藤沢周平『時雨のあと』+α　ダイジェスト（英語対訳）８　　　　　　　　Fujisawa Shuhei's "After the Drizzling Rain" + α 　A Digest (English Translation)８

『時雨のあと』８　「鱗雲」

　父と妹を相次いで亡くした小関新三郎は　藩境の笠取峠で倒れていた一人の女雪江を介抱し、母が待つ自宅へ連れ帰り、自宅に連れて帰ってきた所から始まります。雪江は二年前に病死した妹と似ていて、母とも心が通った。死んだ妹に生き写しで　母親理久も喜ぶが、仇討ちのため江戸から隣藩に向かう途中だったことが分る。新三郎には父親同士が約束した婚約者、屋代利穂がいたが、いつからか藩内の大きな勢力争いに巻き込まれてゆき、利穂は自害してしまう。
　ひと月近くも一緒にいた雪江が去ると、母の理久は急に寡黙になった。小さな畑だが母は一人黙って畑の世話をしている。新三郎もこの頃、非番の日は母を手伝うようにしていた。
　……雪江も死んだかもしれない。と新三郎は思った。馴れない畑仕事に疲れて、腰を伸ばすと、裏口の木戸を押して外に出た。出たところに真直ぐな道が遠くまで伸びている。
 
「晴れた空の半ばを埋めて鱗雲がひろがっている。空気は冷えびえとした秋だった。・・・・・」「遠ざかる人影とは逆に　こちらへ近づいてくる者がいた。・・・。「人影が駆けるように、こちらに向かって来るほとんど駆けるように近づいてくる。女だった。雪江だ。・・・・。母上、あなたの娘が一人、帰ってきたようです。」

　ラストシーンで、駆けてくる女を遠くに見た新三郎が、婚約者と雪江がいなくなったあと寡黙になった母にかけた「あなたの娘が一人、帰ってきたようです」という言葉は、鱗雲が広がる冷えた秋空に似ず、とても暖かい。

Fujisawa Shuhei's "After the Drizzling Rain" + α 　A Digest (English Translation)
“After the Drizzling Rain” 8　 " Scaly Clouds "
 

　　　After losing his father and sister one after the other, Koseki Shinzaburo takes care of a woman named Yukie who collapses at Kasatori Pass on the border of the domains and brings her home to where his mother is waiting for him. Yukie resembles his sister who died of an illness two years ago, and he and his mother have a heartfelt connection. Yukie is the spitting image of his dead sister, and his mother Riku is happy, but it turns out that he was on his way from Edo to the neighboring domain to avenge her. Shinzaburo had a fiancee, Yashiro Riho, who was promised to him by their fathers, but at some point, he became embroiled in a major power struggle within the domain, and Riho committed suicide.
 
　　　After Yukie, who had been with him for nearly a month, left, his mother Riku suddenly became silent. It was a small field, but his mother was silently tending to it alone. Shinzaburo also helped his mother on his days off around this time.
 
　　　...Yukie might have died, too. Shinzaburo thought. Tired from the unfamiliar work in the fields, he stretched his back and pushed the wooden door open to go outside. Outside, he saw a straight road stretching into the distance.
 
　　　"Scaly clouds filled half of the clear sky. The air was chilly with autumn..."　"In contrast to the receding figures, someone was approaching us..."The figure came running, almost running towards us. It was a woman. It was Yukie...Mother, it seems one of your daughters has returned."
 
　　　In the last scene, Shinzaburo sees a woman running towards him in the distance, and after his fiancee and Yukie have left, he says to his mother, who has become silent, "It seems one of your daughters has returned," and these words are very warm, unlike the chilly autumn sky covered with scaly clouds.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　（To be continued）