Part 3 of 3 · JLPT N1
インドラの網 Indora no Ami, part 3: Sunrise and the Net of Indra
In this part
The sun of the heavenly world rises over the lake, and the three heavenly children joyfully show the narrator Indra's shimmering net, the drums of the wind and a vast blue peacock across the sky. These wonders are present yet cannot be seen or heard. Then the children vanish, and the narrator dimly remembers his own body lying pale among the grass and the wind.
AI translation · independently checked
「あなたたちと一緒にお日さまをおがみたいと思ってです。」"It is because I would like to worship the sun together with you."
「そうですか。もうじきです。」三人は向うを向きました。"Is that so? It will be very soon." The three of them turned to face the far side.
瓔珞は黄や橙や緑の針のようなみじかい光を射、羅は虹のようにひるがえりました。Their jeweled necklaces cast short, needle-like rays of yellow, orange and green, and their gauze robes fluttered like rainbows.
そして早くもその燃え立った白金のそら、湖の向うの鶯いろの原のはてから熔けたようなもの、なまめかしいもの、古びた黄金、反射炉の中の朱、一きれの光るものが現われました。And already, from that blazing platinum sky, from the far edge of the warbler-green plain beyond the lake, there appeared something as if molten, something alluring, an ancient gold, the vermilion inside a reverberatory furnace: a single shining sliver.
天の子供らはまっすぐに立ってそっちへ合掌しました。The children of heaven stood up straight and joined their palms in prayer toward it.
それは太陽でした。It was the sun.
厳かにそのあやしい円い熔けたようなからだをゆすり間もなく正しく空に昇った天の世界の太陽でした。It was the sun of the heavenly world, which solemnly swayed its strange, round, seemingly molten body and before long rose properly into the sky.
光は針や束になってそそぎそこらいちめんかちかち鳴りました。The light poured down in needles and in sheaves, and everything all around rang with a clinking sound.
天の子供らは夢中になってはねあがりまっ青な寂静印の湖の岸硅砂の上をかけまわりました。The children of heaven leapt up in rapture and ran about over the silica sand on the shore of the deep blue lake of the Seal of Tranquility.
そしていきなり私にぶっつかりびっくりして飛びのきながら一人が空を指して叫びました。Then one of them suddenly bumped into me, sprang away in surprise, and, pointing at the sky, cried out:
「ごらん、そら、インドラの網を。」"Look, up there, at Indra's net!"
私は空を見ました。I looked at the sky.
いまはすっかり青ぞらに変ったその天頂から四方の青白い天末までいちめんはられたインドラのスペクトル製の網、その繊維は蜘蛛のより細く、その組織は菌糸より緻密に、透明清澄で黄金でまた青く幾億互に交錯し光って顫えて燃えました。Stretched across it everywhere, from the zenith, now turned completely blue, down to the pale horizons on every side, was Indra's net made of spectrum light; its fibers were finer than a spider's, its weave denser than fungal threads, and, transparent and pure, golden and also blue, its hundreds of millions of strands crossed one another, shining, trembling and burning.
「ごらん、そら、風の太鼓。」も一人がぶっつかってあわてて遁げながら斯う云いました。"Look, up there, the drums of the wind!" said another, who had bumped into me and was fleeing in a fluster.
ほんとうに空のところどころマイナスの太陽ともいうように暗く藍や黄金や緑や灰いろに光り空から陥ちこんだようになり誰も敲かないのにちからいっぱい鳴っている、百千のその天の太鼓は鳴っていながらそれで少しも鳴っていなかったのです。It was true: here and there in the sky, like what one might call negative suns, they glowed darkly in indigo, gold, green and grey, as though sunk down into the sky; and though no one was beating them, those hundreds and thousands of heavenly drums were booming with all their might, yet even while booming, they made no sound at all.
私はそれをあんまり永く見て眼も眩くなりよろよろしました。I gazed at them for so long that my eyes grew dazzled and I staggered.
「ごらん、蒼孔雀を。」さっきの右はじの子供が私と行きすぎるときしずかに斯う云いました。"Look at the blue peacock," the child who had been at the right end earlier said quietly as he passed me.
まことに空のインドラの網のむこう、数しらず鳴りわたる天鼓のかなたに空一ぱいの不思議な大きな蒼い孔雀が宝石製の尾ばねをひろげかすかにクウクウ鳴きました。Truly, beyond Indra's net in the sky, beyond the countless resounding heavenly drums, a strange, enormous blue peacock filling the whole sky spread its jeweled tail feathers and faintly cried, "Kuu, kuu."
その孔雀はたしかに空には居りました。That peacock was certainly there in the sky.
けれども少しも見えなかったのです。And yet it could not be seen at all.
たしかに鳴いておりました。It was certainly crying.
けれども少しも聞えなかったのです。And yet it could not be heard at all.
そして私は本統にもうその三人の天の子供らを見ませんでした。And then, truly, I no longer saw those three children of heaven.
却って私は草穂と風の中に白く倒れている私のかたちをぼんやり思い出しました。Instead, I dimly recalled my own form lying pale and fallen amid the grass ears and the wind.
Vocabulary
| Word | Meaning | JLPT |
|---|---|---|
| 瓔珞ようらく | jeweled necklace or ornament (as worn by Buddhist deities)A Buddhist term for strings of jewels that adorn statues and heavenly beings. | — |
| ひるがえりましたひるがえる | to flutter, to wave (in the wind)dictionary form: 翻るOften used of flags, sleeves and robes. | — |
| 合掌がっしょう | joining the palms in prayer合 (join) + 掌 (palm). Also used for the gesture before meals. | — |
| 厳かおごそか | solemn, majesticA na-adjective; here used adverbially as 厳かに. | N1 |
| 夢中むちゅう | absorbed, in rapture, carried away夢中になる = to become completely absorbed in something. | N3 |
| 寂静印じゃくじょういん | the Seal of Tranquility (Buddhist name for nirvana's calm)Buddhist term, one of the 'seals' of the Dharma; here the name given to the still lake. | — |
| 天頂てんちょう | zenith, the highest point of the sky | — |
| 天末てんまつ | the edge of the sky, the horizonLiterary word; 末 means 'end'. | — |
| 緻密ちみつ | fine-grained, dense, minuteAlso used of careful, detailed thinking or plans. | — |
| 交錯こうさく | crossing and intertwining, interlacing (交錯する: to cross and intermingle, to interlace)Written word; used of lines, lights, or feelings mixing together. | — |
| 遁げにげる | to flee, to run awaydictionary form: 遁げるOld spelling; normally written 逃げる today. | N4 |
| 天鼓てんこ | heavenly drumIn Buddhist lore, a drum in heaven that sounds by itself without being struck. | — |
| 却ってかえって | instead, on the contraryMarks an outcome opposite to what might be expected. | N2 |
| 草穂くさぼ | ears or plumes of grass穂 (ほ) becomes ぼ by rendaku. | — |
Grammar
ごらん N4 Look! / Have a look
Look! / Have a look. ごらん is a shortened form of ご覧なさい, a soft, friendly imperative of 見る (ご覧 is the honorific of 見る). It is often used by adults to children or among intimates. The children use it repeatedly to point out each wonder in the sky.
ごらん、そら、インドラの網を。
Look, up there, at Indra's net!
〜のような / 〜のように N4 like ~, as if ~
Nounのような modifies a noun and Nounのように modifies a verb, making a comparison. The passage uses them constantly to describe light and colour through images.
羅は虹のようにひるがえりました。
Their gauze robes fluttered like rainbows.
〜のに N4 even though ~, despite ~
Attached to a plain-form clause, のに expresses a result contrary to expectation. Here the drums boom though no one is striking them.
誰も敲かないのにちからいっぱい鳴っている
booming with all their might though no one is beating them
〜ながら (concessive) N2 while ~, yet ~; although ~
Besides 'while doing', ながら can join two facts that seem contradictory. Here the drums are sounding and yet not sounding at the same time, a paradox central to the scene.
鳴っていながらそれで少しも鳴っていなかったのです。
Yet even while booming, they made no sound at all.
〜のです / 〜のでした N4 explanatory or emphatic ending
The の(ん)です ending presents a statement as an explanation or a striking fact the speaker wants to stress. Paired with けれども, it underlines the paradox that the peacock was there yet invisible.
けれども少しも見えなかったのです。
And yet it could not be seen at all.
あんまり〜て N3 so much / too much ~ that ...
あんまり (colloquial form of あまり) with an affirmative verb means 'excessively', and the て-form clause gives the result. Gazing too long made the narrator dizzy.
私はそれをあんまり永く見て眼も眩くなりよろよろしました。
I gazed at them for so long that my eyes grew dazzled and I staggered.