葉が成長して、高さ２０センチぐらいの葉を７、８枚つけた。

その後、葉の数は増え、大きくなっていったが、菜の花らしきつぼみができず、「これは一体菜の花なのか」と疑問に思った。画像ネットで調べると、葉っぱだけの菜の花の写真があり、「食用菜の花」と書いてあった。そうか、食用かと思ったが、徳重の菜の花はちゃんと黄色い花をつけていた。様子を見ていると、２週間後の１月中旬に小さな蕾が葉っぱの中心部にできていた。約一週間後、蕾が開き、小さな黄色い花を幾つか咲かせた。それから花はどんどん大きくなり、立派になり、写真のようになった。

あんな小さなゴマ粒のような種がこのように大きく立派に成長したことに驚き、自然の力の凄さを実感した。

Wonder of Nature

When I went to Tokushige Library last June, I saw several dried-up mustard plants in the plastic flower pots. Each of them bore a few tiny pea pods on the stems. They looked like pea pod babies, about 2 centimeter-long and 1 millimeter wide. Inside them were a few seeds as small as black sesames. I collected the seeds and kept them till last December, when I sowed them in a flower bed in my garden. About 10 days later, I saw tiny green buds. I was moved to see them that had come from such tiny seeds. The buds became larger and larger and grew into large leaves. The mustard plants grew as high as more than 20 centimeters.

Then, the number of leaves increased. Although the leaves became larger and larger, I did not see any sign of flower buds. I wondered. Why didn’t they bear buds? Were they really mustard plants? I consulted Google pictures, and found that they belonged to eatable mustard plants. That’s why they did not bear buds, I thought.

However, I had collected the seeds from normal mustard plants, and not eatable ones, at Tokushige Library flower pots. Two weeks later, in the middle of January, to my surprise, they bore tiny buds surrounded by big leaves. A few weeks later, they bloomed tiny yellow flowers and now, as you see in the picture, they have become gorgeous, giant mustard plants. How brilliant!

Such tiny sesame-like seeds have grown into such giant mustard plants. How great! Isn’t this a wonder of Nature?

 

文芸大賞受賞 Literary Prize

謹　賀　新　年

昨年末、拙稿「暴れ川」が岐阜県文芸祭・小説部門で文芸大賞に選ばれたという通知があった。授賞式は三月、岐阜市で行われる。
今回で文芸大賞の受賞は三回目になる。
１回目２０１５年 大垣市文芸祭「燃える般若心経」
２回目２０１７年　岐阜市文芸祭「思いっきり泣けばいい」
ＭＡＴの目の読者の皆さま、お読みになりたければ、メールをください。ファイルを送ります。

I WISH YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

　Literary Prize

I won the first prize in the Novel Section for the Gifu Prefecture Literary Festival. The title of the novel is "Abare Gawa"  (The Violent River). The award ceremony is to be held in Gifu City in March. So far, I have won two first prizes in literary contests.

Ist time:Ogaki City Literature Festival "A Burning Hannya Shinkyo"
2nd time: Gifu City Literature Festival "Cry as Hard as You Want"

If you are interested in reading the above mentioned novels, please let me know. I will send them to you via e-mail.