Sunday, January 30, 2022

1月29日(土曜日)2022


 スペシャルトーク、いやぁ、面白かったです!砂漠の特性を知りつくし、サハラ砂漠を30回も走り抜け、バイクをまるで身体の一部のように状況に応じてコントロールしながら、危険で過酷なパリダカレースを楽しいと話す山田周生さんの体験談は迫力ありました。特殊な砂漠という自然の中での走行は危険極まりないのですが「命」を守るためには自分らしくいることが大事、つまり危険な状況では「危ない」にフォーカスしないこと。日常でも同様だそうです。また、先人が通った轍(わだち)を行くか、自分の信じる道を作り出すかの判断は、砂漠で車が故障しオアシスまで150キロを歩かなければならなくなった時の体験で語られ説得力がありました。砂漠のような地形が変化しやすいところで目的地に着くためには3つの目標物を意識しておくというのも、現代を生きる私たちのヒントになる言葉でした。

    Special talk by Shusei Yamada which was held at my cafe was amazing! Knowing the desert very well, running through the Sahara desert thirty times, controlling the motorbike depending on the situation which happens in a desert which is unusual in nature, Mr. Yamada talked about his experience of the Paris-Dakar Rally which people say is the most dangerous and severe. His talk was fun and powerful. It was extremely dangerous to ride a motorbike in the Sahara desert. He said that being yourself is the most important thing to protect your life, and to not focus on the dangerous part while you still have pleasant experiences despite the dangerous situation. He says it is the same in daily life. As for making the judgment about whether you follow a wheel track or make your own way, he talked about this when he faced a situation where he had a car accident and he needed to walk by foot for about 150 km to the oasis to save his and his assistant's life. Mr. Yamada also said that he had three objectives for his goal in places like the desert where the landform easily changes. His talk offered great advice on how to live in modern society.

 

1月27日(木曜日)2022

    味噌作りの季節。今年もカフェに有志が集まって味噌の仕込みをしました。地元のNさんの大豆(1.5kg)と渡辺糀店の糀(2kg)、それに塩(800g)で5kgの味噌を目指します。機械は使わずもっぱら身体を使っての作業。指導のOさんが何回も口にしたのは「熱いうちに大豆を潰すこと」でしたから、ザルにあけた熱々の大豆を漬物用のビニール袋に入れて豆を潰す作業に皆息を切らしながら奮闘しました。団子を作って壺に投げ入れ、平にならして板粕で蓋をしたところで今日の作業は終了。これから春がきて夏を超え秋も終わる10月末頃まで壺の中でじっくり熟成し美味しい味噌になっていきます。


 午後は久しぶりに彦根へ食材の買い出しに。帰り道に見える霊仙の白い姿が美しく心が洗われました。

    It is the season of making miso. People who want to make their own miso got together at my cafe and followed the instruction which was given by Ms.O who is a veteran of making miso. We needed soybeans (1.5kg), malted rice (2kg) and salt (800g) to make 5kg of miso. It was a very simple way in which we used our hands and feet for mixing and crushing soybeans and without using any machine. Ms. O repeated that the important thing was to crush while the soybeans were hot so all members worked very hard to crush hot soybeans which were just drained through a strainer into a big plastic bag. After that, we made soybean balls, threw them into a jar strongly in order not to let the air in to prevent mold, flattened the surface and covered with board sake lees. We will let them age for about 9 months to make good miso.
 

    In the afternoon, I went to Hikone to buy vegetables, meat, and fish to prepare Bento. On my way back home, the top of white Ryozen Mountain was so beautiful and I felt very refreshed.








Saturday, January 22, 2022

1月21日(金曜日)2022

    中学の読み聞かせは本日も富山房はせみつこ編「しゃべる詩」シリーズを持って教室へ。前に先生が実力テストについて話していらしたのでクラスは緊張した雰囲気。読みながら生徒たちの反応を見ようとするもマスク越しではイマイチよくわかりません。谷川俊太郎の短い詩「かっぱ」を読んだ後に皆んなと実践を試みました。2、3度私の後に続けて繰り返すうちに生徒たちの集中力が見えリズムを掴んで元気になりだし、最後に男女一人ずつ代表で読んでもらった後の皆の歓声は愉快そのもの。やったぁ〜!という感じでした。

    帰ってから多賀大社で町祈祷。感染予防のため代表者3人だけが出席ということで今年初めて拝殿に上がらせていただきました。雪降る中での凛とした祈祷に感銘を受けました。

    I went to Taga Junior High School for story telling carrying a poem book series edited by Mitsuko Hase and published by Fuzanboh. Just before I entered, the teacher was talking to his class about their achievement test, so the atmosphere was tense. I read some short poems and wanted to see the students' reactions, but it was a little hard because their masks obscured their facial expression. After reading a poem of Kappa ( water imp in ponds and rivers) by Shuntaro Tanikawa, I invited them to read the same poem together. During the time I asked them to repeat the line after me, they concentrated on reading the short funny poem more and more and took the rhythm of the words. At the end, I asked one boy and girl to read it alone. The class was very excited and cheered at the end. I was so excited, too.

    Coming back home, I went to Taga Taisha to receive new year's prayer as a representative of my Neighborhood association which usually all members are supposed to receive but because of coronavirus ,only three members received it. We sat in a shrine hall of worship. It was a very impressive moment while we were listening to shinto prayer by a shrine priest.




Thursday, January 20, 2022

1月19日(水曜日)2022

    今年も1月19日に獅子舞がやってきました。朝は雪が降り、通りも静かでしたが、陽がさして参拝の方の歩く姿が見られる午後、遠くで笛太鼓の囃子が聞こえて、いつものように心が踊り始めました。やがて大きなお獅子と笛方がカフェに入ってきてお付きの人が「お清めをさせていただきます」と言うとお獅子が御幣と鈴でお祓いをしてくれました。無病息災を祈念してお獅子に頭を噛んでもらった後は外で2頭のお獅子の舞。毎年のお正月の風物詩を今年も見られたことは幸いです。 

    Shishi-mai troupe came to our neighbourhood on Jan.19th this year, too. It was snowing and the front street was quiet in the morning, but the sun came out and we saw people walking on the street toward Taga Taisha in the afternoon. I got excited when I heard the sound of the flute and drum in the distance. The troupe was gradually approaching me. When a big head Shishi (lion) and flute person came into my cafe, the third person said " we will purify here", then Shishi showed a short dance with bells and wand with white paper. After the dance Shishi bit my head promising my health for this year. Two Shishi danced with more instruments of drum and tiny cymbals outside the cafe. I am glad to see this seasonal tradition this year, too.






Wednesday, January 19, 2022

1月17日(月曜日)2022

    ダカール・ラリーという競技大会をご存知ですか。世界一過酷と言われるモータースポーツの競技です。元々はパリを出発して集落や救護施設のほとんどないサハラ砂漠を約2週間かけて縦断しセネガルのダカールを終着点とする、俗に「パリダカ」と言われるレースでしたが、危険なルートを猛スピードで車両のトラブルなく進むことは極めて難しく出場者の半分以上が途中で脱落し完走が難しいと言われていました。死者が出ることも頻繁だったとか。現在ルートはアフリカから南米、中東に変わったそうですが、このパリダカに2輪と4輪で三度も出場しすべて完走した人物が毎年多賀に現れます。 

    山田周生さん。プロの写真家としてダカールラリーをはじめ様々な冒険レース、アウトドアスポーツを取材撮影、世界中の砂漠を駆け抜け、自身が製作したBDF精製機を搭載した車(VASCO-5) で地球一周を果たし、東北大震災後は被災地支援活動に専念し、現在は有機農業、未来循環型地域づくりの活動、と簡単にはその人物を語ることができません。 

 バイクにもサハラ砂漠にも無縁な私ですが、パリダカや30回もサハラ砂漠を走り抜けた経験には興味津々。今回周生さんにはその辺りに焦点を絞って素晴らしい写真を見ながら話していただきます。

    バイク好きの方、サハラ砂漠に興味のある方、多賀あさひやに集合です!

    Do you know about Paris-Dakar Rally? It's a motor race which people say is the toughest in the world. Originally participants started in Paris and went through the Sahara desert where you will probably not see a village and a first-aid facility shelter for about two weeks and finish at Dakar in Senegal in Africa. Driving through the dangerous route at a tremendous speed without any maintenance makes travel very difficult. More than half of the participants retire in the middle of the race. It was not a rare case that a racer was killed in an accident. Now, the route changed to South America and the Middle East from Africa because of various reasons. Well, I know a person who participated in the Paris-Dakar Rally three times (two motorcycles and one four-wheel vehicle) and he completed all of them.

    He is Shusei Yamada. He is a professional photographer who took pictures and reported the Dakar Rally, other adventure races and outdoor sports. He solo-traveled all deserts on earth. He also challenged himself to drive around the world with his VASCO-5 which is a BDF car and successfully completed it. After the Great East Japan Earthquake, he did disaster area support in Iwate prefecture and has been actively working on environmental problems and energy issues.

    Although I am a person who lived without any connection to motorcycles and the Sahara Desert, I am very much interested in his experience of the Pari-Dakar Rally and the fact that he traveled the Sahara Desert more than thirty times. This time, I asked him to talk about his experiences.

    I hope people who love riding motorcycles or who are interested in the Sahara Desert can come to his talk!

1月16日(日曜日)2022

    友人のお嬢さんです。世界で活躍なさっていて立派ですね。 

    She is my friend's daughter. It is great that she works actively in the world.



Sunday, January 16, 2022

1月15日(土曜日)2022

 昔から小正月(1月15日)に小豆粥を食べる習慣があったことを思い出して、ネットで調べて小豆粥を作ってみました。小豆のような赤い食べ物は邪気を祓うという中国の古い風習に由来しているのだそうです。私の家では小豆粥にお餅が入っていた記憶があります。赤飯もいいですが小豆粥も美味しいものだと改めて思いました。

    年末から年始にかけての大雪もずいぶん溶けたところにまた雪が少し積もりましたが、今回はそれほどでもなくホッとしました。雪の降るなかカフェを開けておくとポツリとお客様が入ってこられます。ストーブをそばにおいて暖を取ってもらっている間、注文してくださったぜんざいの白玉を大急ぎで作って、美味しい塩昆布と一緒にお出しします。それからカウンター越しにおしゃべりが始まります。閉めなくてよかったとしみじみ思います。

    I remember that Japanese people had been eating Azuki (red beans) porridge on 15th of January, although most people rarely do nowadays. I made it following the recipe from the net. According to net info, it is from an old Chinese custom to get rid of evil by eating red food like Azuki. When I was a child, my mom (or grandmother) put mochi (rice cake) in the porridge, too. Today I recognized that Azuki porridge is very good as well as red rice (steamed rice with red beans) which I like.

    We had heavy snow from the end of the year to the beginning of the year and much of it has melted. Two days ago, it was snowy again but this time it didn't accumulate that much. I opened the cafe expecting no customers on that snowy day, but a customer came in. Offering a kerosine stove beside the customer, I prepared Zenzai (a sweet red bean soup) and served it with very nice salted kelp. Then started small talk. I really thought that it was good that I didn't close the cafe and had a cozy time.





Tuesday, January 11, 2022

1月10日(月曜日)2022

    新年が明けて滑るように日が過ぎていきます。今日は成人式で祝日。お昼前に慌てて国旗を門口に掲揚しました。元旦も祝日でしたが大雪だったので旗日であることも忘れてしまっていました。

    私が子供の頃は祝祭日はどの家も国旗を玄関先に掲げたものですが、今は見ることがほとんどなくなりました。
昭和の名残りを引きずって時代錯誤なのかもしれませんが、祝日に国旗を出すと何かお祝いムードになります。

    長くいたボストンでは星条旗を掲げている家が何件もあったし、アイルランド系の人はSt.Patrick's Day(3/17 聖パトリックの日)にあらゆるものをアイルランドのシンボルカラーの緑一色にしていました。日本も米国も昨今様々な変化が起きていますが、独自性(identity)を尊重しながら社会を共に生きていく。悪いことではないと思います。

    お散歩途中にお立ち寄りくださるNさんから今年も多賀大社の干支の寅をいただきました。可愛いけどどこかキリッと締まった面持ちです。

    The days go by so quickly since the new year started. Today is a celebration of Coming-of-Age Day. I raised the national flag at the entrance. Although the first day of January was the first celebration day, I completely forgot because I was busy eliminating heavy snow.

    When I was a child, every house raised the national flag on these celebration days, but I seldom see it nowadays. I might be a person of anachronism, but I like the mood of celebration by raising the national flag.

    I saw many houses raise Stars and Stripes in Boston, and Irish people celebrate St.Patrick's Day on March 17th with green color which is a symbol color of Ireland. The way of thinking has been changing these days in both the US and Japan, but I believe that living together while still respecting one's identity is important.

    I received a small bell of a zodiac tiger from Taga Taisha from Mr. N, who often stops by on the day of his walk. It is so cute but he has a firm face if you look closely.


Sunday, January 2, 2022

1月1日(土曜日)2022

    雪の大晦日と新年元旦となりましたが、今日から新しい始まりです。昨日も今日も物理的には特に変わりはないのに、年が変わるというのは不思議なもので全てが一新する感じです。お正月の設えをしてお節も久しぶりに作ると気分はやはり引き締まります。床の間の生け花は友達のHさんが活けてくださいました。

    二年続けてコロナ禍での幕開けですが早く終息して平穏な日常が戻ることを祈るばかりです。

    Although it turned snowy on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, today is the first day of 2022. Physically yesterday and today are not very different but mentally everything turned out to be very fresh when we have a new calendar. I displayed things and cooked special food for the new year, then I felt energized. The flower arrangement was kindly done by my friend, H. 

    This is the second consecutive time the year has opened amid the corona pandemic. I really wish the corona pandemic will be over and we get back to a peaceful daily life.