大野次征
英語史研究会に足を運ぶこともなくなったが、時たまの会報が楽しみだ。
現職を離れて6年。時の過ぎ去ることを矢の飛ぶ事に譬えることしきりと納得。Beowulf を読み返し、ドイツ語聖書の味読、そして最近ハーデイの Wessex Tales に続き Tess of D’Urbervilles
を読みハーデイの月並みならぬ表現力にあらためて感動している。英語をやっておりながら、しかし、常にこの様な受動的な生き方に終わるのも悪くはないのだ
が、唯一積極的な足跡は地元で行っている『英会話サロン』。始めて6年になる。幽明境を異にされた会員が出るのも高齢化のせいでいたしかたない(自分もそ
ろそろ)。先日のトピックは A Story of Jaga-tani Park--How It Came to Be Called So
だ。一寸 Beowluf 風に仕立ててみた。会員それぞれの身近な場所の話を聞くのも面白い。以下は筆者のもの。暗記して発表する。無料でするのは生まれ育ててくれたせめてもの地域への恩返し(か自己満足か)。
August 9, 2014 A Story of Jaga-tani Park--Why It Came to be Called So 126th
Jaga-tani Park is a favorite spot which people, from far and near,
often visit to spend time enjoying watching seasonal flowers and
blossoms, especially cherry blossoms in spring.
Ordinary people don’t think about the history of the park. Even when some people think about it, Jaga-tani,
literally “snake valley or vale”, they may suppose that there in the
park snakes hide in the grass or under the trees. Still-more, they may
wonder whether or not there are poisonous snakes called mamushi.
However, the name of this park comes from a dragon, which was here thousands of years ago, almost in the same ages when Yamata-no-orochi was in Izumo.
This is the story of this dragon named Shodai-orochi. Even now in a
part of the valley between the top of the hill where roller-coasters
start and the tennis court is a cave covered with grass and ferns. If
you are a careful observer, you’ll notice a barely seen part of the cave
on the cliff. By wiggling into the cave, you’ll find its inside rather
large.
Now the dragon, Shodai-orochi, guarded a great
amount of treasure such as gold helmets and suits of armors; silver
chopsticks, sake cups and jade chairs; diamond swords and spears. Thus Shodai-orochi guarded these jewel objects worth billions in current yen.
One day a young poor man came into the cave by accident where he found
those piles of treasure in the deep part of the cave, but there
happened to be no dragon present then. The dragon was out flying in the
air for some reason. Now this young honest man took one piece of gold
out of the pile and ran away. He had a sick wife in bed at home. He
wanted to help his wife. With that treasure he visited a famous great
doctor and asked him to heal his wife’s chronic disease, tuberculosis of
the lungs.
Lo and behold! That noted doctor, or so-called God
Hand cured his wife’s lung disease, not for money but for his devotion
to his wife.
Now Shodai-orochi found one of his treasure
missing when it returned to its lair and got greatly angry, hissing and
fussing, showing its seven-forked, red tongues. However, soon it knew
the theft was not due to a mere greediness, but due to a selfless act
for a man’s critically ill wife. So the he-dragon was happy. However,
whenever ill-purposed robbers stole its treasure, he went out of the
cave at night and flew up in the air and finding the robbers’ homes,
threw fire flames onto their houses and burned them down to ashes.
People around the dragon valley feared it, and they never stole its
treasure, but prayed for some of it before the cave when they were in
terrible economic conditions. Then the dragon came out and smiled at
honest petitioners with its seven-forked red tongues showing, but
destroyed by fire dishonest evil people.
Thus for millenniums after
that, people have been helped by the dragon. People have been saved
from poverty, from famine, earthquakes, diseases and other kinds of
problems. Presently you’ll find a small shrine on the left side of the
path 30 meters from Jaga-tani Park entrance. In the shrine that
dragon-god is worshiped. So don’t forget to pray to the shrine when you
go enjoying watching cherry-blossoms. Then you and your treasures at
home will be guarded by the dragon.