藤沢周平『用心棒日月抄』ダイジェスト、英語対訳 ３
藤沢周平『用心棒日月抄』ダイジェスト、英語対訳 ３
３ あらすじ
３－１ 用心棒日月抄（1978年）
『小説新潮』1976年9月号から1978年6月号に掲載。1978年新潮社刊。1984年新潮文庫。
東北の小藩の馬廻り役の青江又八郎は、家老大富丹後の一派が藩主毒殺計画を遂行中との密談を、偶然に耳にしてしまう。許婚の父親に相談したが、その父親は大富一派に与しており、青江に斬りかかってきたため、青江は返り討ちにしてしまった。青江はやむを得ず脱藩し江戸に向かう。江戸では浪人として、人足仕事や用心棒などで糧をえる青江であったが、同時に大富一派からの追っ手に立ち向かうことになる。
青江は、最終話で家老一派と対立する間宮派の要請によって帰藩し、大富丹後を上意討ちにする。許婚と結婚し平和な日々が続くかと思われたのだが、実は帰参の旅の途中に出会った大富静馬（家老大富丹後の甥）と女刺客・佐知の登場が次作への伏線になっている。
本作品は元禄年間の生類憐れみの令や赤穂浪士を背景に用い、赤穂浪士の吉良邸討ち入りを外部から描く趣向を持っている。
「用心棒日月抄」の主人公青江又八郎の姿はこんなふうに描く。「長身で、彫りが深い男くさい顔」であり、「痩（や）せて見えるが、肩幅は十分に広く、精悍（せいかん）な身体（からだ）つきをしている」と客観的に概括したあと、「人を斬（き）って国元を出奔し、世を忍んできた月日が、26歳の風貌に若干の苦味」を添えていると主観を加え、印象的にしている。この人物に「まつわりついている一種憂鬱（ゆううつ）げなかげりに気をひかれ」、女たちが振り返るのだという。
Fujisawa Shuhei "Yojimbo Nichigetsusho（A Daily/ Monthly Record of A Bodyguard）” A Digest, Japanese-English translation ３
3 Synopsis 3-1 "Yojimbo Nichigetsusho（A Daily/ Monthly Record of A Bodyguard）”(1978)
Published in September 1976 to June 1978 issues of "Novel Shincho". Published by Shinchosha in 1978. 1984 Shincho Bunko.
Matahachiro Aoe, a horseman for a small domain in the Tohoku region, accidentally overhears a secret conversation that a group of chief retainer Tango Otomi is carrying out a plan to poison the domain lord. He consulted with the father of his fiancée, but the father was in favor of the Otomi group attacking Aoe, causing Aoe to return the favor. Aoe had no choice but to leave the domain and head to Edo. In Edo, Aoe earns his living as a ronin by doing manual labor and bodyguards, but at the same time, he confronts pursuers from the Otomi domain.
In the final episode, Aoe returns to the domain at the request of the Mamiya faction, which is opposed to the chief retainer faction, and avenges Tango Otomi. It was thought that peaceful days would continue after getting married, but in fact, the appearance of Shizuma Otomi (nephew of Tango Otomi, chief retainer) and Sachi, a female assassin, who met on the way home, became a foreshadowing for the next work.
This work has the idea of depicting the Ako Roshi's raid (lordless samurai of Ako domain) on the Kira residence from the outside, using the Shorui Awaremi no Rei (the law to protect animals) and the Ako Roshi in the background.
This is how Matahachiro Aoe, the main character of "Yojimbo Nichigetsusho （A Daily / Monthly Record of A Bodyguard）”, is depicted. He is "tall, with a deeply chiseled, masculine face," and is objectively generalized as "looking thin, but with sufficiently wide shoulders and a virile body." After that, he adds subjectively that ``the time spent killing people and running away from the country and hiding in the world adds a bit of bitterness to the appearance of a 26-year-old'', making it impressive. It is said that the women look back at this person, "attracted by the kind of melancholy shadow that surrounds him." （To be continued）