テネシー・ウイリアムズTennessee Williams

　朝日文化センターの講座「短編を読む・書く」を１５年間以上受講しているが、講座では日本のみならす英米の短編も教材となる（勿論翻訳だが）。翻訳が教材になった場合、私はできる限り原文と併せて読んできた。お蔭で英語の勉強になっている。
次回（７月９日）の講座ではテネシー・ウイリアムズTennessee Williamsの「あるマドンナの肖像」Portrait of a Madonnnaと「ロング・グッドバイ」The Long Good-byeを読むことになっている。早速、原文を入手して読み始めた。
テネシー・ウリリアムズといえば、映画「欲望と言う名の電車」A Streetcar Named Desireや「熱いトタン屋根の猫」Cat on a Hot Tin Roofで有名な作家だ。早速、両方の映画のビデオを見た。
両方とも展開が激しく、食い入るようにして、呼吸もできないぐらい緊張して見た。葛藤がドラマでドラマが葛藤だと思うが、この両作品は人間の葛藤のすざましさを描いている。「欲望と言う名の電車」のブランチBlanche とスタンリーStanleyのいがみ合い。「暑いトタン屋根の猫」のマギー（Maggie）とブリック（Brick）の壊れかかった夫婦関係。特にビビアン・リー　Vivien Leighが演ずるブランチの狂気がかったロマンチストは真に迫るものがあった。
人間の心の奥の奥まで入り込んで苦悩を描ききっている作家の筆力には感服した。

Tennessee Williams

　　I have been attending an Asahi Culture Center class, “Tanpen o kaku, yomu” (Reading and writing of short stories) for nearly 20 years. The teacher usually gives the students stories written by Japanese writers, but sometimes gives foreign stories translated into Japanese. In such cases, I have read both the original stores (mostly written in English) and the translated ones.
　　The class is going to read the translations of “Portrait of a Madonna” and "The Long Good-bye” written by Tennessee Williams on July 9. I went to a library and began to read the original stories.
Tennessee Williams is a famous writer, who wrote “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” both of which were made into movies. So, I saw them.
　　The plots of both of the movies were superb. I felt so excited and tense that I was not able to breathe normally. My eyes were nailed in the screens. A drama is a conflict and vice versa. Both movies depict the deep conflict: the conflict between Maggie and Brick in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and the near-collapse conflict between Blanche and Stanley in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” The romantic and almost-mad Blanch starring Vivien Leigh was realistic and touching.
　　I was amazed at the writer’s excellent description of the agony that lies deep in human nature.

優秀賞受賞 WINNING A PRIZE

優秀賞受賞

実践ビジネス英語４月号「ライターズ・ワークショップ」和文英訳課題で優秀賞を獲得した。以下は問題文と私の試訳

WINNING A PRIZE
   I won a prize in the Japanese-English translation contest given by "the NHK Business Communication In Action." The following is my translation of the Japanese passage above:

　　In 1912, Vesto Slipher, an American astronomer, discovered that the galaxies he observed were receding from the earth. In those days　people did not fully understand the implications of the discovery. In later years, however, it was revealed that galaxies were moving away from the earth in all directions. Moreover, it was observed that the farther galaxies were, the faster they were traveling away from the earth. What this implies is clear. The universe is expanding. Georges-Henri Lemaître, a Belgian astronomer, proposed the expansion theory in 1927. Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer, put forward the same theory in 1929.　
　　In the 1977 American film “Annie Hall” directed by Woody Allen, the protagonist, a boy named Alvy Singer, has apparently learned about Hubble’s theory from a book. Losing all interest in life, he says in despair something like this:
　　“The universe is expanding. Everything is expanding. Someday it will break apart and that would be the end of everything! What’s the point of doing homework?”
　　His mother screams at him in utmost irritation.
“What has the universe got to do with it? You’re here in Brooklyn! Brooklyn is not expanding!”
　　“Mom doesn’t get it,” he looks as if he were saying to himself, but he does not say a word.
 

快慶展 EXHIBITION OF KAIKEI STATURES

快慶展

 

 重源上人坐像

 

 ６月１日、奈良国立博物館で開催されている「快慶展」を見てきた。「阿吽」という短編小説をさらに推敲するためである。特に印象に残ったのは：

１．重源上人坐像
昨年、東大寺俊乗坊を訪ねたが、中に安置されている重源上人坐像は見ることができなかった。今回、目の前でみることができた。８５歳で没する直前に運慶によって彫られたものと思われる。窪んだ眼窩、猫背の背中、右目が左目よりやや大きい。

２．「運慶願経」
運慶が書写した法華経の巻物が展示してあった。「阿吽」ではこの巻物に触れていないので、もう一度運慶と法華経の関係、さらに快慶などの結縁についても調べ直さなければならない。

３．地蔵菩薩立像
御顔を見ていると心が落ち着く。快慶は四天王や南大門阿吽像の荒々しい像も安らぎを与える仏像も実に巧みに彫っている。９月開催の「運慶展」で運慶の彫刻と比べてみたい。

もう一度「阿吽」は大々的にやり直さなくてはならないと思った。

　　地蔵菩薩立像
 

　EXHIBITION OF KAIKEI STATUES

　　I went to Nara to see Kaikei Exhibition held at the Nara National Museum on June 1, because I wanted to improve my short story, which depicts how Unkei and Kaikei, two 13th century Buddhist statue sculptors, carved Guardians of Buddha in Todaiji Temple. More than 80 items including statues and scrolls were exhibited. Here are some of the most impressive ones:

 

1. Seated Statue of Priest Chogen

　　I visited Shunjyo-bo Temple, where the Chogen statue was preserved, but since it was closed, I failed to see the statue. This time I saw it before my nose. The statue is said to have been carved by Unkei immediately before Chogen's death at the age of 85. Look at his sunken eye-sockets and round shoulders. His right eye is slightly larger than the left one.

2. Unkei Gankyo
　　“Unkei Gangyo” are the eight volumes of Hokke-kyo Sutra transcribed under the direction of Unkei. I did not refer to the sutra in my short story. So, I will have to study about how Unkei devoted to Buddhism and how other Buddhist sculptors including Kaikei were connected with the sutra.

3. Standing Statue of Jizo Bosatsu Buddhist
　　Just looking at this statue comforts you. Besides carving soothing statues, Kaikei carved outraged statues such as a Shiten-no Guardian and Nio-Guardian in Todaiji Temple.

　　I would like to go to Tokyo to see Unkei Exhibition to be held in Tokyo this Septmeber. 

 

前立腺癌 PROSTATE CANCER

　前立腺癌の検査入院をした。結果は癌ではなかった。良かった。癌であったら一体どういう気持ちになるのだろう。
　４０歳ぐらいの時、ある胃腸科の医者が私のバリューム検査の結果を見て「癌かもしれない」と言ったことがあった。病院を出て、足が地面にきちんとつかないで、ふわふわ歩き、いつも見ている景色がまるで違ったように見えた。別の病院で精密検査をしてもらったら、癌ではなかった。「ほんとですか。癌ではないのですか」と何度も確認した覚えがある。
　元同僚の先生や短編講座の同人が前立腺癌にかかっているが、特にこれと言った治療はしていないのに、元気だ。年を取ると癌の進行が遅くなるらしい。
７４歳になるが、今更じたばたしてもしょうがないのかもしれない。

無量壽寺のかきつばた IRISES VIEWING AT MURYOJYU TEMPLE

無量壽寺のかきつばた

 

女房と知立市にある無量壽寺に行って、かきつばたを見てきた。満開だとラジオで聞いて出かけたのだが、満開は満開でもかきつばたの数が少なく、寺の４つの池の内、三つではまばらにしか咲いていなかった。一つの池だけ密集して咲いていており、紫色の花が鮮やかでしばし見とれた。来て良かったと思った。
かきつばたを世話している人に聞くと、１０年前の極暑でやられて以来、本数が減ってしまい、毎年新しいかきつばたを植えているのだがうまく花を咲かせてくれない。また寒さにも弱く、寒暖に敏感で、今のような有様になったという事であった。女房は３０年ぐらい前に来たことがあって、ぎっしり群生して美しかったそうだ。かきつばたを見に来た人たちも残念がっていた。

IRISES VIEWING AT MURYOJI TEMPLE

I went to Muryojyu Temple in Chiryu to see Irises with my wife today. Yesterday’s radio news had said that the irises were in full bloom. It was right; they were in full bloom all right, but the number of the Irises was so small that I was disappointed. I had expected to see thickly growing Irises. Out of the four Iris ponds surrounding the temple, only one had Irises growing clustered. The purple flowers were so vivid that I looked at them for a long time. I felt it was worth visiting the temple.
According to one of the caretakers of the flowers, the extraordinary summer heat ten years ago damaged most of the Irises. Since then they have been planting young Irises, but they do not grow well. On top of it, Irises are weak against the cold. They are sensitive to the climate.
My wife had visited the temple about 30 years before, and the Irises then were growing densely and beautifully.
The other visitors looked disappointed, too.

石田師範ご逝去 JODO MASTER ISHIDA PASSED AWAY

　石田師範ご逝去

 

 最近こんなショックを受けたことがない。古武道杖道の石田師範が亡くなられた。享年６８であった。
　私は４８歳から師範の下で今日７４歳まで杖道を稽古してきた。最近は御病気（がん）のため、道場には御姿を現されなかったが、稽古をするたびに杖の持ち方、腰の使い方などいろいろ質問が出て、病院に行って質問しようと思っていた矢先であった。
　この２６年間、私は何を習っていたのだろう。もっとしっかり稽古をして、もっとしっかり訊くべきことを訊いておくべきであった。返す返すも残念でならない。
　石田先生のご冥福を祈るばかりだ。

MASTER ISHIDA PASSED AWAY

I have never been as shocked as this. Master Ishida of the Japanese martial arts of Jo passed away at the age of 68.

I started to learn Jo from him at the age of 48. I am 74 years old. So, I have been practicing Jo for 26 years. During the past few years he rarely came to the practice hall because he was suffering from prostate cancer. The more I practiced Jo, the more questions I had. Actually speaking, just a few days ago, I was thinking of visiting his hospital and ask him such basic questions like how to hold the jo stick; how to move your hips; and how to bend your legs.

   I do not know what I have been learning. I should have learned much more from him. I should have asked many more questions of him, but no more. I am sorry about that.

   May Master Ishida rest in peace.

備えあれば憂いなし BE PREPARED AND HAVE NO REGRET

Be Prepared and Have No Regrets

　　I was walking along a freezing cold road at about one o’clock in February. I was heading for a convenience store to buy A4 size paper.
　　About 15 minutes before that, I had been printing my short story. I had to print more than 250 pages, but unfortunately the paper had run out after about 50 pages. I had to hand in my printed short story at 10 o’clock the next morning.
　　I wore my overcoat and went out of my house in the snow. After a 15 minute walk, I reached the convenience store. Luckily they sold a pack of A4 size paper, but it contained only 100 sheets. I asked the shop owner to sell the paper in the copying machine installed in the shop, but he refused. So I had to walk to another convenience store 20 minutes away. It was around 1:30 at night. I walked step by step holding my umbrella tightly.
　　Consequently, I bought two packs of A4 paper and came back home about two o’clock in the morning. Then I began to print my short story. It took another hour to print all the pages.
　　I learned the real meaning of “Be prepared and have no regrets.”