■(18-2)英語訳論文『霧に対する感性の考察』（２）
Next, let's look at a verse by Yosa Buson (1716-1783), 72 years after Basho.
朝霧や杭打つ音丁々たり 蕪村
In the morning mist
the sound of hammering stakes echoes
Buson
This verse doesn't need any interpretation, but I'll explain the scene a little more. In other words, in the early morning fog, the sound of driving in stakes can be heard from somewhere. Perhaps it's for preparations for winter. A new day's life has already begun, cutting boldly through the bleak, smoky morning landscape.
This is my interpretation of this poem, but it's not far off the mark. If that's the case, it makes sense why Yosa Buson's poems are described as emotional and romantic. And isn't this romanticism due to the graceful leap of image between each word? I feel that Yosa Buson's poems are more masculine than Basho's.
However, this is a departure from the discussion of "fog," so I will leave it aside for the moment.
Now let's look at two poems about "fog" that were included in "Ki-yose (季寄せ)," a collection of seasonal words compiled by Takahama Kyoshi in 1940.
噴火口近くて霧が霧雨が 左右
Near the crater
there is mist and drizzle
Sayu
野菊より霧たちのぼる屋島かな 壽子
Mist rises from the wild chrysanthemums
Oh! it's Yashima
Hisako
I don't know why Kyoshi included these two poems. I don't think they are particularly good, but they are quite amateurish, and conversely, they may be seen as a common sensibility of modern Japanese people about "fog (mist)." In other words, "fog" is seen as nothing but fog. There is not only the sentiment of the Kokin Wakashu, but also the humor of Teimon Haikai and the acuity of Buson.
Now, I have examined "fog" in waka and haiku, somewhat roughly.
Returning to the first modern popular songs and chants I only touched it a little, it may be said that the sentiment of popular songs about fog is connected to the Kokin Wakashu. The Chant is a little drier, more stoic than the popular songs, and I feel that it has inherited the haiku style from Teimon Haikai to Basho and Buson. There is no symbolism attached to the "fog," and it seems to express the emotion of the natural phenomenon surprisingly frankly.
可愛いあの娘が 夜霧のなかへ 投げた涙のリラの花
何にも言わぬが 笑ってみせる ああこれが男と云うものさ
「夜霧のブルース」より、島田磬也作詞 1947年
The cute girl threw the tearful lilacs into the night fog
I smile without saying a word. Ah, this is what it means to be a man
From "Night Fog Blues" Lyrics by Shimada Keiya, 1947
さ霧消ゆる湊江の 舟に白し朝の霜
ただ水鳥の声はして いまだ覚めず岸の家
「冬景色」より、文部省唱歌 1913年
The river mouth where the mist has disappeared
The morning frost is white on the boats
Only the cries of waterfowl can be heard
and the house on the shore is still awake
From "Winter Scenes" Ministry of Education song, 1913
So, is this sensibility towards "fog" common to Westerners as well?
Popular songs that were hits in Japan include "San Francisco in the Fog" and "London Bridge in the Fog."
"San Francisco in the Fog" is also known as "Memories of San Francisco," but its original title is "I Left My Heart In San Francisco," with lyrics by Douglas Cross and music by George Corley. It was sung by opera singer Claramé Turner in 1954 and by Tony Bennett in 1962, and became a big hit.
The original title of "London Bridge in the Fog" is "On London Bridge." With lyrics by Syd Tepper, music by Roy Bennett and sung by Jo Stafford, it was a big hit in 1956.
As the original titles indicate, the word "fog" does not appear anywhere in these two songs. If you look at the lyrics, "San Francisco in the Fog" does indeed say, "Though the morning fog chills the air." However, there is not as much romantic attachment to "fog" as the titles given in Japan.
As for "London Bridge in the Fog," there is no image of "fog" anywhere in the lyrics, which begin with "I walked on London Bridge last night." In other words, the title is based on the image that Japanese people have of London Bridge.
So I looked through the original texts of poems by great British poets that I had on hand. Of course, I didn't look for complete works by those poets, but I tried to find poems that contain the words "fog," "mist," and "haze." By the way, of these three words, "fog" is apparently the thickest fog, with visibility of less than 1km. Next is "mist." "Haze" is when visibility is slightly blurred.
Thinking myself a bit curious, I started by looking through all 154 of Shakespeare's sonnets. It didn't come up anywhere. Nothing in the poetry of John Keats. No Joachim du Berry. No Remy Bellow. No William Blake. There was no Wilfred Owen either. I also looked through a collection of nursery rhymes, but there was nothing.
This is a surprising result for a Japanese person who has an image of "foggy London" or "English fog."
So I looked through the first and fourth books of "Leaves of Grass" by the American Walt Whitman, but not surprisingly, "fog" does not appear there. Then, wondering if it might be there, I opened Edgar Allan Poe's long narrative poem "The Raven," but it was not there. That is "Nothing more!"
English poetry frequently uses the stars, moon, and sun, and words such as morning dew, dewy grass, spring shower, the breeze, driving rain, chill blustering rain, rebounding hail, and tempest as metaphors for transience. But for some reason, I couldn't find "fog."
I went back to English poetry and flipped through Robert Browning's collection of poems. And there I found it!
In the first and second lines of the poem entitled "Prospice."
Fear death? ---to feel the fog in my throat,
The mist in my face,
I also found the following lines in the first and third stanzas of T.S. Eliot's poem "Marina."
The woodthrust singing through the fog
A breath of pine, and the woodsong fog
Although there are too few examples to show, perhaps this shows the difference between Japanese and Western sensibilities regarding "fog." At the very least, it can be said that Westerners do not have the strong emotional attachment to fog that allows them to have romantic feelings like the Japanese do. This may be clearly shown in the difference between the titles given by Japanese people, such as "San Francisco in the Fog" and "London Bridge in the Fog," and the original titles.
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