インドラの網宮沢賢治Part 2 of 3 · JLPT N1
インドラの網 Indora no Ami, part 2: A Glimpse of the Heavenly Realm
In this part
In the cold dawn sky the narrator sees a heavenly being flying swiftly yet without seeming to move, and he believes he has slipped from the human world into heaven. The vision fades, but the scent of quince lingers, and he feels sure heaven lies close beside his senses. Turning back to the plateau, he finds three heavenly children from the murals of the Great Temple of Uten standing by the lake, and greets them; one of them bluntly asks who he is and why he has come.
AI translation · independently checked
その冷たい桔梗色の底光りする空間を一人の天が翔けているのを私は見ました。In that cold, bellflower-blue space glowing from somewhere deep within, I saw a heavenly being in flight.
（とうとうまぎれ込んだ、人の世界のツェラ高原の空間から天の空間へふっとまぎれこんだのだ。）私は胸を躍らせながら斯う思いました。(At last I've strayed in. I've slipped, all of a sudden, out of the space of the Tsera Plateau in the human world and into the space of heaven.) So I thought, my heart leaping.
天人はまっすぐに翔けているのでした。The heavenly being was flying straight ahead.
（一瞬百由旬を飛んでいるぞ。けれども見ろ、少しも動いていない。少しも動かずに移らずに変らずにたしかに一瞬百由旬ずつ翔けている。実にうまい。）私は斯うつぶやくように考えました。(It's covering a hundred yojanas in an instant. And yet look: it isn't moving in the least. Without moving, without shifting, without changing at all, it is surely flying a hundred yojanas with every instant. Truly marvellous.) I thought this as though murmuring to myself.
天人の衣はけむりのようにうすくその瓔珞は昧爽の天盤からかすかな光を受けました。The heavenly being's robe was thin as smoke, and its jewelled necklaces caught a faint light from the celestial vault in the first glimmer of dawn.
（ははあ、ここは空気の稀薄が殆んど真空に均しいのだ。だからあの繊細な衣のひだをちらっと乱す風もない。）私はまた思いました。(Aha. Here the air is so thin it is almost a vacuum. That is why there is not even a breath of wind to stir, for an instant, the folds of that delicate robe.) I thought again.
天人は紺いろの瞳を大きく張ってまたたき一つしませんでした。The heavenly being held its deep-blue eyes wide open and did not blink even once.
その唇は微かに哂いまっすぐにまっすぐに翔けていました。Its lips smiled faintly as it flew straight on, straight on.
けれども少しも動かず移らずまた変りませんでした。Yet it did not move, did not shift, nor change in the least.
（ここではあらゆる望みがみんな浄められている。願いの数はみな寂められている。重力は互に打ち消され冷たいまるめろの匂いが浮動するばかりだ。だからあの天衣の紐も波立たずまた鉛直に垂れないのだ。）(Here every desire has been purified. All the countless wishes have been stilled. Gravity cancels itself out, and only the cold scent of quince drifts about. That is why the cords of that heavenly robe neither ripple nor hang straight down.)
けれどもそのとき空は天河石からあやしい葡萄瑪瑙の板に変りその天人の翔ける姿をもう私は見ませんでした。But at that moment the sky changed from amazonite into a strange slab of grape agate, and I no longer saw the figure of the flying heavenly being.
（やっぱりツェラの高原だ。ほんの一時のまぎれ込みなどは結局あてにならないのだ。）斯う私は自分で自分に誨えるようにしました。(It's the Tsera Plateau after all. A fleeting slip like that can't be relied on in the end.) So I tried to admonish myself.
けれどもどうもおかしいことはあの天盤のつめたいまるめろに似たかおりがまだその辺に漂っているのでした。And yet, strangely, a fragrance like the cold quince of that celestial vault was still drifting about the place.
そして私はまたちらっとさっきのあやしい天の世界の空間を夢のように感じたのです。And once more, fleetingly, I felt as in a dream the space of that strange heavenly world from a moment before.
（こいつはやっぱりおかしいぞ。天の空間は私の感覚のすぐ隣りに居るらしい。みちをあるいて黄金いろの雲母のかけらがだんだんたくさん出て来ればだんだん花崗岩に近づいたなと思うのだ。(This really is odd. The space of heaven seems to lie right beside my senses. When you walk along a path and more and more flakes of golden mica turn up, you think, I must be getting close to granite.
ほんのまぐれあたりでもあんまり度々になるととうとうそれがほんとになる。きっと私はもう一度この高原で天の世界を感ずることができる。Even a lucky fluke, if it happens often enough, finally becomes real. I'm sure I'll be able to sense the heavenly world once more on this plateau.
）私はひとりで斯う思いながらそのまま立っておりました。) Thinking this to myself, I went on standing just where I was.
そして空から瞳を高原に転じました。Then I turned my eyes from the sky to the plateau.
全く砂はもうまっ白に見えていました。The sand already looked utterly white.
湖は緑青よりももっと古びその青さは私の心臓まで冷たくしました。The lake had aged even beyond the colour of verdigris, and its blueness chilled me to the very heart.
ふと私は私の前に三人の天の子供らを見ました。Suddenly I saw three heavenly children in front of me.
それはみな霜を織ったような羅をつけすきとおる沓をはき私の前の水際に立ってしきりに東の空をのぞみ太陽の昇るのを待っているようでした。All of them wore gauze robes that seemed woven of frost and transparent shoes, and they stood at the water's edge before me, gazing intently at the eastern sky as though waiting for the sun to rise.
その東の空はもう白く燃えていました。That eastern sky was already burning white.
私は天の子供らのひだのつけようからそのガンダーラ系統なのを知りました。From the way the folds of their clothes were arranged, I knew they were of the Gandāra style.
またそのたしかに于闐大寺の廃趾から発掘された壁画の中の三人なことを知りました。I knew, too, that they were surely the three children in the murals excavated from the ruins of the Great Temple of Uten.
私はしずかにそっちへ進み愕かさないようにごく声低く挨拶しました。I moved quietly toward them and greeted them in a very low voice, so as not to startle them.
「お早う、于闐大寺の壁画の中の子供さんたち。」"Good morning, children from the murals of the Great Temple of Uten."
三人一緒にこっちを向きました。All three turned toward me at once.
その瓔珞のかがやきと黒い厳めしい瞳。The glitter of their jewelled necklaces, and their stern black eyes.
私は進みながらまた云いました。Still walking forward, I spoke again.
「お早う。于闐大寺の壁画の中の子供さんたち。」"Good morning, children from the murals of the Great Temple of Uten."
「お前は誰だい。」"And who are you?"
右はじの子供がまっすぐに瞬もなく私を見て訊ねました。The child at the far right asked this, looking straight at me without a blink.
「私は于闐大寺を沙の中から掘り出した青木晃というものです。」"I am Aoki Akira, the one who dug the Great Temple of Uten out of the sand."
「何しに来たんだい。」少しの顔色もうごかさずじっと私の瞳を見ながらその子はまたこう云いました。"What've you come here for?" said the child again, not changing expression in the slightest and staring fixedly into my eyes.
Vocabulary
| Word | Meaning | JLPT |
|---|---|---|
| 翔けてかける | to fly, to soardictionary form: 翔けるLiterary verb. The kanji 翔 contains 羽 (wings), and it is often used for flight through the sky. | — |
| 底光りそこびかり | a deep, subdued glow from within底 (bottom, depth) + 光り (light): a light that seems to shine up from the depths. | — |
| まぎれ込んだまぎれこむ | to stray into, to slip in unnoticeddictionary form: まぎれ込むA key word in the story: the narrator 'slips' between the human world and heaven. | — |
| 由旬ゆじゅん | yojana, an ancient Indian unit of distanceA Buddhist measure of roughly 7–15 km. It is kept as 'yojana' because English has no equivalent. | — |
| 瓔珞ようらく | jewelled necklace or ornament (worn by Buddhist deities) | — |
| 昧爽まいそう | the first faint light of dawnRare literary word. 昧 means dark and 爽 means clear, so it describes the moment the dark starts to brighten. | — |
| 稀薄きはく | thinness (of air), rarefactionNow usually written 希薄. | — |
| 浄められてきよめる | to purifydictionary form: 浄めるUsually written 清める. The kanji 浄 has a Buddhist flavour, as in 浄土 (Pure Land). | — |
| まるめろまるめろ | quinceA loanword from Portuguese 'marmelo'. Its cold scent becomes a sign of the heavenly world. | — |
| 漂ってただよう | to drift, to linger (of a scent)dictionary form: 漂う | N1 |
| 雲母うんも | micaA mineral commonly found in granite (花崗岩 かこうがん), which is why the narrator links the two. | — |
| 緑青ろくしょう | verdigris, the green patina on old copper | — |
| 羅うすもの | thin gauze robeAn old word for garments of fine, sheer silk. | — |
| 廃趾はいし | ruins, remains of a buildingNow usually written 廃址. | — |
Grammar
〜ずに N3 without doing ~
ず is the classical negative, and adding に makes it an adverbial phrase equivalent to 〜ないで. Here three of them are chained together to stress that the being does not move, shift or change at all.
少しも動かずに移らずに変らずにたしかに一瞬百由旬ずつ翔けている。
Without moving, without shifting, without changing at all, it is surely flying a hundred yojanas with every instant.
〜ばかりだ N3 nothing but ~, only ~
Placed after a verb in the dictionary form, ばかりだ says that this is the only thing happening. Here only the scent of quince drifts in the still, weightless space.
冷たいまるめろの匂いが浮動するばかりだ。
Only the cold scent of quince drifts about.
〜ないように N4 so as not to ~
A negative verb followed by ように expresses the purpose of the next action. The narrator lowers his voice in order to avoid startling the children.
愕かさないようにごく声低く挨拶しました。
I greeted them in a very low voice, so as not to startle them.
〜のを待っているようでした N4 seemed to be waiting for ~
の turns the clause 太陽の昇る into a noun ('the sun's rising'). The subject is marked with の rather than が inside this kind of modifying clause. ようでした adds the narrator's judgement from appearances: 'it seemed that…'.
太陽の昇るのを待っているようでした。
They seemed to be waiting for the sun to rise.
〜というものです N3 I am one called ~, I am the person who ~
This is a humble, formal way to introduce oneself, with a description followed by a name. The narrator stays polite even though the children speak bluntly.
私は于闐大寺を沙の中から掘り出した青木晃というものです。
I am Aoki Akira, the one who dug the Great Temple of Uten out of the sand.
〜だい N3 casual question ending
だい is attached to questions containing a question word (誰, 何) to make a brusque, familiar question, typically used by men or children. It marks the children's blunt tone, which contrasts with the narrator's politeness.
お前は誰だい。
And who are you?