　・・・私は、きょう、そこを通った。
　電動鋸を駆動する大きな音が響いてい、私は何事であろうと思ったのだ。そして、驚いたことに、あの梅林を根こそぎ切り倒している最中なのだ。樹齢100年とは言わないが、たぶん50年、いや、もっと古いだろう。幹の太さが直径50cmから60cmほどもある。その家の夫人らしい人が何かを胸にかかえ道路際に立ってじっと見つめていた。
　その夫人がこの家に嫁に来たのだったとすれば、結婚前からこの梅林はあったであろう。彼女はこの家で彼女の人生の大半をこの梅林を見て暮らして来たはずだ。
　他人の私には梅林を根こそぎ伐採することになった事情は分からない。ただ幹を切り倒すだけではなく、根株ごと掘りおこしていた。「無惨！」と私は感じたが、それは他人の感情である。何か知らぬが、更地にして再利用する計画なのであろう。・・・私は「花の兄*」の断末魔の叫びを聴く思いがした。
　・・・数時間後、買い物帰りに再びそこを通ると、伐採は続いていた。あの夫人はまだ立ち尽くしていた。

【*註】「花の兄」：日本文化古来の梅の詩的な雅な名称。桜は「花の弟（おとと）」と言う。開花の時季の遅速に由来する。

After lunch, I went shopping for the first time in a
while.

bly from of old under the mountain not far from my
house. Apart from the main building, there is a hut near
the road. It is, I think, stored in agricultural machinery.
And next to the hut is a plum grove. It's not a big plum
grove. There are white flower plum trees. It blooms
earliest in this area in early spring. The roots are all
covered with primroses.
... I passed there today.
The loud noise driving the electric saw was eching,
and I wondered what was going on. And, to my sur-
prise, I was in the process of cutting that plum grove.

no, it may be older. The trunk is about 50 to 60 cm
diameter. A woman who seems to be the wife of the
house was standing by the road and staring at the
cutting work with holding something in her chest.
If the wife had come to this house to marry, this

She must have lived in this house for most of her life
watching this plum grove.
I don't know the circumstances that led to the up-
rooting of the plum grove. Not only was the trunk cut
down, but the entire root was dug up. I felt "miserable!",
But that is the feeling of unrelated people. I don't know
what it is, but it seems that it is a plan to make it a
vacant lot and reuse it. ... I thought I would hear the
death cry of "Flowers' elder brother"*.
A few hours later, when I passed there again on my
way home from shopping, logging continued. That wife
was still standing.

【*Note】The word "Flower's elder brother (In Japanese,
Hana no ani) " means the poetic grace name of plum
flower from Heian era. Cherry flower is "Flower's
younger brother (In Japanese, Hana no ototo )". It
comes from early or late flowering.

Tadami Yamada

お気に入りの記事を「いいね！」で応援しよう