About this work
A travel account accompanied by tanka follows a journey through Izumo’s historical sites, gardens and local encounters during the cherry-blossom season. This English version is an editorial translation for access; the Japanese text remains available alongside it for comparison.
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日本語原文 Japanese original
出雲うた紀行
日本浪漫学会 岩間滿美子
昔から旅は大きなものを授けてくれると言われていまように、この旅もその通りになり大きな土産を背負って帰って来ることが出来ました。
ほとんどご縁の無い尼子氏の歴史、足立美術館の思いも掛けない秘密、尼子氏を熱く語る郷土の方々との出会い、Ｒ．ハーンの足跡とご子孫の方や関係者の方々との出会い、月山富田城登頂の感激、尼子氏後の松江の城に纏わる歴史、安来の雲樹寺との出会い、松江市役所の危機管理課の方々と面談、旅の宿『竹葉』との出会い等々心に残るものは挙げきれません。
そして、今回の旅にこうした運びになって行くようにと手配をしていただいた濱野、河内両先生には心より感謝申し上げます。
また、三日目からご一緒された福田先生には、自らのお車で交通事情のままならない地を回ってくださったことにこの上なく有難いことと感謝いたしております。そして率直かつ明快なご発言に感じ入りましたし、初対面の私の気持ちを汲み取っていたことにも稀有なことと重ねて御礼申し上げます。
こうした思いの中で、八首詠みました。
今も山桜咲て弔う
春の暮れ遠く近くに山桜
咲き出れどもなおさびしくて
今出雲咲きい出したる桜には
先争わぬ麗しさ覚ゆ
はるばると月山富田城に登り来て
もののふの跡なぞりて忍ぶ
連れ立ちて旅行くほどに分け合うは
真心なりしか思いのたけか
吾こそと騒ぎ立てたる心こそ
出雲の桜は癒し宥めむ
出雲なる国なかに允つ優しさに
競い疲るる心癒せと
道化ぶりどぜう掬いに見えたるも
道化に非ずその技を見せ
English translation 英訳
AI-assisted English translation. The Japanese original remains authoritative.
The Twenty-fifth “Journey of Romantic Song,” hosted by the Japan Romanticism Academia
A Poetic Journey through Izumo
Mamiko Iwama, Japan Romanticism Academia
People have long said that travel bestows something great upon us. This journey proved the saying true: I returned carrying a great gift within me.
What stays in my heart is too abundant to list: the history of the Amago clan, with whom I had previously had almost no connection; an unexpected secret of the Adachi Museum of Art; encounters with local people who speak passionately of the Amago; the traces of Hearn and meetings with his descendants and associates; the exhilaration of climbing Gassan Toda Castle; the later history surrounding Matsue Castle; Unjuji Temple in Yasugi; a meeting with the Crisis Management Division of Matsue City Hall; and the inn Chikuyo.
I offer my heartfelt thanks to Professors Hamano and Kawachi, who arranged the journey so that all of this could happen. I am also deeply grateful to Professor Fukuda, who joined us from the third day and drove his own car through places where transportation was difficult. His frank and lucid words impressed me, and I thank him again for the rare sensitivity with which, at our first meeting, he understood how I felt.
With these thoughts, I composed eight poems.
On the road through Izumo, so many warriors fell;
even now the mountain cherries bloom to mourn them.
At the end of spring, mountain cherries near and far
burst into bloom, yet loneliness remains.
In the cherry blossoms now opening in Izumo
I sense a beauty that does not compete to bloom first.
Having come so far to climb Gassan Toda Castle,
I trace the warriors’ steps and remember them.
As companions travel on together, what they share—
was it sincerity, or the whole measure of their feelings?
The heart that clamours, “I alone!”—
Izumo’s cherry blossoms will heal and soothe it.
Within the land of Izumo, a true gentleness says:
let the heart exhausted by rivalry be healed.
The loach-scooping dance may appear comic,
yet it is no buffoonery: behold the skill.
Original wording, author credits, notes and source materials are preserved there.