３月２５日（月曜日） 
ステンドグラス作家の宮嶋幸雄さんが先日カフェに作品展の案内を持って来てくださり、これまでの作品の写真集を奥様が 見せて下さり、その時に作品の行程や見方、難しさなど教えて下さいました。それで、今回ボストン美術館に展示してある ジョン・ラ・ファージ(1835-1910)とルイス・カムフォート・ティファニー(1848-1933)の作品をもう一度見たくなり行ってきました。二人 はアメリカ美術工芸運動の中心になった人物です。作品は見事で、ラファージは浮世絵に興味を持ちアメリカにおけるジャポニスムの火付け役になったとも言われ1886年に来日しています。アメリカ館を見て疲れたので休んでいたら非常警報が鳴り出し館内の者は全員外で待機させられ、戻れた時は閉館まで残り２０分ほど。伊藤若冲の絵も見ておきたいと大きな美術館の中をアチコチ歩き回りながらやっとたどり着いたのですが、あいにく改修工事中で日本の作品は殆ど見られず、快慶(1189-1223)の弥勒菩薩像に対面しただけで帰ってきました。The other day, stained glass artist Mr. Yukio Miyajima came to my cafe with his wife to bring the information of his art exhibition. He explained the process of creating stained glass work and told me the difficulty of his work as his wife showed many photos of his work to me. As I remembered that Museum of Fine Arts in Boston has some stained glass collections of John La Farge (1835-1910) and Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933), I went to the MFA yesterday to see them. La Farge and Tiffany were artists of the American Arts and Crafts movement. Their stained glass are marvelous. La Farge was intrested in Hokusai who worked with Japanese wood print and he sparked Japonism in the US. He visited Japan in 1886. When I was resting after looking around Art of The Americas, suddenly the fire alarm started ringing and we were all forced to evacuate. By the time we were allowed to re-enter, there was only 20 min left until closing. I wanted to see the painting of Jakuchu Ito who was a Japanese painter in Edo period, so I tried to get to the Japanese art section but it was not easy to find because the museum was huge. When I finally got there, I found that they were in the middle of a renovation and I could not see most of the exhibitions.What an unfortunate day it was! I only appreciated beautiful Maitreya Bodhisattva by Kaikei (1189-1223) and came home.

金魚とオウムTiffany

ランプTiffany

MFA

快慶弥勒菩薩像

３月２３日（土曜日） 
日本では桜の開花も聞かれる頃だというのに、ボストンでは今朝雪景色となりました。 日陰には前の雪が残っていて、私がいた滋賀に比べるとこちらは寒さがまだ続いています。 所変われば気候も変わる。当たり前ですが、住む人も暮らし方も違います。 半年振りのボストン。それほど長くない滞在ですが、何かおもしろいものが見つかるかな と思っています。 In Japan it's the time to hear news of flowering of Sakura (cherry blossoms), but here in Boston we had snow this morning. As there are some previous snow left in shaded areas, it is still cold compared to Shiga where I was until a couple days ago. Different places have different climates. Everyone knows that the people and the way of living are different depending on the place. It's been six months since I last came to Boston. This time, I will not be here as long, but I will try to find some "interesting things or facts".

３月２２日（金曜日） 
久しぶりに新幹線で東京に向かいました。天気がよければ富士山が見られるだろうと 列車に乗る時はいつも期待します。車中まどろんでどことも分からずふと目を開けると、空は 霞がかかって目を凝らしてもどこにも富士の輪郭は見えません。でも、そこはまだ 静岡の手前だと分かりしばらく山あいを進むと、突如開けた所左手に富士の姿がくっきりと現われました。 この感動は何なのでしょう。撮った写真を後で見るとそれほど大きくもないのですが、その時は 目の前に富士がそびえ立つような迫力でせまり、あまりに美しいその姿に心が震えました。 葛飾北斎、横山大観など多くの画家が惹かれて描いた富士。私もやっぱり富士には特別な想いを感じます。 It had been a long time since I headed to Tokyo. If it is clear sky, when I get on the Shinkansen (Bullet train) I always hope that I might be able to see Mt. Fuji from the window. When I woke up after dozing off for a while and didn't know where the train was passing, I tried to find the shape of Mt. Fuji in the hazy sky, but I couldn't. I realized that it was still before Shizuoka. The train kept running by the mountainside, then suddenly beautiful Mt. Fuji appeared on the left n a widely open space. I can not express how breathtaking the view was. It came up in front of my eyes spectacularly, I was moved by such a beautiful shape. I felt it was a much bigger figure than that depicted by the photo which I took at that time. Many great painters, such as Hokusai Katsushika, Taikan Yokoyama were attracted by the Mt. Fuji and drew their own versions of Fuji. I also have my special fondness for Fuji.

３月１８日（月曜日） 
春分の日が近く、お墓の掃除とお参りを兼ねて山に上っていったら、結構な数の猿を見かけました。最近はお供え物などしていないはずなのに、これはどういうことなのでしょう。昨日、一円近くの乾田に猿が群れをなしている写真を友人に見せてもらいましたが、多賀の裏山もかなりの数がいると思うと何か不穏な思いです。 さて、床の間は内海吉堂の掛け軸を描けています。以前に友人のH.Nさんが調べてくれた資料によると、吉堂は明治から大正にかけて京都画壇で活躍した日本画家とのこと。生まれは福井県で、はじめは、森寛斎、塩川文麟の門下で丸山・四条派を学ぶも、のちに南画に転じ、中国にも度々渡り、日本南画協会の結成に参加したそうです。この吉堂は多賀の久徳在住だった医師で漢学者の小菅兎峰に漢学を師事したとのこと。（https://blog.goo.ne.jp/otsumitsu/e/e9b751d463e4d4c8eee86770392b6184）我が家に残る兎峰遺稿集（漢文）に吉堂と一緒に過ごしたことが書かれていました。（アメリカで教えていた時の中国人の学生が遺稿集の一部を解読してくれました。）小菅氏の家へは曾祖父も出入りしていたので、恐らく曾祖父は内海吉堂と会って彼の絵を購入したのでしょう。Vernal Equinox Day is approaching. I went to the graveyard on the mountain which is located behind my house to clean up my ancestors' grave and pray for them. When I went up almost to the top, I saw many monkeys hanging around the graveyard. I wondered why they were there because people don't make food offerings in the graveyard these days to prevent animals and birds from approaching. Yesterday my friend showed me photos of monkeys staying in dried rice fields a little far from my house but I supposed there must be another group of monkeys also living around my area which makes me little uncomfortable. By the way, I hung a picture scroll which is by Kichido Utsumi in the alcove of the guest room. According to data from my friend H.N, Kichido (1850-1925) was born in Fukui prefecture and he was a Japanese painter in a Kyoto painting circle from the Meiji to Taisho era. First he was a disciple of Sijhyo school and learned from Kansai Mori and Bunrin Shiokawa but later he changed to the Southern school of Chinese painting and made an effort to organize Japanese Nanga Association. Kichido interacted with Toho Kosuga who was a doctor and a scholar of the Chinese classics who lived at Kyutoku village in Taga. Kichido learned Chinese classics from Toho Kosuga. (https://blog.goo.ne.jp/otsumitsu/e/e9b751d463e4d4c8eee86770392b6184) I found a book of a collection of Toho's posthumous works in my house and there Toho wrote that he was with Kichido. ( My Chinese student to whom I taught Japanese in the US translated the part for me.) Since my great grandfather visited Toho's house, he probably met Kichido and bought his picture.

３月１６日（土曜日） 
最近のお天気は不安定で日によっても、午前と午後でも晴れたり曇ったり雨模様になったりします。 今朝はお陽様が出て気持ちのいい始まりでしたが、お昼ごろから曇りだし、その後また陽が差してきました。 庭の紅梅が膨らんで可愛く咲き始め、ツツジの新芽も出てきました。 谷川俊太郎さんの詩に木下牧子さんが曲をつけた「春に」という合唱曲の一節が、毎年春になると頭の中で 流れます。一部を紹介します。 　　　　

「春に」　　　谷川俊太郎 

この気もちはなんだろう 
目にみえないエネルギーの流れが 
大地からあしのうらを伝わって 
ぼくの腹へ胸へそうしてのどへ 
声にならないさけびとなってこみあげる 
この気もちはなんだろう 
枝の先のふくらんだ新芽が心をつつく 
よろこびだ　しかしかなしみでもある 
いらだちだ　しかもやすらぎがある 
あこがれだ　そしていかりがかくれている 
心のダムにせきとめられ 
よどみ渦まきせめぎあい 
いまあぶれようとする 
この気もちはなんだろう 


These days the weather is variable. It sometimes turns to a different condition depending on the day or the time; for example, it could be clear in the morning but then turn to a cloudy or rainy day in the afternoon. This morning it was fine day but around noon time, many clouds covered the sky and eventually the sun came out again. The red plum buds have started opening and the fresh green color of azalea has come out in my garden. Every year during this season, phrases of a certain poem comes to mind. Namely, I recall the lines of the chorus (poem by Shuntaro Tanikawa, music by Makiko Kinoshita). Let me introduce part of it here. 

 ”In spring"      by Shuntaro Tanikawa 

I wonder what this feeling is? 
The invisible flow of energy comes up from the earth and into the sole of my feet. 
It comes to my stomach, chest and up into my throat. 
It is welling up and becomes my silent scream. 
I wonder what this feeling is? 

New buds which are bursting at the top of branch and prods my heart. 
It is joy, but it also sorrow. 
It has impatience, but it also has peace of mind. 
It is longing, but anger is hiding. 
It is blocked by the dam of my mind. 
But it is stagnating, swirling and fighting. 
It is about to flood over.
I wonder what this feeling is?

３月１４日（木曜日） 
朝、寝室から出て外を見たら何と屋根にうっすら雪が積もっていて、しかも白いものがふわふわ舞っていたので 驚きました。今年は大雪もない暖冬ですっかり春に向かっていると思っていただけに、今頃…？！という感じです。 ようやく膨らんで今にも咲きそうな庭の紅梅を背景に白い雪を撮ってみましたが、暗くていい写真になりません でした。小学校の読み聞かせから帰ってくる時は雪は止んでいましたが風が冷たくて、今日は冬に逆戻りしたような一日でした。When I got out from my bedroom in the morning and looked outside from the window, I was surprised because there was snow on the roof and fluffy snow was falling. We didn't have much snow this winter and I thought that spring was just around the corner.　This snow made me a bit puzzled. I tried to take a photo of the red plum buds in the garden which were about to open and the white snow on the roof but I failed at it because it was too dark. When I was on the way home from the elementary school where I perform storytelling for the school children, the snow had already stopped. However the wind was chilly and it was cold all day long as if we were back to winter.

３月９日（土曜日） 
去年の９月から毎月一回、多賀町立文化財センターによる古文書講座と文化財サポーター養成講座が 開催されて参加しています。今日が今年度最後の講座。午前の古文書講座の会場は胡宮神社でお天気も良く庭の白梅が 美しく咲いていて古文書を学ぶにはぴったりの背景でしたが、肝心の古文書は私にはどう考えても難しくて解読は困難。 それでも胡宮神社の福寿院にまつわる史実が書かれた内容は興味あるものでした。帰りにかつてのSLパークに置き去りに された古い蒸気機関車の前を通るとそばにピカピカのオートバイが並んでいたので、そのコントラストが面白くて 写真を撮りました。午後は場所を変えて文化財サポーター講座。今日は古い建造物の構造と修復についてoffice 萬瑠夢の 村田信夫先生が沢山の写真を見せながら解説して下さり充実した時間を過ごすことができました。Taga Town Cultural Property Center has been organizing a course on ancient documents and a supporter training course on cultural property once a month since last September and I have been participating in both of them. Today was the last day of courses for this fiscal year. In the morning the ancient documents course was held at Konomiya-jinjya (shrine). It was a clear sky and white plum blossoms had fully opened beautifully. This sight was the perfect background for learning about ancient documents. Although it was too difficult for me to read the documents, the content of the documents about Konomiya shrine was very interesting. On the way back to home, I saw an old steam locomotive which had been left abandoned at the former SL park and there was a new motorbike just beside it. I was interested in the contrast between the old steam locomotive and the new motorbike. In the afternoon, the supporter training course on cultural property was held at the Cultural Property Center. Mr. Nobuo Murata of  Office Marumu explained the structure of old Japanese buildings and how they are restored showing many photo pictures on powerpoint. I learned a lot and it was a very enriching time for me.