【JP/EN】阿部一族 The Abe Clan(6/8) Japanese/English Weekly Bilingual Version by Nikhil /Tomoko (English Version below)初めに日本語版、スクロールダウンして英語版が続きます。Mataitokos' blog (Cousins' Blog) is published every Sunday. Cousins' Blog またいとこのブログ (日曜発信） 第 1 章 2020 疫病の年 12月の放談 Chapter 1: 2020 Year of the Epidemy / December Talk
阿部一族 The Abe Clan (6/8)
by 森鴎外 Ogai MORI(1862－1922)
二キル・ライ/ ブヴィエ・友子による日英抄訳 English excerpted translation by Nikhil Ray/Tomoko
討手として阿部の屋敷の表門に向かうことになった竹内数馬は、武道の誉れある家に生まれたものである。数馬は忠利の児小姓を務めて、島原征伐の時殿様の側にいた。寛永十五年二月二十五日細川の配下のものが城を乗りとろうとした時、数馬は「どうぞ先手へ遣わして下され」と忠利に願った。
忠利が数馬があまりねだるので立腹して、「勝手に失せろ」と叫ぶや否や、数馬は駆け出した。数馬はその時十六歳である。忠利は「怪我をするなよ」と声をかけた。
数馬主従四人は城から打ち出す烈しい鉄砲の中攻め入った。落城の後、忠利は数馬に秘蔵していた脇差を遣り、俸禄を加増した。脇差は、登城の時などに、「数馬あの脇差を貸せ」と言って借りて差したことも度々ある。
数馬の傍輩が「奸物にも取柄がある。おぬしに表門の采配を振らせるとは林殿にしては上出来だ」言ったのを聞いて、数馬は眉間に深い皺を寄せた。
｢そういうことなら、討ち死にするしかないわ｣と数馬は言い放った。この時の様子を聞いた光尚は、使いをやって、｢怪我をしないように、首尾よく役目を果たして参れ｣と言わせた。数馬は｢有難いお言葉を確かに承ったと申し上げてくれ｣と使いに伝えた。
つまり外記は、討ち死させることで数馬に先代の殿様への御恩返しをさせると言ったのだ。数馬はこう思った。自分は殉死する筈であったのに、殉死しなかったから、命がけの場所に遣られるのである。殉死するべき者と殉死をしない者ととの間に、はっきりした境はないではないか。殉死して良いということだったら、自分は誰よりも先にしただろう。それなのに、自分は殉死する筈で、しないでいた人間として極印を打たれたのは、返す返すも口惜しい。それ程の恥を人に与えることは、あの外記でなくではできない。しかし、外記に傷つけられたのは構わない。殿様が下さった｢惜しい命をいたわれ｣という言葉は、殿様が自分を見放したということだ。
数馬は一刻も早く死にたいと思った。犬死でも良いから死にたい。数馬は、苦痛を逃れるために死を急ぐのである。今年二十一歳になる数馬の所へ、去年きたばかりのまだ娘のような女房は、生まれたばかりの女の子を抱いてうろうろするばかりであった。
竹内数馬に小姓がいるように、阿部の屋敷の裏門に向かうことになった高見権右衛門も小姓を連れている。この小姓は、二三年前の夏の日に、非番で昼寝をしていた。
そこへお供先から帰ってきた同僚が、真っ裸になり水を浴びようと井戸の方に行きかけた。ふとこの小姓の寝ているのを見て、｢己がお供から帰ったのに、お前は水も汲んでくれずに寝ているのか｣と言って、枕を蹴った。小姓は、跳ね起きて、「なる程、目が覚めていたらそうもしただろう。だが。枕を蹴るとは」というなり、同僚を大袈裟に切った。
同僚の胸の上に跨って止めを刺してから、小姓は、肌を脱いで切腹しようとしたが、高見権右衛門が忠利にとりなしてくれたことで、切腹を免れた。忠利が「尤もなことだ。切腹には及ばない」と言った時から、小姓は権右衛門に命を捧げて奉公しているのである。(続く）
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13.12.2020 Tomoko's Preface 【Junshi and die in war】
The French government announced on 10 December that from 15 December onwards there will be a curfew after 8pm, although people will be allowed to go out during the day for up to three hours without a certificate. No more than six adults will be recommended to get together, even at Christmas, the biggest day of the year. In our neighbour Switzerland, people say that the third wave of epidemic is coming. How long shall we continue to live in this uncertainty?
Not just Covid 19, there are many untreatable diseases. Covid 19 seems to be a flu-like disease that can be quite easily treated with good early care. There are those who see the spread of Covid 19 as a conspiracy between the big drug companies and the media to monopolise profits.
If experts, such as those who belong to the Science Council of Japan are prevented from speaking freely, then we are simply subjected to the authority who lack of knowledge and sense of compassion. Because we humans are carnivors, once animal epidemics such as foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, bird flu and swine cholera break out, tens of thousands of animals are immediately put to death. These epidemics are caused by poor animal care and are not serious diseases, but when they are sick, is it allowed to slaughter the animals? It is not the killing of animals, but can we abandon the people whose lives were sacrificed in the nuclear accident? The world is full of contradictions.
In "The Abe Clan", the question of junshi is raised. Junshi is a crazy way of dying, where one is willing to give one's life to repay one's master. But this absurdity has much in common with participating in war for one's country. I hope that Japan, as the only country to have experienced the atomic bombing, will never go towards war and that no one will die in vain. (Tomoko)
Takeuchi Kazuma, who was to go to the front gate of Abe's house as a raider, was born into a family with a reputation for martial arts. He served as Tadatoshi's young page and was at his lord's side during the conquest of Shimabara. On the 25th day of the second month of the 15th year of Kan'ei, when Hosokawa's men were about to invade the Shimabara castle, Kazuma implored Tadatoshi to send him to the front.
When Tadatoshi, being upset at his insistence, shouted at him "Go ahead and get out of my way", Kazuma ran off immediately. He was sixteen years old at the time. Tadatoshi called out to him, "Don't hurt yourself.''
Kazuma and three followers attacked in the midst of the fierce guns firing from the Shimabara castle. After the fall of the castle, Tadatoshi gave Kazuma his treasured wakizashi and increased his stipend. On his visits to the castles, he often asked Kazuma to lend him this wakizashi to wear.
When a commrade of Kazuma said to him, "Even a cunning man has his merits. It is well done that the government Inspector-General Hayashi gave you the role of the leader of the front gate,
Kazuma frowned. If it is the case, the only thing to do is to kill myself in battle," he said. When Mitsuhisa heard how Kazuma had behaved, he sent a messenger to tell him, "Do your duty well but do not get injured. In return, Kazuma told the messenger to tell Mitsuhisa that he was grateful for his lord's kind words.
In other words, Geki was saying that Kazuma would repay the debt of gratitude to his late lord by having him killed. Kazuma thought: "I should have commited junshi. I was supposed to die a martyr's death, but I didn't, so now I am sent to a place where my life is at stake. There is no clear line between those who should commit junshi and those who do not. If I had been allowed to commit junshi, I would have done so before anyone else. It is a shame that I have been marked as one who should have commited junshi but who failed to do so. It is only Geki that can inflict this kind of shame on a person. But I don't mind being hurt by Geki. Lord's words in which he said, "Spare your life," meant that he had abandoned me.
Kazuma wanted to die as soon as possible. Even if it meant dying useless death, he wanted to die. He hastened his death to relieve from his suffering. He was only twenty-one years old this year. His wife, who had just joined him the previous year was still like a maiden, she was just loitering around with a newborn baby girl in her arms.
Just as Takeuchi Kazuma had a page, so did Takami Gonemon, the commander to attack the rear gate of Abe's residence. On a summer's day a couple of years ago, the page was off duty and taking a nap.
Meanwhile, his colleague, who had just returned from serving for Lord's outing, was about to go to the well to bathe stark naked. He kicked the page in the pillow and said, "I've just come back from my duty, and you're sleeping without drawing water for me? The page jumped up and as soon as he said, "Well, I would have done so if I had been awake he slashed at his colleague badly.
After straddling his colleague's chest to give him a finishing blow, the page was going to bare his own chest to commit seppuku, but Takami Gon’emon interceded with Tadatoshi and saved him from committing seppuku. From the moment Tadatoshi said, "It's a good thing, but it's no use to commit seppuku", the page gave his life in service to Gon’emon. (to be continued)
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