鮨 Sushi, part 1: A Quiet Sushi Shop Among the Slopes

東京とうきょうの下町したまちと山やまの手ての境さかい目めといったような、ひどく坂さかや崖がけの多おおい街まちがある。In Tōkyō there is a neighbourhood full of slopes and cliffs that lies, as it were, on the boundary between the old downtown and the hilly uptown districts.

表通おもてどおりの繁華はんかから折おれ曲まがって来きたものには、別天地べってんちの感かんじを与あたえる。Anyone who turns off the bustle of the main street and wanders in feels as if they have entered another world.

つまり表通おもてどおりや新しん道路どうろの繁華はんかな刺戟しげきに疲つかれた人々ひとびとが、時々ときどき、刺戟しげきを外はずして気分きぶんを転換てんかんする為ために紛まぎれ込こむようなちょっとした街筋まちすじ――It is, in short, one of those modest little streets where people worn out by the busy stimulation of the main streets and the new roads slip away now and then to escape that stimulation and change their mood—

福ふくずしの店みせのあるところは、この町まちでも一いちばん低ひくまったところで、二に階かい建だての銅どう張ばりの店構みせがまえは、三四年前表さんしねんまえおもてだけを造作ぞうさくしたもので、裏うらの方ほうは崖がけに支ささえられている柱はしらの足あしを根ねつぎして古ふるい住宅じゅうたくのままを使つかっている。Fukuzushi stands at the lowest point in the whole neighbourhood; its two-storey, copper-clad shopfront came from remodelling only the front three or four years ago, while at the back the old house is still used as it was, the feet of its pillars, which are supported by the cliff, having been spliced with new timber.

古ふるくからある普通ふつうの鮨屋すしやだが、商売しょうばい不振ふしんで、先代せんだいの持主もちぬしは看板かんばんごと家作かさくをともよの両親りょうしんに譲ゆずって、店みせもだんだん行いき立たって来きた。It had long been an ordinary sushi shop, but business was poor, and the previous owner handed the building, signboard and all, over to Tomoyo's parents, after which the shop gradually began to prosper.

新あたらしい福ふくずしの主人しゅじんは、もともと東京とうきょうで屈指くっしの鮨すし店てんで腕うでを仕込しこんだ職人しょくにんだけに、周囲しゅういの状況じょうきょうを察さっして、鮨すしの品質ひんしつを上あげて行いくに造作ぞうさもなかった。The new owner of Fukuzushi had originally trained his skills at one of the finest sushi shops in Tōkyō, so it was no trouble at all for him to read the local situation and steadily raise the quality of his sushi.

前まえにはほとんど出でまえだったが、新あたらしい主人しゅじんになってからは、鮨すし盤ばんの前まえや土間どまに腰こしかける客きゃくが多おおくなったので、始はじめは、主人しゅじん夫婦ふうふと女おんなの子このともよ三さん人にんきりの暮くらしであったが、やがて職人しょくにんを入いれ、子供こどもと女中じょちゅうを使つかわないでは間まに合あわなくなった。In the past it had done almost nothing but deliveries, but under the new owner more and more customers sat at the sushi counter or in the earth-floored front room, so although at first the household had been just the three of them—the owner, his wife and their daughter Tomoyo—before long they could not manage without taking on a sushi chef and employing a boy and a maid.

店みせへ来くる客きゃくは十人十じゅうにんといろだが、全体ぜんたいに就ついては共通きょうつうするものがあった。The customers who came to the shop were all different, but there was something they had in common.

後あとからも前まえからもぎりぎりに生活せいかつの現実げんじつに詰つめ寄よられている、その間あいだをぽっと外はずして気分きぶんを転換てんかんしたい。Hard pressed from behind and in front by the realities of life, they wanted to slip away for a moment from between them and change their mood.

一ひとつ一ひとつ我わがままがきいて、ちんまりした贅沢ぜいたくができて、そして、ここへ来きている間あいだは、くだらなくばかになれる。Here each little whim of theirs was indulged, they could enjoy a small, neat luxury, and, while they were here, they could be silly in a trivial, foolish way.

好このみの程度ていどに自分じぶんから裸はだかになれたり、仮装かそうしたり出来できる。They could strip themselves bare of their own accord, or put on a disguise, to whatever degree they liked.

たとえ、そこで、どんな安やすちょくなことをしても云いっても、誰だれも軽蔑けいべつするものがない。Whatever cheap thing they did or said there, no one would look down on them.

お互たがいに現実げんじつから隠かくれんぼうをしているような者もの同志どうしの一種いっしゅの親したしさ、そして、かばい合あうような懇ねんごろな眼まなざしで鮨すしをつまむ手てつきや茶ちゃを呑のむ様子ようすを視合みあったりする。With the particular friendliness of people who are, as it were, all playing hide-and-seek with reality, they would watch one another's way of picking up their sushi and drinking their tea with a kind, almost protective gaze.

かとおもうとまたそれは人間にんげんというより木石ぼくせきの如ごとく、はたの神経しんけいとはまったく無む交渉こうしょうな様子ようすで黙々もくもくといくつかの鮨すしをつまんで、さっさと帰かえって行いく客きゃくもある。Then again, there were also customers who, more like trees or stones than human beings and with no connection whatsoever to the nerves of those around them, would silently eat a few pieces of sushi and briskly leave.

鮨すしというものの生うむ甲斐々々かいがいしいまめやかな雰囲気ふんいき、そこへ人ひとがいくら耽ふけり込こんでも、擾みだれるようなことはない。The brisk, earnest atmosphere that sushi creates is such that however deeply people lose themselves in it, it never becomes disordered.

万事ばんじが手軽てがるくこだわりなく行いき過すぎて仕舞しまう。Everything passes by lightly and without fuss.

福ふくずしへ来くる客きゃくの常連じょうれんは、元もと狩猟しゅりょう銃器じゅうき店てんの主人しゅじん、デパート外客がいきゃく廻まわり係かかり長ちょう、歯科しか医師いし、畳屋たたみやの伜せがれ、電話でんわのブローカー、石膏せっこう模型もけいの技術家ぎじゅつか、児童じどう用品ようひんの売込うりこみ人にん、兎うさぎ肉にく販売はんばいの勧誘かんゆう員いん、証券しょうけん商会しょうかいをやったことのあった隠居いんきょ――このほかにこの町まちの近ちかくの何処どこかに棲すんでいるに違ちがいない劇場げきじょう関係かんけいの芸人げいにんで、劇場げきじょうがひまな時ときは、何なんか内職ないしょくをするらしく、脂あぶらづいたような絹きぬものをぞろりと着きて、青白あおじろい手てで鮨すしを器用きようにつまんで喰たべて行いく男おとこもある。Among the regulars at Fukuzushi were a former owner of a hunting-gun shop, a section chief in charge of visiting customers for a department store, a dentist, the son of a tatami maker, a telephone broker, a plaster-model craftsman, a salesman of children's goods, a canvasser selling rabbit meat, and a retired man who had once run a securities firm—and besides these there was also a man, a performer connected with the theatre who must surely have lived somewhere near the neighbourhood and who seemed to take on some side job when the theatre was quiet, who, dressed loosely in a greasy-looking silk kimono, would deftly pick up and eat his sushi with his pale hands before leaving.

常連じょうれんで、この界隈かいわいに住すんでいる暇ひまのある連中れんちゅうは散髪さんぱつのついでに寄よって行いくし、遠とおくからこの附近ふきんへ用足ようたしのあるものは、その用ようの前後ぜんごに寄よる。Regulars who lived in the area and had time on their hands would drop in on the way to or from a haircut, while those who came from afar on errands in the vicinity stopped by before or after their business.

季節きせつによって違ちがうが、日ひが長ながくなると午後ごごの四時よじ頃ころから灯ひがつく頃ころが一いちばん落合おちあって立たて込こんだ。It varied with the season, but once the days grew longer, the shop was at its most crowded, with everyone gathering together, from about four in the afternoon until the lamps were lit.

めいめい、好このみ好このみの場所ばしょに席せきを取とって、鮨種子すしだねで融通ゆうずうして呉くれるさしみや、酢すのもので酒さけを飲のむものもあるし、すぐ鮨すしに取とりかかるものもある。Each took a seat in the spot they liked best; some drank sake with sashimi or vinegared dishes that the shop kindly made up from its sushi toppings, while others started on sushi straight away.

ともよの父親ちちおやである鮨すし屋やの亭主ていしゅは、ときには仕事場しごとばから土間どまへ降おりて来きて、黒くろみがかった押おし鮨ずしを盛もった皿さらを常連じょうれんのまん中なかのテーブルに置おく。The owner of the sushi shop, Tomoyo's father, would sometimes come down from his workplace onto the earthen floor and set a plate heaped with dark pressed sushi on the table in the middle of the regulars.