南島から
From the Southern Islands
2018年2月3日－2月25日
静岡CCCギャラリー
CCC Gallery, Shizuoka
The move - II From the Southern Islands
While in view of a white mountain, the ship proceeded through calm waters and entered a cove on a small island. I couldn't remember how many days I had been on the ship, but it was certain that the wind that was blowing off the surface of the sea was getting warmer. It was so warm that I even missed the snow in my village. The captain said it would take just two more days to reach the harbor on the big island that we were able to see beyond the small island.
As he said, on the second day the ship passed through three islands which looked like they were floating on the sea and entered a harbor. We landed there with the wooden box containing the wooden figures on my back. Guided by an island official, we crossed the gentle hill that I saw from the harbor, climbed the next hill that was beside the walls of a castle, and went down to our destination. It was a field full of pampas grass, and there were only a few huts which had simple pillars. Moreover, they faced north. There were no rice fields to grow rice, and the huts were much humbler than my previous house in the village. Luckily, I was allowed to enter the castle to put on a puppet show. However, that was only for the first few years. In the end, going door to door and entertaining people using wooden figures and chanting a Buddhist sutra became my profession. Then, a hundred years passed like a day.
One day, an elderly man in the neighboring village brought a man who had come from the mainland. People from neighboring villages seldom come to our village. This elderly man only climbed the hill when he had something important to tell us. Standing at the door was a gloomy man with a large blue bruise under his right eye. He asked us questions pryingly, and wrote things
down on a dingy notebook. He asked me to show him to a small structure near my house called a Odo that people worship at, so I guided him there through the thick growth of the Japanese pampas grass. There was a small wooden box inside the structure. I don't know how long it had been there. Then, the man asked me if there was a mask or any wooden figures inside it. When I answered that there were wooden figures, he asked me to show them. I told him that I didn't remember when they were last used, and they are in a state of decay, but he still wanted me to show them, so I took them out of the wooden box. He was happy to make a sketch of such worthless things. The next day he brought me a souvenir, but I turned him away, because I didn't want to talk to him anymore. Ten years then passed like a day.
I was ordered to serve as a soldier. When I came back about four years later, the village was gone. Everything had disappeared because a lot of bombs had been dropped by a big country's air force. I didn't even know where my house or the small structure for worship was. The alley that went down to the village had become a big road, and new houses were being built on both sides of it. There was no field of pampas grass. At the end of the road, there was a fragile cement platform, indicating that it was the house of an old man who had lived two houses away from my house. There was nothing else; everything had disappeared. It was no longer a place where people could live. Then, ten years went by like a day again.
One day another man visited me from the mainland. He said to me that he came to the area to look for his brother, but suddenly he wanted to see the village. Of course, there was no trace left of the village, but he heard that I lived on another island far from the village. He said that he had been trying hard to find me. When I asked him how he was able to find me, he replied that it was because of his job. There are many people who had the name of T on this island, so I thought he
was from this island. However, if he had been born on this island, he would not talk about that village. Unlike that scholar with the blue bruise, Mr T didn't ask me anything. It seemed that he was looking at the wrinkles on my face. When he was leaving, he said to me, "My ancestors came from the same village as your ancestors. It was 500 years ago, but I'm sure you don't know anything about that".
移動－Ⅱ 南島から
白い山を見ながら船は穏やかな海面を進み、小さな島の入り江に入った。もう何日船に乗っていたのかはわからなくなってしまったが、だんだん海面を渡る風がぬるくなり、あの村で降った雪が懐かしく感じるくらいに暖かなところに来たのは確かだった。船頭は、この島の向こうに見える大きな島の港へは、あと二日だという。
彼の話の通り、二日目に船は三つの浮き島をぬけて港に入った。木偶の入った木箱を背負って上陸した。島の役人に連れられ、港から見えていた緩やかな丘を越え、城壁を見ながら次の丘に登り、それを下ったところが目的地だった。そこはススキだらけの原っぱで、いくつかの掘立柱の小屋が建っているだけだった。しかも北向きだ。米ができるような田もないし、小屋はあの村の家よりもずっと粗末なものだった。それでも、城への出入りだけは赦された。しかし、それも最初の数年だけだった。木偶を使った門付けと念仏が生業となった。それから、百年が一日のようにして過ぎていった。
ある日、隣村の長老が、本土から来たという一人の男を連れてきた。隣村の人間が、この村に来ることはない。この長老だけが用事があるときにだけ、丘を登って来た。戸口に立っていたのは、右目の下に大きな蒼い痣のある陰気な感じの男だった。彼は、私たちのことを根掘り葉掘り聴き、薄汚れたノートにペンを走らせていった。お堂を見せろというので、ススキの繁みをくぐって案内した。お堂の中には小さな木箱があった。それがいつからあるのかは知らない。すると男は、中にあるのは仮面か木偶か、と聞く。木偶だと答えると、それを見せてくれ、といった。それがいつ使われたものか記憶にないし、もうボロボロだと答え
たが、それでも見せろというので、木箱からそれを出した。そんなものでも彼は喜んで写生をしていった。次の日も彼は手土産を持って来たが、もう何も話すことはないと追い返した。そして、十年が一日のようにして過ぎていった。
私が兵隊として駆り出され、四年ほどして帰ってくると、村はなくなっていた。大きな国の放った爆弾の雨ですべてが消されてしまった。家もお堂も、どこにあったのかさえ分からなかった。村へ下る小路は、大きな道路になってしまい、その両脇には新しい家が建ち始め、ススキの原はどこにもなかった。道を下りきったところに、川砂利とセメントで固めた脆い基壇があり、それが二軒隣りのオジイの家であったことを示していた。それ以外は何もない、全部消えた。もうここは帰るべきところではなくなっていた。そして、一年が一日のようにして過ぎていった。
本土から、また一人の男が訪ねてきた。自分の兄を探しにきたのだが、急に思い立ってあの村を見たくなった。もちろん村は跡形もなかったが、アンタが村から遠く離れたこの島で生きていることを聞いた。ずいぶん探し回ったよ、といった。なぜオレの居場所がわかったのかと問うと、それが自分の仕事でもあるからだと応えた。Ｔという名はこの島に多いから、てっきり島出身の人間かと思った。しかし島の人間なら、あの村のことを口にすることはない。Ｔは、あの蒼い痣のある学者とはちがって、何も聞かなかった。ただ私の顔に刻まれた深い皺だけを見ているようだった。そして帰りがけに、こういった。オレの先祖はアンタたちの先祖と同じ村の出だ。五百年も前のことだから、そんなことは知らんだろうが。