温泉へ行きたしと思えども温泉はあまりに遠し。第一、費用もかなりかかるから、そうたびたびとはゆかぬ。

　だが、手軽に温泉気分に浸れる手がある。銭湯だ。家の中の狭い風呂とは違い、思い切り手足を伸ばせる。近所の人たちとの世間話も楽しい。これからの季節なら、帰りに寄り道をして、ビールに枝豆でもつまめば、ちょっとした極楽である。

　入浴料金も、いちばん高い東京、千葉、神奈川で大人が二百二十円、最低の沖縄が二百円。他の物価に比べれば格段に安い。髪を洗う女性なら、さらに数十円の追加料金がつく所もある。湯の使用量が多い、という理由だが、男性は長髪でも追加料金はとらぬというのがふしぎといえばふしぎだ。

　その銭湯が年々、消えてゆく。一九六四年の二万二千軒を最高に、九〇には一万二千軒を割ってしまった。風呂を備える家やアパートが増えたことも大きいが、何せ朝から夜中までという今どき少ない長時間労働の職場だ。後継ぎの確保が難しい。低料金で、売り上げが少ないという事情も響く。この数年のバブル経済の進行で、地上げ攻勢にさらされたり、確実な収入が見込める貸しビル、賃貸住宅へと転業した例も多い。

　料金を上げたくとも、一日に百人から二百人という客ではたかがしれている。上げれば客は減るだろう。改築しようにも、一軒当たり一億五千万から二億円もかかる費用の手当では、容易ではない。

　銭湯の廃業が増えるのは、地域の人にとっては、かなり切実な問題だ。風呂のないアパートに住む人たちは大都市に集中している。銭湯も休業日が重ならないように、隣接の銭湯と相談して日を決めている。休業日がぶっかると、一日の仕事の汗が流せない人が出てくるからだ。「もう限界だが、これから先は意地ずく」と銭湯の経営社が言う。その意地を、何とか支援する道はないものか。

2021.10.07

　5　HELP PUBLIC BATHS STAY IN PUBLIC

I would fain go to a hot spring, but even the nearest lies many leagues away. Since the journey costs me dearly, to begin with, I seldom go there.

However, there is an inexpensive way to steep in the same mood as in a hot spring: to visit a "sento" (Japanese public bath). Unlike in your cramped bathtub at home, you stretch your arms and legs out to the fullest. You can also enjoy conversation with people from neighborhood. In the upcoming season, making a small detour on the way home from the bath for a bottle of beer and some boiled green soybeans, we could put ourselves in a state of nirvana.

Bathing fees for adults range from ￥320 in the highest areas, Tokyo, Chiba and Kanagawa, to ￥200 in the cheapest area, Okinawa. They are by far the lowest compared to other commodity prices. Some public baths charge an additional ￥20 or ￥30 or so for women who wash their hair. This is claimed to be the extra hot water they use, but somewhat strange is that a man with long hair is not charged extra.

Public baths are disappearing one after another, The year of 1964 saw the greatest number, with 23,000 across the nation; this was halved to under 12,000 by 1990. Part of the reason must be the increasing number of houses and apartments with their own baths, but what makes it difficult to secure prospective successor is anachronistical nature of the job which requires long working hours from morning until late at night. Another factor contributing to the decrease in the number of public baths is the small turnover that comes out of the low fees. Several exposed public baths to the effects of land speculation, and many of them have been replaced with rental buildings and apartments which promise are more dependable income.

It is tempting to rate fees, but at 100 or 200 customers per day, not much can be expected. And a fee raise would probably alienate customers. Remodeling is no easy task considering what would be needed to cover such an expense, which would cost from ￥150 million to ￥200 million a building.

The increasing number of public baths going out of business is a serious blow to people in many neighborhoods. The big cities have concentrations of apartments which are not equipped with baths. The owners of public baths that are located in the same neighborhood try not to have their regular days off coincide with each other so that any worker may have access to a bath to wash off of a day’s labor on any day. "We're stretched to the limit as it is, but we're going to stic to our obstinacy in the future, "one owner says. Surely there must be some way to support such obstinacy.

Copy on 2012.10.07

13　季　語　P.30 （1992.4.15）

　「野に出れば人みなやさし桃の花」高野素十。

　そぞろ歩きの楽しい季節である。百花繚乱。あでやかな花。大きい花に小さな花。堂々たる「君子蘭」の赤。雪か米粒かと見まごう「雪柳」の白。見渡す限り黄一色の「菜の花」。そして路傍を薄紫色に彩る「大根の花」。

　「桃の花」も「梨の花」も、また上に挙げた花のなも、かつこの中はすべて春の季語である。咲きこぼれる花もよいが、咲こうとしている花にもまた趣がある。葉に先がけて、ひらく直前の「花水木」。白く堅い花びらの清潔感。

　「さりげなくリラの花とり髪に挿し」星野立子。北海道の「ライラック」は、まだそこまで咲いてはいまい。花とともに「木（こ）の芽」の美しい時期でもある。柿の新芽の緑は目にしみるようなかがやきだ。「柿若葉」「新緑」というと、しかし、これらは夏の季語だ。

　数多くの季語を集めた事典、歳時記を評して「日本人の感覚のインデックス（索引）」だといった人がいる。うまい表現だ。この国の自然や生活の中で、長い年月の間に定着した、人々の季節感や美意識を盛った言葉を取り上げて並べてある。

　黒田杏子（ももこ）著『今日からはじめる俳句』の中に、なるほどと思わされる提案が書いてあった。季語を一つ一つ書き取って覚える。次に、毎日出合った季語を片端から帳面に書きつける。なづけて季語日記。

　さしずめ、近ごろなら「花冷え」「麗か」「長閑（のどか）」「風光る」「都忘れ」「小粉団（こでまり）の花」「忘れ霜」などが並ぶかも知れない。地域によっては「茶摘み」もあろう。「草餅」も忘れるわけにはゆくまい。「草餅の濃きも淡きも母つくる」山口青邨。

　植物や動物のほか、時候、天文、地理、生活、行事と季語は広い範囲に及ぶ。私たちが自然界や人間の営みを的確に認識し、感じとるには、季語を正確に知り、それらを窓口にするのがいい。

2021.09.28記す。

　31　'KIGO' CAPTURES JAANESE SENSIBILITIES

When you go around in the field/Everyone you meet seems kindly/Now is the time of peach flowers.(Suju Takano)

You find your strolls to be the most enjoyable at this time of the year. All kinds of flowers are in bloom. Some flowers are glorious, while some others are pretty. The red flowers of "kunshiran" (Kaffirlily) are magnificent. The white flowers of "yukiyanagi" (spirea, Spiraea thunbergii) make you wonder if they are snow or rice grains. Rape blossoms stretch away in yellow belts. Pale purple radish flowers grace the roadside.

Peach flowers, pear flowers, and all the flowers mentioned above make up "kigo"(season words)for spring.(Haiku rules for the use of at least one "kigo" in each poem.)

Blooming flowers are nice to look at, but flowers about to bloom are also nice, as exemplified by dog-wood-flowers striking cleanliness.

Casually, hiding my intention/I plucked a lilac flower/And put it in my hair.(Tatsuko Hoshino)

Lilacs in Hokkaido probably have to reach the point where you can pick them.

The sight of budding tree leaves is also glorious now. The verdure of buds on persimmon trees is so radiant that your eyes smart. But "kaki wakaba"(budding persimmon leaves)and "shinryoku"(fresh verdure)are "kigo" for summer.

A large number of season words are collected in the haiku lexicon(saijiki) together with examples of how they are used. Someone has aptly described the lexicon as "an index of the sensibilities of the Japanese." The listed words and phrases convey the senses of the seasons and of beauty about nature and life that the Japanese have come to share over the years.

Momoko Kuroda gives sensible advice for haiku beginners in her book "Haiku Composition From Today." One of her suggestions is for the beginners to write a "kigo" diary. They first are to write down season words one by one from the haiku lexicon, committing them to memory. They then are to do the same with the season words and phrases they come across every day.

Appropriate entries in such a diary now may include "hanabie" (cold weather at the time of blooming flowers), "uraraka"(glorious), "nodoka"(peaceful),"kaze hikaru"("wind with a glow"), "miyako wasure"(a grass whose little flowers supposedly make on forget the capital),"kodemari no hana"(flowers of Spiraera cantoniensis), and "wasure jimo"(unseasonally late frost). The beginner in some areas may add "chatumi"(tea picking). Not to be forgotten is “kusamochi”(rice-flour dumpling mixed with mugwort).

Some "kusamochi" pieces in the dish/Are greener than others/But my mother made all of them.(Seison Yamaguchi)

In addition to plants and animals, the "kigo" words and phrases cover extensive fields, including weather, astronomy, geography, life and events. To understand the precise meanings of these words and phrases and to use them as the guide is the best way for us to have a correct perception and recognition of the activities of nature and man.

Copy on 2012.10.6

23　お　か　ゆ　P.54 （1992.4.26）

　おかゆ、と聞くと何を連想するだろう。病気で寝込んだ時のことだろうか。初めはおもゆ、次に三分がゆ、それが何日か続くと五分がゆ、そしてやがて固かゆが許される。回復に向かううれしさを思い出す人もいる。

　といっても、連想は地域によって違うはずだ。例えば関西の人にとっては、おかゆは関東でよりも日常的な食べ物だろう。食習慣が違うからだが、これを、ご飯をいつ炊くかの違いで説明することがある。いわく、関東では朝、炊く。そして朝と昼はそのまま食べ、夜もそのまま茶漬けで食べた。

　関西では昼に炊く。昼と夜はそのまま食べ、翌朝、残ったものをおかゆにする……。こいう風習が長い間続いたというのである。かつてはそうだったかも知れぬが、いま、例えば関東でご飯を朝炊く家庭はどのくらいあるのだろう。関西で、朝がゆの習慣はどれほど守られているのだろう。　

　おかゆにしても、いもがゆ、茶がゆと各地にいろいろな味がある。日本を離れ、広州、北京、台北などで肉や魚など様々な具を入れて食べる朝がゆも、なかなかうまい。韓国では酒をのむ前に進められて少量のおかゆを食べたことがある。日本では、しかし、おかゆは本来、日常食というよより特別の日のためのものだったらしい。　

　年中行事、人生儀礼の折りの食べ物だ。七草がゆ、小正月のあずきがゆ……。いまだに残っている。新潟県には、新築の祝いの時に振る舞う家移（やうつ）りがゆの習俗もあるそうだ。最近、どうしたことか、おかゆの売れ行きが極めてよいのだそうだ。話題になっている。　

　缶詰など即席食品としてのおかゆの生産量は、この五年間で十ばい以上。東京の街では、昼飯時に、おかゆの移動販売車に人々が群がっている。この現象、健康志向なのか。毎日を特別の感慨で迎えようとの、日常からの脱出願望か。病気や疲れなどの表われでなければよいが。

2021.10.04記す。

　23.　GIVING 'KAYU' MORE CREDIT ?

What do most people associate with the word "o-kayu" (rice gruel)? The word may bring back memories of times when you were sick in bed. At first, kayu is served very runny, then the portion of rice is gradually increased. Finally, a sick person is allowed to eat solid rice, porridge. The taste of kayu reminds some people of the joy of recovering from an illness.

But kayu is associate with different things of Japan in different regions of Japan. For example, they say kayu is more commonly eaten in the Kansai area in western Japan, than it is in the Kanto area in eastern Japan. This is a matter of dietary customs, but some explain that the reason is the result of a difference in when rice is cooked. In the Kanto area, people generally cook rice in the morning. They eat the rice for breakfast and lunch; in the evening, the rice is eaten in the same fasion or served with hot water or green tea poured over it.

In the Kansai area, rice is usually cooked at lunch. A portion is eaten then and at dinner; the next morning, hot water is stirred into the leftover rice for kayu. Both customs are said to have been practised. That used to be the case, but now many households in the Kanto area cook rice in the morning? I wonder to watch extream in the Kansai area the custom of eating kayu in the morning has been presaerved.

The type of kayu differs from one place to another as can be seen in "imo(sweet potato)-gayu" and "cha(tea)-gayu." Outside Japan, it is appealing to our tongues to have some breakfast kayu mixed with various ingredients such as meat and fish in such places as Beijing and Guangzhou in China and in Taipei in Taiwan. In Korea I was once offered a small portion of kayu before drinking. In Japan, it is said that kayu has been more of a food for particular days than for eating every day.

It has been a food for annual festivals and ceremonial occasions marking turning points in life. Nanakusa-gayu is rice gruel containing the seven spring herbs. Azuki-gayu made of sweet beans is eaten around mid-January to celebrate the new year. These traditious are still alive. In Niigata Prefecture, they eat a special kayu when they celebrate moving into newly-built houses. For some reason, kayu has reportedly been selling very well recently. The popurality of kayu is the talk of the town.

Production of canned and other forms of instant kayu has gone up more than tenfold in the last five years. Customers crowd around as vans sell kayu in the streets of Tokyo at lunch. Is this a result of the health-conscious boom, or an attempt to get out of the daily routine by injecting a deep emotion into everyday life? I hope the trend is not a symptom of malaise and fatigue.

Copy on 2012.10.4

46　西　瓜　

　　　'92　夏の号　P.114 （1992.5.25）

　西瓜を、今年初めて食べた。ひと汗流した後すすめられた。ひと切れの西瓜で汗がひく。夏が来る、というという気分。上品ぶってはいられず、車座でかぶりつくところがいい。「西瓜赤いき三角童女の胸隠る」野澤節子。

　夏の味の代表格である。果実が大きいせいか、いつも、何人かの人々と一緒に食べた。という記憶が伴う食べ物だ。食べ物が乏しかった時代、重い、立派な西瓜を真中に置く。包丁を入れる前から期待で歓声がわいた。「両断の西瓜たふるゝ東西に」日野草城。

　ずいぶん昔からある作物らしいが、日本での歴史はそう古くない。アフリカ南部のカラハリ砂漠に生まれ、エジプトでは四千年も前に栽培していたことが絵に残されているという。ギリシャに三千年前、ローマには紀元初期にはいる。

　中国には、中東からシルクロードを経て十二世紀に西域に達した。西瓜と呼ばれるゆえんだろう。遅れて日本にも来たが、あまり普及しなかった。明治初期になり、米国経由で優良品種がはいり、栽培されるようになる。

　日本では、富山県の黒部西瓜などを除けば球形がほとんどだが、米国には長円形の西瓜が多い。半分に切り、中をくりぬいて鉢の形にし、細かく切った実をほかの果物とまぜ、フル―ツカクテルにして食べることがある。

　「水中に水より冷えし瓜つかむ」（上田五千石）。甘さと歯触りが身上だが、冷たさも大切な要素だ。深い井戸や清流に入れて冷やしておくなど、最近ではかなわぬぜいたくだろう。栄養の面でもなかなかの食品だそうだ。

　これからの季節、盛夏炎天のもとで汗をとめ、のどの渇きをいやすには西瓜が一番。家族の人数が少なくなったためか、近頃「小玉」と称する小さな西瓜が目につく。だが、西瓜は、大きいのを、やや騒々しく食べる時が最も楽しい気がする・「西瓜切る→家に水気と色あふれる」西東三鬼。

2021.10.04記す。

　46.　WATERMELON SEASON

I have just eaten my first watermelon of this year. It was offered to me after I had worked up a good sweat. That slice of watermelon brought my sweat to a quick halt. Watermelon puts me in the mood that summer is coming. I don't like to waste time acting in an elegant manner while eating watermelon. What I like is biting into a slice on the spot. "The young girl's breath is hidden/ behind the red triangular pyramid of the watermelon"(Setsuko Nozawa).

Watermelon has a typical summer flavor. Perhaps because it is big, in my memory, I associated it with being eaten together with several other people.

When food was in short supply, We would place in the center of the circle. Our voices became louder in anticipation of the feast long before the first cut was made. "As the watermelons is cut/the two halves collapse/ eaten to west"(Sojo Hino).

It is said that watermelon is one of the crops of the ancients, but its history in Japan is rather short. According to a pictorial record, the watermelon originated in the Kalahari Desert in the southern part of Africa and was already being cultivated in Egypt as long as 4.,000 years ago. It had spread to Greece by 3,000 years ago, and to Rome at the beginning of the Christian era.

It traveled the Silk Road from the Middle East and reached Hsiyu in the 12th century. This is probably the reason a combination of two Chinese characters meaning "western arc" is attached to the name of the fruit. Watermelon was introduced into Japan late, but it did not spread widely. It was not until a watermelon of superior quality came to Japan from the United States that the fruit began to be cultivated.

Nearly all the varieties of watermelon in Japan are spherical in shape, except for the Kurobe watermelon and a few others of Toyama Prefecture, but most American watermelon are elongated in shape. Americans often cut their watermelons in half, scope out the center to create a bowl out of the rind and mix the diced center with slices of other fruit to make fruit cocktail.

"Under the water/ I hold a melon/ cooler than the water"(Gosengoku Ueda). The quality of a watermelon is revealed by its sweetness and feel in the mouth, but coolness is no less a sine qua non. The old ways of cooling the melon in the water of seep well or in a stream probably sound like untold luxuries to the people of this generation. Watermelons are also said to be quite nutritious.

The watermelon is unmatched for stopping for the sweat of the coming hot season and soothing the dryness of the throat. A small species called "Kodama" (small ball) hss caught our eyes in recent years, perhaps because of the shrinking size of the family. Still, I feel the watermelon is best enjoyed in large, noisy slice. "When the watermelon is cut/the house fills/with its scent and color"(Sanki Saito).

Copy on 2012.10.5

63　ひめゆりたちの祈り　P.154 （1992.6.13）

　女優の香川京子さんが本を書いた。初めての経験だそうだ。『ひめゆりたちの祈り――沖縄のメッセ―ジ』という。

　だれにも、その後の人生に大きな意味を持つことになる大切な体験というものがある。香川さんは四十年ほど前に映画「ひめゆりの塔」に出演した。女学生の役だった。映画の舞台は、戦争末期に近い沖縄だ。

　米軍による艦砲射撃。空襲。陸軍病院の看護活動に、女学生が動員される。沖縄師範学校女子部と沖縄県立第一高女の生徒たちで「ひめゆり学徒隊」と呼ばれた。

　血、うみ、汚物にまみれた病院壕の中での看護作業、死体処理……。米軍が上陸し、日本軍と学生隊は命からがら移動する。さまよいながらの負傷兵の手当て、実際の出来事の大筋を映画化したものだ。

　この国内唯一の地上戦で、沖縄の人々は米軍の攻撃に苦しんだだけでなく日本軍にもひどい目に遭わされる。むろん、中には立派な人もいた。香川さんは生き残った女学生たちと「同窓生」的なつき合いを始め、様々な沖縄戦の実相を聞くことになる。

　いま「証言委員」に二十七人が、ひめゆりの平和記念資料館で人々に当時の様子を説明している。戦争の恐ろしさ、愚かさを、戦争を知らぬ世代に伝える語り部だ。

　生き残った人が、死んだ仲間に「申し訳ない」と感じている。生きたかった仲間の無念さを伝える義務を感じている。それに香川さんは打たれる。

　「人間が人間でなくなる」戦争のこわさ。香川さんは話を聞き、さらに細かく調べてゆく。人々に尊敬されていた上原貴美子さんという婦長の最後の様子について、アルゼンチンに戦後移住した人をついに尋ねあて、聞き出した経過も記されている。

　現代史について、知識もなく、実感もない、という人が増えつつある。戦争のむごさ、平和の貴さを語りつがずにはいられぬ、と思い定めた気迫が感じられる本だ。

2021.10.08記す。

　63 THE MESSAGE OF OKINAWA

Actress Kyoko Kagawa has written her first book. The book is titled "The Prayers of Himeyuri Girls――The Message of Okinawa."

Everyone goes through an experience that takes on a crucial meaning later in life. In Kagawa's case, it was her appearance in the movie "Himeyuri no To"(The Star Lily Monument) about 40 years ago. The movie was set in Okinawa in the last days of World War Ⅱ. She played the role of a female student.

As American naval guns and air raids were pounding Okinawa, female students were mobilized for nursing activities at a Japanese army hospital. Drawn from the Women's Department of Okinawa Normal School and No.1 Okinawa Prefectural Girls' High School, they were called "Himeyuri Student Corps."

What awaited them was terrible. They attended on wounded soldiers in trenches smeared all over with blood, pus and filth. Additionally, the task of disposing of corpses fell on them.

The landing of U.S. forces sent Japanese defenders and the "himyuri nurses" fleeing, abandoning their trenches. The girls tended the wounded as the troops, taking them along, moved here and there aimlessly in search of shelter

The movie represented what actually occurred.

Okinawa was the only theater of ground war in Japan during World War Ⅱ. Local people not only suffered from American attacks but were also mistreated by the Japanese forces. There were, of course, good soldiers. Through her movie appearance, Kagawa formed "alumnalike" ties with survivors of the student corps and heard their accounts of the realities of war.

Twenty-seven survivors are giving testimony on the battle of Okinawa to visitors to the Himeyuri Peace Memorial Archives. They are playing the role to convey the horrors and follies of war to the generations that have not experienced war.

The actress was impressed with a sense of guilt felt by the survivors toward the deceased colleagues of the corps, leading them to think they have the obligation to let the later generations know how much they wanted to live.

Kagawa says in her book that what is horrible about war is that it dehumanizes people. Proceeding from accounts given by survivors, she checked into further details. She searched out a survivors who emigrated to Argentina after World War Ⅱ to get an account of how Kimiko Uehara, a respected chief nurse, had died. The book explains how she got to the emigrant.

The kind of people who know nothing about the contemporary history of Japan and have no real sense of what took place in those years is increasing, Kagawa's book imparts a resolve to let such people know of the cruelties of war and realize the preciousness of peace.

Copy on 2021 10.8