１１月１７日（月曜日）２０２５
　先日、母校の彦根東高校の同窓会を多賀大社参集殿で開催しました。卒業して５５年経った私たち。受付に現れる面々は皆それなりに歳を重ね様々な人生を歩いてきた者ばかり。懐かしい再会を喜びあいました。

　最初は全員多賀大社拝殿にてご祈祷を受け、参集殿での開宴はカワラケ（さかづき）で乾杯と、神社ならではの同窓会に驚いた人がいたかもしれません。在校中は話したこともなかった人（特に男性）が殆どでしたが、初めて幹事を引き受けてメールや電話で交信するうちに何とも言えぬ親しみが湧いてきたのは嬉しかったです。

　宴のハイライトは１１月２２日から三日間のクラウンライブのために滋賀に来てくれたロネとジージの東高同窓会のためのスペシャルショー。熟年を超えて高年になった我ら参加者の心をワシヅカミにして大いに会場を沸かせてくれました。

We had a High School reunion at Taga Taisha. It has been 55 yrs since we graduated. Every alumnus who came to the reception desk, grew old and had lived different lives. We rejoiced to see each other at the nostalgic reunion.

Since it was held at the shrine, we first received a prayer at the front hall of worship and moved to the reception hall. After the short speech of our former teacher who is 84 years old but very healthy, Mr.H.K who came from the farthest area, Ibaraki prefecture, toasted with a sake cup. I organized this reunion for the first time and in fact, I had never met or spoken to most of the members, especially those who were male, but I was happy and had a friendly feeling while contacting them by email or phone as needed.

I inserted the entertainment in the reunion party, and it was a special show by Clowns Rone and Gigi for our graduate members.
RONE & Gigi grabbed the hearts of them and most of them were watching the clown stage for the first time. We all enjoyed the show and I am so glad that our reunion ended as a pleasant and memorable one.

１１月３日（月曜日）２０２５
　１１月に入りました。今月は３連休が２回もあります。皆様、ご予定は決まりましたか？

　私ども、多賀あさひやでは、２２日（土）２３日（日）２４日（振替休日）の三日間、クラウン・ロネ＆ジージのコメディライブとクラウン講座を開催します。今年９月に東京で新作ライブをし、それをあさひや仕様にして皆様にご披露いたします。

　ロネとジージはプロとして３５年目をむかえています。コロナ禍を何とか乗り切ったかと思えば、次は大怪我に遭遇。数多くの苦難を経験しつつも技を磨き続け、不穏で不安定な社会に光となる赤い花（鼻）を咲かそうと努めるロネとジージ。日本ではクラウンを知る人はまだ少ないです。ロネとジージを観たことがない人はぜひこの機会においでください。過去にロネジジのショーを観てくださった方は、次なる新しい技を楽しみに来てください。

　クラウン講座は、ライブではボケ役のロネが「笑い」の本質を深くわかり易く話してくれる、他にはない講座です。日本人と欧米人の笑いのツボはどこが違うのでしょうか。欧米では何故クラウンが人々の暮らしの中で広く行き渡っているのでしょうか。西欧演劇やバレエやオペラが日本に入ってきた時に、なぜクラウンだけ日本に入らなかったのでしょうか。日本人でありながら世界のクラウンコンテストで数々の賞を獲得したロネとジージだからこそ話せる内容です。

　チケットは多賀あさひや（0749-48-0186)まで。




We are now in November and there are two three-day holidays in this month. Have you already planned what you will do?

Clown RONE & Gigi's Comedy Music Live and Clown Talk will be held at Taga Asahiya on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of this month. It was a new live show which was already performed in September in Tokyo and they are going to adjust it for Taga because the number of the staff and stage size will be smaller than the Tokyo version.

RONE & Gigi have their 35th anniversary this year as a professional clown duo. They overcame several crises in these past several years such as the coronavirus pandemic and severe injury in India after that, but never gave up and trained themselves and have been trying to lighten up this uneasy society. Unfortunately there are still few people who know about clowns in Japan. If you haven't watched RONE & Gigi's live stage, please come to enjoy it with us! If you came to the show before, you will be excited about their other skills.

As for the Clown Talk, RONE, who is usually a fool character on the stage, will talk about the essence of "laugh" in a way that will be easy to understand for everyone. What is the difference in the sense of humor between Western and Japanese people? Why is Clown so popular in the Western countries? Why didn't Clown culture enter Japan when Western theatre play, ballet, and opera came to Japan? RONE is the person who is able to answer those questions because she was trained and learned Clown in Russia and other Western countries and won several international Clown contests with Gigi.

Please contact Taga Asahiya (0749-48-0186) to get the tickets.

１０月３０日（木曜日）２０２５
　11/22〜24のクラウン・ライブと講座の集客に全力を注いでいます。皆様、是非、クラウンライブにお越しください。チケットはまだございます。

　このイベントを多くの方に知っていただくには、やはりメディアの力を借りたいと思い、今日は彦根の新聞社に資料を持っていくことにしました。ところが、このところ股関節の調子が悪く彦根駅から新聞社までの歩行に自信がありません。そこで思い切って彦根芹川駅まで自転車を電車に乗せて、そこから目的地まで向かうことにしました。

　近江鉄道はサイクルトレインと言って通常の乗車券で自転車持ち込みOKです。時々、自転車と一緒に電車に乗り込んでくる人を見かけますが、まさか自分がそれをするとは！

　いつもの駐輪所に自転車を停めずに、今日はそのまま電車の中へ。ハラハラドキドキ。発車前に車掌さんに行き先を確認し（高宮駅乗換だとホームを渡るので自転車は無理）、今度は車掌さんから降りる駅を聞かれ（彦根芹川駅はホームからスロープがあるので自転車で降車可）で一安心。ベルがなってガチャコン電車が出発。何というワクワク感！電車に自転車と一緒に乗り込むなんて！！

　無事に新聞社に資料を届けて、また同じ駅からガチャコンに乗り込むと、車内はハロウィン仕様に飾りつけされていて、乗り込んできた保育園児がはしゃいでいました。私も園児たちと同じ気分で嬉しい一日でした。

I am currently putting so much effort to get participants to the Clown Live and Clown Talk between Nov. 22nd and 24th. Please come to these events by all means. We hold tickets now.

In order to get more people for the events, I wanted the newspaper company to write about the events in their paper beforehand, so I decided to bring the materials of the clown event to the paper office in Hikone. However, I have a problem walking from Hikone station to the office on foot, because my joints are getting worse and it's too hard to take a walk for that distance. Then I found the way to bring my bicycle to the station in Hikone by local train.

On our local train line, they allow us to bring bicycles with a regular ticket. In fact, I saw several times that a passenger was taking the train with his bike but I've never thought about doing so myself.

Usually I park my bike at the bicycle parking lot in Taga Station and get on the train, but today, I got on the train with my bike. I was so excited to do so. What a wonderful experience it was! I got off the train at the station which had a slope for the bike to get out from the platform.

I rode my bike from there and went to the newspaper office to bring the material for the event and got back to the same station again.
There was a Halloween decoration inside the train and a group of preschool kids who got into the train at the next station were very much excited. I had the same feeling as them. It was a very pleasant day.

１０月２６日（日曜日）２０２５　
　あいにくの雨の中、「石と石垣の魅力」の講座にお集まりくださった皆様、ありがとうございました。

　講師は安土で石垣の設計・施工を行う石垣作家の西澤伊織氏でした。西澤さんは工務店の家に生まれ、小学生の一時期ドイツでシュタイナー教育を受けて、芸術や自然、体験を通して自分の存在を考え、さらにアメリカで四年間の大学生活を送るなど、かなりユニークな道の行き着く先が、石垣造りであり、そこに芸術性を見出したのが今日の西澤伊織さんだとお見受けしました。

　お城の石垣にしても積み方には変遷があること、山肌に石垣を造る時の日本と西欧の根本的な違い、石垣の構造と石垣造りの工程、多賀石の特徴と使われ方、穴太衆（あのうしゅう）の石垣と西澤さんの石垣の違い、石垣造りに使う道具、海外の石垣、などなど、これまで石垣を気にも留めずにいた私でさえ、西澤さんの話す石垣に引き寄せられ、石垣の魅力にハマってしまいました。

    石垣が好きな人やお城に詳しい人も参加してくださり、興味深い質問をたくさんしてくださいました。「イシアタマ」という言葉もありますが、皆さんの頭の中には石への想いがたくさん詰まって、今後、石垣のそばを通る時、今日のことを思い出して楽しく鑑賞できるに違いありません。

I am greatly appreciative of the participation to the talk about "Stone and Stonewall" by Iori Nishizawa at Taga Asahiya despite the rainy weather. Mr. Nishizawa is a drystone wall designer from Azuchi in Shiga and he does both construction and design of stonewalls. He was not raised in a building contractor family and his path leading up to today was very unique. He had a Waldorf education (Steiner education) for about a year in Germany which probably developed his identity and creativity through the intellectual, artistic and practical skills in the method of the school. Later he went to the US to spend four years of college life there and he finally found his destination to become a stonemason in which he expresses himself most.

We learned a lot of things in his talk. For example, the stone walls in Japanese castles had changed in the structure and method, and the masonry work method at the mountain surface have an essential difference between Japan and Western cultures. He described the stone walls structure and method, tools stonemasons use, what Taga stones are and how to use them, the difference between stonewalls by Anoh-shu Guild ( a group of craftspeople who installed stone walls) and the one by Mr. Nishizawa, oversea's stonewalls, etc. I haven't been paying much attention about stonewalls before, but it was so interesting and I was fascinated by his talk.

There were some participants who liked stonewalls or Japanese castles very much and they asked many interesting questions to Mr. Nishizawa. We have the Japanese word "Ishi-atama" (stubborn) whose literal translation is "stone head". I guess we are full of knowledge of stonewalls after today's Nishizawa's talk and I am sure we are able to appreciate stonewalls more than ever when we pass by them.

１０月１６日（木曜日）２０２５

　ずいぶん前からいつも使っている自転車の後ろのタイヤの空気が結構早く減るので気になって自転車屋に持っていきたいと思いつつ、なかなか時間が取れずにいました。墨画展も終わり、今朝は雨が降る前に明日のランチの買い出しに出ようと自転車を出したところ、やっぱり後輪の空気が減っているので、買い物前にオートサイクル堂中に寄ってみました。

　事情を話すとおじさんは、タイヤを一眼見るなり「ようこんなになるまで乗ってたなぁ」と呆れ顔。タイヤが擦り減ってツルツルになっていたのです。電動アシストを購入して７、８年。バッテリーは充電していましたが、タイヤ交換はしたことがなく、週に２度は彦根まで買い出しに出かけ、公民館でのヨガや朗読サークルにも自転車は私の移動手段。なくてはならない存在です。
交換には時間がかかるようで、とりあえずは古いタイヤに空気を一杯入れてもらって買い物へ行き、その後のヨガクラス、玄米の精米とその日の予定を終えて自転車屋さんへ。

　外された古いタイヤを改めて見て、最近、上り坂がやけに大変だったことに深く納得し、パンクする前に新しいタイヤに交換できたことを幸運に思いました。帰りに自転車に乗ったらペダルがあまりに軽くてびっくり！見送ってくれたおじさんに手を振って感謝を伝えました。

Since a while ago, I have been worrying about the rear wheel of my bicycle which leaked faster than i expected, and I wanted to bring it to the bicycle shop but I didn't have time to do so. Today I was just about to go shopping by bike to the grocery store to get things for preparing tomorrow's reserved lunch when I found that the air of the wheel is leaking again. Then I decided to stop by the nearest bike shop before shopping.

Hearing my explanation, the shop owner took a look at the rear wheel then said "I can't believe you had been riding this bike in the worst condition!". It was completely worn out. I bought the electric assist bicycle seven or eight years ago, and when the battery runs out, I charge but I have never changed the wheels. Riding my bicycle, I go to Hikone to get to the grocery store twice a week, I also go to the community center in town to attend yoga class and read aloud in a group. My bicycle is an essential tool for my transportation. The shop owner said he needed two or three hours to change the wheel but I had many things to do on that day, so I decided to come back later to the shop. He kindly put full air into my rear wheel, and I went ahead to Hikone. Then after finishing shopping, attending yoga class and going to the rice mill stand, I went to the bicycle shop again.

The shop owner worked very well. Looking at the old worn out wheel which was already taken off, I understood why I felt it was so hard, especially for going upslope and I was thankful he changed the wheel into a new one before the old one became flat. When I rode my bike to go home, I was amazed by the fact that the pedals were so light because of the new wheel. I was so happy and waved my hand to show my thanks to the shop owner who was sending me off behind.

１０月３日（金曜日）２０２５
　横田順（すなお）さんの墨画展が多賀あさひやで始まりました。
今回は横田さんの最近の墨の作品に加えて、墨画家になる前の書家だった頃の作品もお願いして展示していただきました。（貴重です）横田さんが「言葉」の作品について、かつてご自身が書いた一部を紹介します。

私の心を波立たせる言葉があります。
そこはかとない懐かしさで、私を満たしてくれる言葉があります。
私の全身を圧倒するような言葉があります。
そのような言葉に出会うごとに、言葉の視えないない力を視えるものに変えたい、言葉の肉体にじかに触れ、言葉の肉声を響かせたい、その言葉に一番ふさわしい姿で立ち現れてもらいたいと、祈るような思いで筆を執っててきました。（以下省略）

横田さんの言葉の作品は、太宰治、金子みすず、宮沢賢治、中原中也など日本の作家からドストエフスキーやニーチェまで深く幅広いところから生まれています。やがて自分の表現が言葉を超えて、墨の濃淡での表現へと移行し、現在に至ります。横田さんの作品は年々変化していくのが、展示の作品からもわかります。何とも深くて強烈なものを感じるのは私だけではないと思います。ご都合のつく方は是非観に来てください。（10/15 まで）


Bokuga (Sumi-ink painting) exhbition by Sunao Yokota has just started at my cafe. This time, I asked her to exhibit her "Words" works as well as her recent works which she did when she was a calligrapher a long time ago before she transitioned to become a Sumi-ink painter. Here is a part of her expression about her "words".

There are words which make my heart beat.
There are words which fill my heart with nostalgia for some reason.
There are words which overwhelm me.
Every time when I encountered such words, I was hoping to change words invisible to visible ones, to touch them directly to resonate the voice of the words, and make them exist as they can give the most suitable meaning.　(omitted below) [translated by C.M.]

Yokota's words were from Japanese writers such as Osamu Dazai, Misuzu Kaneko, Kenji Miyazawa, Chyuya Nakahara and some Western writers or philosophers such as Dostoevsky, Nietzsche. She felt the limitation of expressing herself by borrowing words from classics, poems , parts of novels and expanded upon them, and started to express herself with Sumi (black ink) only which she is working on now. Yokota's work has been evolving and changing year by year. I feel something deep and intense in her works. I think that I am not the only person who has that kind of impression.

Please come to appreciate her wonderful works. ( The exhibition will run until Oct.15.)

９月２５日（木曜日）２０２５
ロネとジージのコメディライブ「On the Ship 〜大西洋ぶたりぼっち〜」多賀公演　東京での新作ライブを多賀仕様にしての公演です。

芸達者なクラウン・ロネとジージ。新作公演を楽しみにしている方も多いでしょう。ストーリーが新しいだけじゃないんです。今まで二人のステージを観てきた人も、初めて観る人も、へぇ〜？すっご〜い！とその多才ぶりに圧倒されるはずです。子供から大人まであっという間に笑いのツボに入り、二人のスキルの多さに舌を巻くはず。

ロネのクラウン講座もお勧めです。旧ソ連で修行し、アメリカでの経験も長く、今年プロとして３５年目のロネとジージ。
クラウンが何かよく分からない人も、笑いの奥にある人間として大事なものが、素顔のロネの話から見えてくるというお得感いっぱいの時間です。

お申し込みは、多賀あさひや（0749-48-0186）まで。

We are pleased to present to you Clown RONE & Gigi's music comedy live "On the Ship〜only tow in the Pacific Ocean" in Taga.
It was newly performed at Aoyama in Tokyo and modified the direction for Taga performance.

Many of you are looking forward to watching RONE & Gigi 's new performance. Both people who have already seen their stage and who will see their stage for the first time, will be overwhelmed by their variety of skills. Everybody, from kids to adults, would be laughing due to their talented clowning.

We would like to strongly recommend RONE's Talk. RONE & Gigi are in their 35th year this year as a professional clown duo. They trained in the Soviet Union, and experienced the US for 13 years. You will know what are the important things to experience as a human being through Rone's talk. It will bring you laughter, and you will be fulfilled with it.