第23回 英訳「時に海を見よ」
“To the seniors of Rikkyô Niiza High School, whose graduation was canceled (a message from your principal)” (Extracts)
At this cheerful time of looking to the future, I would like to leave you all with a few words.
Two weeks ago, this message, under the title of “At Times, Look Upon the Sea” was printed for distribution in our school bulletin. At the time, the sea that appeared to my mind was a pure blue expanse of ocean. Now, however, the sea that appears before my eyes is the raging sea of the tsunami, a dark current that has taken many human lives; a sea of rancor and hate upon which our resentment exhausts itself without satisfaction. So I hesitated. What I am about to say may be thought too rosy, a romantic fabrication removed from reality. However, in the face of the tragic reality that is unfolding before us, still I feel compelled to leave you with the following words.
Most of you will be continuing on to college. What does it mean to study at college; what will it mean for all of you to have gained that time to spend in higher education? How does going to college differ from pursuing another path?
At the risk of being misunderstood, let me speak metaphorically.
Perhaps one goes to college to gain the freedom to “look upon the sea.”
Put another way, I believe it is to gain the freedom to pause. One could also call it the freedom to fix your gaze upon reality.
The time of youth that we call “college” is a brilliant moment in which your time is yours to manage. This is true even in the face of a cruel reality. The sound of the waves may not be a melody of gentle ripples; it may be the sound of leaden, raging swells.
At times, directly fix your eyes upon your solitude. Stand alone before the ocean, and ask as you face the sea: what are my dreams? To be young is to face directly your solitude; to have the freedom to do so with a direct gaze. You must take the richness of college and turn it into a time in which to be free. Manage your time with dynamism, and make it your own. Do not lose yourself to the flow of college life and while your time away.
No matter what hardship you encounter, there is no path but to look directly at yourself.
No matter how far we sink into the depths of sadness, we have no choice but to look directly upon that sadness.
Set your eyes upon the sea. Set out on the ocean. Set out even amid the frenzy of the storm.
Live with utter honesty. Become an excessively earnest man; become a single-minded man. Do not fear poverty. Young men, it is time to set sail. Do not wallow in memory; look to the future. The countdown to your departure has begun. Do not forget this time of your graduation, this time of a disaster that, however we may try, cannot be forgotten.
Now, with a black ribbon of mourning upon your chest, it is time for you to raise a pure white sail. Change from someone who is loved to become someone who loves. There is nothing passive in love.
Many regions on the islands of Japan are still facing scenes of a devastation heretofore unknown. With these scenes of devastation before me, I reflect: What does it mean to coexist with nature? What is the progress of civilization? With the events at the nuclear power plant, I reflect keenly on the meaning of scientific progress. I ask myself what actions I took when voices were first raised over the dangers of nuclear power, and feelings of regret well up in me. Relief is coming from many countries all over the world. What does it mean to be a citizen of the world, to live together on this earth? I reflect on all these things.
A mother stands motionless, holding her baby, saved from a sea of mud. On television we see a young girl crying out, calling for her missing mother. We see a father, telling of how he struggled to stay alive for the sake of his family. What are the bonds between parent and child? We must look directly and ask: what is life?
Here and now, let us together reflect deeply on the weight of being able to graduate from high school. Let us raise our voices for our friends in the areas affected by the disaster, for those who, facing down life itself, must call forth the limits of their strength in order to live. Let us tell them that we are here together, together with them.
Young men of Rikkyô, you who are about to leave your nest and fly. Be the vanguard of Japan’s revival.
以上は、5年前、コロンビア大学のシラネ教授のお世話になった私のメッセージの翻訳です。当時大学院だったトム君の世話になったと聞いています。アメリカの知人から「時に海を見よ」の英文訳がないかと問い合わせがあり、又台湾の輔仁大学での講演予定の参考資料にもしたので、未発表の英文訳を紹介することにしました。
又、この英文訳を作るきかっけになったのは、共同通信社から、2011年6月4日、TheJapanTimesなどの海外メディアなどに配信されたことがきっかけでした。それも併せて記しておきます。
FEATURE: Message from principal inspires students, quake survivors
By Asako Takaguchi
TOKYO, June 4 Kyodo – A message from the principal of a high school in the Tokyo suburbs, urging graduating students to appreciate their lives and help Japan recover from the March 11 catastrophes, has inspired readers around the country, including disaster survivors, after spreading via the Internet.
The message by Kenji Watanabe, head of the private Rikkyo Niiza Junior and Senior High School in Niiza, Saitama Prefecture, received considerable publicity after it was posted on the school’s website and spread widely via social-networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. His strong, positive words and compassion for others seem to have won support from readers.
”The time of youth called ‘college’ is a brilliant moment…Ask (yourself), ‘What are my dreams?”’ Watanabe’s message read, but added that the point of going to college is ”the freedom to stop and look directly at reality.”
Watanabe, who took up his post at the all-boys school in August last year, tells the students how wonderful and beautiful life is. But he also calls on them to realize how privileged most of them are to be going on automatically to St. Paul’s University attached to the high school.
The message was written as a speech for the commencement ceremony that had been scheduled for March 14. It was posted on the school website later in the month after the event was cancelled because of post-quake rolling blackouts triggered by the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
”I wanted to tell my students to have a full appreciation for life as they walk out of the school into a bright and promising future, but wanted them to remember well that they are graduating at the time of a disaster” when many people are still suffering, he said. ”That is why I repeatedly told them to do some soul-searching during their college life and look reality in the face.”
Watanabe, a 66-year-old scholar in Japanese literature and professor emeritus of St. Paul’s University in Tokyo, wrote his speech in an exhortatory style. His at times old-fashioned, poetic idiom appears to have captured the imagination of many readers.
Watanabe used words such as ”ocean” and ”storm” as symbols of the difficulties the Japanese people now face, and those the students may face in the course of their soul-searching, in an apparent reference to the tsunami that ravaged a wide area of northeastern Japan.
He urged the students not to ”forget this time of graduation, which came at the time of disasters,” and to struggle against obstacles or sadness they may encounter, no matter how great these may be.
He encouraged them to keep asking themselves about the meaning of life and think about living together with others, because ”that is the only way to overcome hardship.”
Watanabe called on each student to transform himself ”from a person who is loved, to one who loves others” and he urged them to have courage ”to set sail even if it is a stormy sea” to become ”the leaders for reconstructing Japan.”
”Let us voice our support for friends in the areas affected by the disaster…Let them know that we are with them.”
Watanabe said he first hesitated to publish the message as he was worried that his words might sound unsympathetic to survivors.
He thought that no matter how hard people outside the devastated areas tried, they would never be able to fully understand how deep the sorrow could be. ”Sometimes, words are useless,” he said.
Contrary to his fears, Watanabe’s message attracted many readers, including alumni of the school and their family members, as well as general readers including survivors of the disasters, who wrote complimentary messages on the Internet or sent e-mails to Watanabe, saying they were touched and encouraged by the message.
Yusuke Tanaka, a graduate of the high school, said ”In the message, I liked the part where he calls on us to become the leaders of Japan’s reconstruction.” ”These words really inspired me as I have stepped into a new world at the university.”
A female graduate of St. Paul’s University, whose house in Sendai in the northeastern Japan prefecture of Miyagi was destroyed on March 11, sent an e-mail to Watanabe, saying ”After reading the message, I was able to sort out my feelings.”
”His words were deeply implanted in my heart. Now I’m thinking what I can do for others, everyday,” said Hajime Akiyama, who also graduated from the boys’ school in March.
The impact of the message has prompted a Japanese publisher Futabasha Publishing Co. to compile a book of the message and other of Watanabe’s writings addressed to young people living in a post ”3/11” world. It goes on sale on June 15.==Kyodo
10日に毎日新聞のコラム「憂楽帖」に立教時代のゼミ生が私のことを紹介してくれました。
http://mainichi.jp/yurakucho/
2016年3月14日 渡辺憲司 （自由学園最高学部長）
