３月２９日（月曜日）２０２１

　去年の暮れに布谷史人（ぬのやふみと）さんのリベルタンゴのマリンバ演奏を皆さんにもシェアで聴いていただきましたが、今度はカルメン・ファンタジーのジャズ演奏のCDレコーディングのビデオ・クリップです。

　カルメン・ファンタジーはクラシック版が既にCDになっていて終盤のマリンバの盛り上がりに圧倒されますが、このロシアの作曲家のジャズバージョンはやはり何といってもリズムが痛快で布谷さんの才能が発揮され素晴らしいです。

　布谷さんは秋にはピアニストのベンヤミン・ヌスさんと来日です。各地で演奏会が待っていますが、「多賀あさひや」では９月１２日（日）にソロコンサート。楽しみです！

    The end of last year, I shared the video performance "Libertango" played by marimbist, Fumito Nunoya with you. This time, I also would like to share his marimba "Carmen Fantasy" by Alexander Rosenblatt. It is a video clip of his new CD recording. 

    He already made a CD of Carmen Fantasy in classical style but this is a jazz version. In the classical CD, I am overwhelmed by his incredible technique at the climax toward the end. This jazz version is also amazing. You will swing along with the jaunty rhythm which he and Benyamin Nuss (pianist) create.

    They will come to Japan this fall and give concerts in several cities. Mr. Nunoya will give a solo concert on September 12th at Taga Asahiya. We look forward to listening to his marimba then!

３月２５日（木曜日）２０２１　

    お蕎麦は好物ですが知識も味もさほど頓着せずに食べていました。そんな私が手打ち十割蕎麦をいただいたのです。これまで店で十割蕎麦を注文してもいつも売り切れだったので、今回のK.Tさんの嬉しい贈り物に思わずニッコリ。

    Tさんは蕎麦打ち歴が長く指導を受けて蕎麦屋になった人もいるほどです。いただいた時に蕎麦粉の名前も教えて下さったのですが忘れてしまい情けない限りです。茹で時間や手順などを書いた紙も一緒にくださり、早速、夕食に蕎麦粉１００％の手打ち蕎麦を茹でてみることに。

　

    麺の太さも揃って赤ちゃんを寝かせるようにきれいにケースに入っていました。小麦粉がたくさん入ったスーパーの乾麺とは違うので取り扱いには特に気をつけて優しく注意深く指示通りに茹で上げました。蕎麦の香り、味、歯応え、すべて申し分なく、これほど丁寧にお蕎麦を頂いたのは初めてです。もちろん、茹で汁の蕎麦湯も甘くて美味しく最高でした！

    I like Soba (Japanese buckwheat noodle) very much but as a matter of fact, I have been eating soba without much knowledge of soba and consciousness about the taste. I, who is of such elastic nature, received handmade soba which was made from only buckwheat flour. In the past, I sometimes ordered 100% buckwheat soba in the noodle shop, but I had to choose another soba which was mixed with flour because 100% soba was sold out, so I was very happy with Mr. K.T's gift.

    Mr. T has been making handmade soba for years and he also has been teaching making soba. Among the students, several people became professional soba makers and opened soba-ya (noodle shop). He told me the kind of buckwheat flour when I received it although I already forgot, but I tried to boil the soba following the instructions which he handed to me with the soba noodle.

    The noodles were placed neatly in the case. Since these handmade 100% soba noodles are very delicate compared to dry soba which I usually buy at a supermarket and contain lots of flour, I treated them carefully when I put them into boiled water and made them cool in the cold water followed by the instructions. Well, I have never tasted soba in such a careful manner before. I appreciated soba's subtle smell, taste and texture. The soba water which was left in the pot after boiling, was also very good!

３月２２日（月曜日）２０２１
　
    全国の桜を調査し、保存し、新種の育成に携わる人を「桜守」というそうですが、１６代桜守の佐野藤右衛門さん(92)直筆の箱書きに名が裏に刻まれ真ん中に可憐な桜の絵が描かれた小皿が手元にあります。これは藤右衛門さんと親しい間柄で、京都の呉服商に勤めるTさんからいただいたものです。

    カフェにいらしたTさんからは佐野さんのことや桜のことなど教えていただき。佐野さん関連の新聞記事や桜守のこと、江戸時代桜花ばかり描いた画家たちのことも調べて送ってくださったりと、私が少しでも桜が好きになるようお心遣いをいただいています。

　

    婦人画報の特集記事には佐野さんの名言が随所に見られます。「植木屋いうのは、木は引っ張っても伸びひんし押さえても止まらへんし、木に合わさな仕方ない。....人間が自然との共生を忘れてしまうのが、いちばん怖いんや」「寿命はしようがない。長生きした桜には姥桜ならではの見どころがあって愛でることもできる。けど、きれいに枯らしてやるのも大事」「手入れとちごて、守りをせなあかん。いつも気にかけてやることや」。

    こうした佐野さんの言葉に感銘を受けるとともに、高齢の佐野さんのそばで佐野さんの育てた桜を毎年見続けるTさんの温かさを感じます。見守り育成された桜は観る人があってより生き生きとし、それを受けて自分もまた元気になれることを、桜のこの季節に分かったことは幸いです。

    I heard that people say "SAKURA MORI" is a person who researches sakura across the country, saves them and raises new species. There is a small plate which the name, Sano Tohemon, was inscribed in the back and a pretty cherry blossom was drawn in the center and it came with a small box on which Mr. Sano wrote "Small Sakura Plate" by himself. I received this plate from Mr. T who works for Kimono fabrics company in Kyoto and has a close friendship with Mr. Sano.

    When Mr. T came to my cafe, he talked about Mr. Sano and cherry blossom and he also sent more articles which had information related to Mr. Sano or Sakuramori, and painters who draw only Sakura during the Edo period as well. Reading the article, there are several of Mr. Sano's wise sayings. I will introduce a couple of them here. "A Gardener can neither stretch the tree nor stop growing as you want, we just need to adjust them. ..... What we fear is that we forget to live together with nature." "We don't know the period of the tree's lifespan. If it lives a long life, we can appreciate the faded beauty of the tree but it is also important to let it wither beautifully." "It is not that you must treat, but rather watch over the trees. You always need to keep an eye on them." 

    I was very impressed by Mr. Sano's words. And I also felt a warm thought of Mr.T who often visits elder Mr. Sano, and watches Mr. Sano's Cherry trees raised by him. I got to know that Cherry blossoms shine more brightly when they have viewers to appreciate them, and in return those beautiful cherry blossoms cheer people up. It is a really nice season in Japan now.

３月１８日（木曜日）２０２１　
　少し前に多賀小学校で今年度最後の読み聞かせボランティアをしました。今回は「いなばの白ウサギ」。古事記の神話が子供用に書かれた数冊の中で、私は谷真介さんのものを選びました。
　小さい時、寝る前のおはなしは祖母でした。明治生まれで長く尋常小学校の教員をしていた祖母は枕元で本を読むのではなく何も見ずに話してくれました。中でも覚えているのがこの「いなばの白ウサギ」。どんな風に話してくれたのか祖母の語りを今ぜひとも聴きたい気持ちですが、並んだサメの背をウサギが飛びながら渡っていくところと、騙した報いにサメに皮を剥がれたウサギが泣いているところは話を聞きながら布団の中で頭に描いた場面を今も覚えています。
　ちゃっかり調子のいいウサギと気のいいサメ、意地悪な兄さんたちの神様、そしてやさしい大国主のミコトの役柄がはっきり出るように思い切って読みました。読みながら２年ろ組の子供たちが食い入るように聞いてくれているのが実感でき嬉しかったです。
　そうそう、ガマのことは全く記憶にありませんでしたが花粉でウサギの皮膚の炎症が治ったこと、古事記の時代にこの治療法があったとは驚きです。

    I went to Taga Elementary School a week ago to participate in a year-end storytelling volunteer program. I chose ”Hare of Inaba (Japanese myth)". It is a story from Japanese oldest book "Kojiki", and several people rewrote the story for children. I read one by Tani Shinsuke.
    When I was 4 or 5 years old, I had a bed-time story from my grandmother. She was born in 1883 (Meiji 16) and a school teacher for a long time as her career. She told the stories by heart and didn't read from a book at that time. Among her stories I still remember is "Hare of Inaba". I wish I could listen to her storytelling now. I remember the scenes of the story which I was imagining in my bed while I was listening to my grandma's telling.
    At school, I tried to read the story so that each character came out clearly. While I was reading, I felt that second grader kids were focusing on listening to me and it encouraged me very much.
    By the way, I had no recollection about a cattail which appeared in the story and made hare's skin inflammation heal. I think it is amazing that even in such old days (712 AD) they knew how to treat skin inflammation through use of pollen from cattails.    

３月１４日（日曜日）２０２１
　三重の方が時々カフェにお越しになります。三重県は滋賀県と山を境にお隣同士。それに三重の伊勢神宮と多賀大社は御祭神が親子とご縁が深いことも人々の行き来が多い理由かもしれません。先日、三重の四日市のお客様がお見えになってあれこれお話しているうちに、四日市の特産品の話題になり、四日市はハマグリですと教えてくださいました。海のない滋賀の私にはハマグリは高級食材で滅多に口に入らないことを申し上げたら、何と昨日クール便でハマグリが届きました。何だかおねだりしたみたいでお客様のご親切には恐縮するばかりです。ハマグリの調理法も教えてくださっていたので早速実行。お鍋に水とハマグリを入れて熱くしていくと突然パカッと貝が開くところが愉快です。少し塩と醤油を足して家にあった菜花を添えて出来上がり。ハマグリの食感が抜群でとても美味しく、お出しも上品で味わい深いお吸い物でした。ネットには調理法も様々あり春の味覚を堪能させていただきます。お世話になっている方たちにもお裾分けしました。We sometimes have guests from Mie prefecture. There are several reasons for them to come to Taga. First, Mie adjoins Shiga in between the mountains. Second, the deity of those two shrines, Ise-Jinguh and Taga Taisha are connected by child and parent relationship. The other day, we had a guest from Yokkaichi in Mie. Among several topics we were talking about, the local products in Yokkaichi were raised. He told me it is an orient clam. I told him that since Shiga prefecture is not facing the sea, we usually don't eat clam very much because it is expensive. A couple days later, I received a box filled with clams by cool shipping from him. I was so grateful for his kind gift. As soon as I unpacked it, I started making clam soup as he directed last time. While I was boiling water and clams, suddenly clams opened their shells and it made me so excited. After adding a little salt and soy sauce in the pan, and putting a few boiled greens in the soup bowl, a very nice clam clear soup was ready. Both the texture and taste of the clam were excellent, and the soup was very good as well. I can see many recipes of the clam on the internet, so I will try some and enjoy them. I also share these clams with my friends.

３月１１日（木曜日）２０２１
　今年も１１月に多賀あさひやで公演と講座を予定しているクラウン・Rone & Gigiですが、プロとして３０年間クラウンの世界で生きてきた彼らにもコロナ禍の打撃はやはり大きすぎるようです。Rone & Gigiが届けてくれる笑いと日頃の訓練とステージにかける情熱が絶えることがないよう応援します。https://camp-fire.jp/projects/view/389581.　皆様のお力をお借りできればありがたいです。We are expecting a performance and lecture of Clown Rone & Gigi at Taga Asahiya in November 2021, same as last year and the year before last year. They have had a 30 year career as professional clowns, but the damage caused by the coronavirus pandemic is too much on them as well as other performers. I would like to support them to continue the laughter they create and send to us, and support their passion for their creative performances and wish not to cut their training time. https://camp-fire.jp/projects/view/389581. I would appreciate your support for them.

３月１０日（水曜日）２０２１
　少し前に高宮駅に展示中の浮世絵を観に行きました。小児科医の藤関義樹先生がご自分の収集を季節に合わせて少しずつ見せてくださっています。今回は「月耕随筆　馬術　曲垣平九郎」と「東京名所四十八景　上野黒門前花見連　一景」の二点で藤関さんの分かりやすい解説が鑑賞の助けになっています。
　曲垣（まがき）平九郎が将軍家光の命を受けて愛宕山を馬で駆け上り梅花を折って降りるところを描いたもの。講談「出世の春駒」として名高いそうです。次の上野黒門前の花見に行く行列はお揃いの紺の着物に真っ赤な帯。雨でもないのに傘をさしているのは桜吹雪を避けるためだろうか、と藤関さんの解説です。興味を引いたのは、左上の物売りと見られる屋台がうちで飾っている豆売りの様子にそっくりなこと。また行列の脇で休んでいる人力車。これもうちにある人力車の置物と重なります。右端には洋服を着た人も見られ、明治初期から中期にかけての人々の様子が楽しめる浮世絵です。

    A couple of days ago, I went to Takamiya Station to appreciate Ukiyoe which has been exhibited. Pediatrician Dr. Y.Fujiseki is kindly showing a couple of woodblock prints among his collection upon the season. This time, he exhibited two works with his explanations. One is "Equestrian art Magaki Heikuroh by Ogata Gekkoh" and "Forty-eight Famous Views of Tokyo Ueno Kromonmae Hanami-ren ".　

    It is the scene in which the Equestrian master, Magaki Heikuroh who had Shogun's order to bring plum branch at Atagoyama is coming down the mountain with his horse. The explanation says that it is a famous scene from traditional storytelling, "Shusse no Harukoma". The next woodblock print is a scene of a group with the same dark blue kimono and red sash who is going to see the cherry blossoms at Ueno. Why are they opening their umbrellas even though it is not raining? Dr. Fujiseki wrote it is probably because they avoid too much sakura petals which are falling from trees. I was interested in the stall selling something which is in the upper left and the men resting at their rickshaws on both sides of the street. These are similar to the ornaments which are now being exhibited at the alcove of the guest room in my house. There are people who are in western clothing. I enjoyed getting a glimpse of people's lives in the Meiji period (1868-1912) from this Ukiyoe.

馬術　曲垣平九郎

尾形月耕　随筆

東京名所四十八景　上野黒門前花見蓮

物売り

人力車

人力車＋物売り