平成二十六年三月三十一日 －－ 月曜日
A. Students write two sentences about where they went and what they did はりやすみ に
Handouts:
１．Waka by Dogen:
Mid-spring, in the mountains
Dogen Zenji’s waka poem about Mid-Spring in the mountains
あづさ弓
春の山風
吹ぬらん
峯にも谷も
花匂ひけり
Azusayumi / haru no yamakaze / fukinuran / mine nimo tani mo / hana nioi keri
Azusayumi / haru no yamakaze / fukinuran / mine nimo tani mo / hana nioi keri
Spring wind has begun to blow in the mountains.
Both on the peaks and in the valleys,
[The colors of] various flowers are shining.
Both on the peaks and in the valleys,
[The colors of] various flowers are shining.
Azusayumi
literally means a catalpa bow, but in this case, this word is used as a
pillow-word (makura-kotoba, the
conventional epithet used in Japanese poetry) of Spring. Steven Heine
translates “Nioi (niou)” as
fragrance.¹ “Nioi” in modern Japanese
is smell or fragrance, but this word is originally about color. It can be
translated as shining, luminous, or bright. If Dogen is walking in the mountain
peaks and valleys, “the fragrance of the flowers is circulating” throughout the
peaks and valleys’ makes more sense. If Dogen is looking at the scenery from a
distance, “the colors of the flowers are shining” makes sense.
In
a previous month, I introduced Dogen’s poem about the scenery of transition
from winter to spring. A tiny bird is singing in the snow. This poem expresses
the beauty of mid-spring with innumerable flowers all over.
¹ The
Zen Poetry of Dogen, Dharma Communications, 1997, p.119
２．
Atsusa samusa mo
Higan made – Japanese saying
Atsusa samusa mo
Higan made – Japanese saying
Old
Japanese people say, "atsusa samusa
mo higan made". You may be surprised to discover how true this saying
is. After Shunbun no Hi (21st March),
suddenly the wind...
Everywhere in Japan ,
maybe not in Hokkaido
This is exactly what ancient Japanese people said, "Atsusa samusa mo Higan made (暑さ寒さも彼岸まで)" means that hot and cold only last until Higan. There are two Higan in a year, in spring and in autumn and it’s
a week period of time. Shunbun no Hi and Shuubun no Hi (秋分の日, 23rd of September) are right in the
middle of Higan. And it’s true: as soon as Higan ends in spring, the air gets warmer and after autumn Higan, cold and dry winds start to blow.
My old fashioned father would say to me
every year [when I was] moaning over weather that was too hot or too cold,
"Atsusa samusa mo Higan made". I would laugh about it then every year
[because] it surprised me, how accurate it was.
...I recall Higan as a
visit to the cemetery. My father took me
every year and showed me how to clean our ancestors’ tomb. We get a bucket of water from the main part of
the temple and went down the hill to where our tomb was. Then we got rid of weeds, and cleaned the tombstone,
which in our case was a wooden pole. Finally we set out the flowers and the sweets
we had bought on the way. My father told
me that our ancestors would eat the sweets but I always thought the monks would
take them at the end of the day…
While all our neighbors´ tomb markers
were made of stone, ours was made of wood. I don’t know how long it had been like that, but,
having been washed so much, our tomb marker was only a half left. The other half had decayed away. It looked quite spooky for a child and I always
thought the ancestors’ ghosts would come out of the broken tomb.
It’s been a long time since I visited
our cemetery. I wonder how much of the
tomb is left by now. I should ask my mother about it.
B. On board: Transformations of Adjectives けいようし
けいようし めいし ふくし
Adjective. Noun Adverb
あつい あつさ あつく
Hot Heat Hotly
さむい さむさ さむく
Cold Coldness Coldly
高い 高さ
Tall Height
ながい ながさ
Long Length
C. Kinship terms
D. In text, pages 308-309 -- Japanese phone calls
宿題 Homework
Be prepared to model phone calls according to text guidelines
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