Part 1 · Commentary
Commentary 2
The Emperor, a shadow, and tears at the moon
天皇は使いを送りますが、かぐや姫は会おうとしません。おじいさんに高い位を約束しても、だめでした。そこで天皇は、狩りに行くふりをして、とつぜん家に入りました。光の中に、美しい人が座っています。袖をつかんで連れて帰ろうとすると、かぐや姫は、さっと影になって消えてしまいました。この人は、ふつうの人ではない。天皇は連れて帰るのをあきらめます。それから三年、二人は手紙のやりとりを続けました。
The Emperor sends a messenger, but Kaguya-hime will not meet him. Even promising the old man a high rank did no good. So the Emperor pretended to go hunting and suddenly went into the house. In the light, a beautiful person is sitting. When he took hold of her sleeve and tried to take her back with him, Kaguya-hime suddenly became a shadow and vanished. This is no ordinary person. The Emperor gives up on taking her back with him. After that, for three years, the two kept writing letters to each other.
三年たった春のころから、かぐや姫は、月を見ては考えこむようになります。八月の満月が近づくと、人の前でも泣くようになりました。そして、とうとう打ち明けます。わたしは、この国の人ではありません。月の都の人です。今月の十五日に、迎えが来ます。
From around the spring after those three years, Kaguya-hime starts to look at the moon and fall deep into thought. As the full moon of the eighth month drew near, she began to cry even in front of people. And at last she tells the truth. I am not a person of this country. I am a person of the Capital of the Moon. On the fifteenth of this month, they will come for me.
月の都の人は、とても美しく、年をとらず、悩むこともないといいます。それでも、かぐや姫は言いました。帰るのは、うれしくありません。悲しくてたまらないのです。
The people of the Moon Capital are said to be very beautiful, never to grow old, and never to have any worries. Even so, Kaguya-hime said: I am not happy to go back. I am so sad I cannot bear it.
Commentary 3
Two thousand soldiers, a robe of feathers, and Mount Fuji
おじいさんの願いで、天皇は二千人の兵士を送ります。おばあさんは奥の部屋でかぐや姫を抱き、おじいさんは戸に鍵をかけて、その前に座りました。
At the old man's request, the Emperor sends two thousand soldiers. The old woman held Kaguya-hime in her arms in a room at the back of the house, and the old man locked the door and sat down in front of it.
けれども、あの光の中では、だれも戦えません。弓を引く力も出ず、ただぼんやりと見ているだけです。閉めた戸は、ひとりでに開きました。
But in that light, no one can fight. They do not even have the strength to draw their bows, and they can only stare blankly. The door they had shut opened by itself.
月の人たちは、箱を二つ持っていました。一つには、天の羽衣。もう一つには、飲めば死ななくなる薬が入っています。この羽衣を着た人は、心が変わってしまうといいます。
The people of the moon had two boxes with them. In one, the robe of feathers from heaven. In the other is a medicine that keeps you from dying if you drink it. It is said that when a person puts on this robe, their heart changes.
かぐや姫は言いました。少し待ってください。そして天皇に手紙と歌を書き、薬をそえます。羽衣を着る今になって、あなたのことをしみじみと思い出しています、という歌でした。書き終わると、羽衣が着せられます。おじいさんをかわいそうだ、いとしい、と思う気持ちも消えました。かぐや姫は車に乗り、百人ほどの月の人と、空へのぼっていきます。
Kaguya-hime said: Please wait a moment. Then she writes a letter and a poem to the Emperor and adds the medicine to them. The poem said: now, as I put on the robe of feathers, I am remembering you with deep feeling. When she has finished writing, the robe is put on her. Her feeling that the old man was pitiful and dear to her disappeared too. Kaguya-hime gets into a carriage and rises into the sky with about a hundred people of the moon.
おじいさんとおばあさんは、血の涙を流して泣き、そのまま病気になって寝こんでしまいました。天皇は手紙を読んで、たずねます。天にいちばん近い山はどこか。そして、その山の上で、手紙と薬を燃やさせました。もう会えないのなら、死なない薬に何の意味があるだろう。その山が、富士山です。煙は今も雲の中へのぼっている、と言って、物語は終わります。
The old man and the old woman wept tears of blood, and then they fell ill and took to their beds. The Emperor reads the letter and asks: Which mountain is closest to heaven? And he had the letter and the medicine burned at the top of that mountain. If I can never see her again, what meaning is there in a medicine that keeps you from dying? That mountain is Mount Fuji. The story ends by saying that the smoke still rises into the clouds today.
Commentary 4
Three things to notice
読みどころを三つ挙げます。
Here are three things to notice.
一つ目は、最後の言葉あそびです。物語は、兵士がたくさん登ったので「ふじ」の山と名づけた、と説明します。けれども、もう一つの言葉も聞こえてきます。死なないことを、日本語で「ふし」と言います。「ふし」の薬を燃やした、「ふじ」の山です。
The first is the wordplay at the very end. The story explains that the mountain was named "Fuji" because many soldiers climbed it. But another word can be heard too. In Japanese, not dying is called "fushi." It is the mountain of "Fuji," where the medicine of "fushi" was burned.
二つ目は、かぐや姫の変化です。第二話で、男が亡くなったと聞いたとき、かぐや姫は「少し」かわいそうだと思っただけでした。その人が第三話では、月を見て泣き、悲しくてたまらないと言います。地上で暮らすうちに、かぐや姫は変わったのです。
The second is the change in Kaguya-hime. In Part 2, when she heard that a man had died, Kaguya-hime felt only "a little" sorry for him. In Part 3, that same person cries as she looks at the moon, and says she is so sad she cannot bear it. While she lived on earth, Kaguya-hime changed.
三つ目は、罪です。月の王は言いました。かぐや姫は罪をおかしたので、しばらくここにいたのだ。どんな罪なのかは、どこにも書かれていません。月の人は、地上を「きたない所」と呼びます。そのきたない所から、かぐや姫は泣きながら帰っていくのです。
The third is her sin. The King of the Moon said: Kaguya-hime committed a sin, and so she was here for a while. What the sin was is not written anywhere. The people of the moon call the earth an "unclean place." From that unclean place, Kaguya-hime goes back in tears.
悲しみを忘れて月へ帰ったかぐや姫は、幸せなのでしょうか。後半は、この問いを二人で話してみます。
Kaguya-hime forgot her sadness and went back to the moon. Is she happy? In the second half, two people talk this question over.
Part 2 · Conversation: Mio and Ken
Conversation 1
Is Kaguya-hime happy on the moon?
ここからは二人で話します。ミオです。
From here on, it's the two of us. I'm Mio.
ケンです。さっきの問い、ミオはどう思う？月へ帰ったかぐや姫は、幸せかな。
I'm Ken. That question just now, what do you think, Mio? Is Kaguya-hime happy, now that she's gone back to the moon?
幸せじゃないと思う。だって、帰りたくなかったんだよ。
I don't think she's happy. I mean, she didn't want to go back.
僕は、幸せだと思うんだ。
I think she's happy.
えっ、あんなに泣いてたのに？
What? Even though she cried so much?
泣いてたのは、羽衣を着る前でしょ。
The crying was before she put on the robe of feathers, right?
それは、そうだけど。
Well, that's true, but still.
月の都では、年をとらないし、悩むこともない。しかも、もともとのふるさとだよ。
In the Moon Capital, you don't grow old, and you don't have any worries. And on top of that, it's where she came from in the first place.
でも本人が、うれしくない、って言ってるの。
But she says it herself: she isn't happy to go.
言ってるね。悲しくてたまらない、って。
She does say it. That she's so sad she can't bear it.
その悲しい気持ちを、羽衣で消されちゃうんだよ。
And that sad feeling gets wiped away by the robe.
消えるなら、もう苦しくないよ。
If it's gone, she won't be suffering anymore.
それって、幸せって言える？忘れさせられただけでしょ。
Can you call that happy? She was just made to forget.
うーん。そう言われると、弱いな。
Hmm. When you put it that way, I don't have much of an answer.
Conversation 2
"Wait a moment": the last letter
だから、着る前に「少し待ってください」って言ったんだと思う。
That's why I think she said "Please wait a moment" before putting it on.
手紙を書くためだね。
So she could write the letter.
そう。心が変わってしまう前に、どうしても書きたかったの。
Right. She really wanted to write it before her heart changed.
あそこは、僕も好きだよ。月の人は、すぐに着せようとするのに。
I like that part too. The moon people try to put the robe on her right away.
あわてないで、ちゃんと書くんだよね。
She doesn't rush. She writes it properly.
しかも、最後の歌の相手は、天皇だよ。
And what's more, the last poem is for the Emperor.
そうなの。顔を合わせたのは、あの一度だけなのに。
That's right. Even though they only met face to face that one time.
ほら。第一話から言ってたでしょ。心の深い人が来たら、結婚するって。
See? She'd been saying it since Part 1. That she'd marry a man with a deep heart, if one came.
結婚はしてないよ。影になって消えたんだから。
She didn't marry him. She became a shadow and vanished.
でも、三年も手紙を続けたんだよ。ほかの男たちの手紙には、返事もしなかったのに。
But they kept writing letters for three whole years. She didn't even answer the other men's letters.
それは、たしかに。天皇だけは、特別だったのかも。
That's true. Maybe the Emperor was the only one who was special.
でしょ。
Right?
でもね、結婚しなかった理由は、わかったよね。
But you know, now we know why she didn't marry anyone.
いつか月へ帰る人だったから。
Because she was someone who would go back to the moon one day.
そう。だから、だれとも結婚できなかったの。
Yes. That's why she couldn't marry anyone.
じゃあ、あの宝物の話は、やっぱり断るためだったのか。
So the treasures really were a way to turn them down, after all.
そこは、わたしの勝ちでいい？
Can I call that one my win?
半分だけね。
Half of one.
Conversation 3
The soldiers, the "unclean place," and her sin
ところで、二千人の兵士はどう思った？
By the way, what did you think of the two thousand soldiers?
屋根の上に千人、塀の上に千人もいて、何もできない。
A thousand on the roof and a thousand on the wall, and they can't do a thing.
弓を引く力も出ないんだよね。
They don't even have the strength to draw their bows.
戸も、ひとりでに開いちゃうし。
And the door opens all by itself, too.
おじいさん、鍵をかけて、前に座ってたのに。
Even though the old man had locked it and was sitting in front of it.
二千人いても、人の力では、どうにもならないんだ。
Even with two thousand people, human strength can't do anything about it.
月の人たちの言葉も、ひどくなかった？
Weren't the moon people's words awful, too?
地上のことを、きたない所って言うんだよね。
They call the earth an unclean place.
おじいさんたちが、大事に育てた場所なのに。
Even though it's where the old couple raised her with such care.
それに、かぐや姫の罪って、何だったんだろう。
And what was Kaguya-hime's sin, anyway?
どこにも書いてないんだよね。すごく気になる。
It isn't written anywhere. I really want to know.
罪のために来た場所なのに、帰りたくないって泣く。
She came here because of her sin, and yet she cries that she doesn't want to go back.
そこが、この話のいちばん大事なところだと思う。
I think that's the most important part of this story.
Conversation 4
Burning the medicine of immortality
じゃあ、天皇はどう？死なない薬を、燃やしちゃうでしょ。
Then what about the Emperor? He burns the medicine that keeps you from dying, right?
もう会えないなら、薬に意味はない、って。
If he can't see her again, the medicine means nothing, he says.
もったいないなあ。僕なら、とっておくよ。
What a waste. If it were me, I'd keep it.
ケンは、こっそり飲みそう。
You'd probably drink it in secret, Ken.
飲まないよ。でも、かぐや姫がくれた最後のものだよ。
I wouldn't drink it. But it's the last thing Kaguya-hime gave him.
だから、手紙といっしょに燃やすんでしょ。天にいちばん近い山で。
That's why he burns it together with the letter, right? On the mountain closest to heaven.
ああ。煙にして、月にいるかぐや姫へ届けようとしたのかな。
Ah. Maybe he turned it into smoke, to send it to Kaguya-hime on the moon.
わたしは、そう読みたい。
That's how I want to read it.
おじいさんとおばあさんも、病気になって寝こんでしまうね。
The old man and the old woman fall ill and take to their beds, too.
薬も飲まないの。
They won't even take any medicine.
地上に残された人は、だれも忘れようとしないんだ。
None of the people left behind on earth try to forget.
そう。忘れるのは、月へ帰った人だけ。
Right. The only one who forgets is the one who went back to the moon.
忘れたほうが、楽なのに。
It would be easier to forget, though.
楽と幸せは、ちがうと思う。
I think easy and happy are different things.
うーん。でも僕は、月でかぐや姫が笑っていてほしいな。
Hmm. But I'd like Kaguya-hime to be smiling on the moon.
それは、わたしもそう思う。
I feel the same way.
今度、富士山を見たら、煙をさがしてしまいそうだよ。
Next time I see Mount Fuji, I'll probably end up looking for the smoke.
聞いているあなたは、どう思うでしょうか。
And you, listening: what do you think?
それでは、また次の作品で。
Well then, see you at the next story.
さようなら。
Goodbye.
Commentary 1
About The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, Part 3
八月十五日の夜です。屋根の上に千人、塀の上に千人。天皇が送った二千人の兵士が、弓を持って空を見上げています。真夜中、あたりが昼よりも明るくなりました。満月を十も合わせたような光です。その光の中を、雲に乗った人たちが下りてきます。
It is the night of the fifteenth day of the eighth month. A thousand on the roof, a thousand on the wall. Two thousand soldiers sent by the Emperor are holding their bows and looking up at the sky. At midnight, everything around became brighter than the daytime. It is a light like ten full moons put together. Through that light, people riding on clouds come down.
今回は「竹取物語」の第三話、最後の話です。千年以上前に書かれた、日本でいちばん古い物語を、やさしい今の日本語に書き直して、三回に分けてお届けしてきました。
This time, it is Part 3 of "The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter," the last part. We have rewritten the oldest story in Japan, written more than a thousand years ago, in easy modern Japanese, and we have been bringing it to you in three parts.
第二話では、五人の男が宝物をさがして、五人とも失敗しました。そして、かぐや姫のうわさは、天皇の耳にも届きます。
In Part 2, five men went looking for treasures, and all five of them failed. And then word of Kaguya-hime reaches the ears of the Emperor too.