寄稿二題
(Two Contributions)

平成19年3月号掲載
(Published in the April 2007 issue)

　昨年12月17日に東京大教会所（副教主様が所長をおつとめ）において東京開教130年・大教会所ご遷座70年記念祝祭が盛大に斎行されましたが、教主様には記念誌「続あずまのひもろぎ」に東京大教会所にかかわる思い出を執筆されました。
　また、黒住教宝物館において昨秋から1月28日まで「萩焼十二代　三輪休雪茶道具一式展」が行われましたが、時を同じくして天満屋美術画廊（米子・福山・広島・岡山・高松店）を会場に「十二代　三輪休雪展ー休雪への道ー」が開催され、その作品カタログに教主様が三輪氏への推薦文を寄せられました。（編集部）

On December 17 of last year, at the Tokyo Grand Branch Church (directed by the Vice Chief Patriarch), a grand commemorative festival was solemnly held to mark the 130th anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo mission and the 70th anniversary of the relocation of the Grand Branch Church. On this occasion, the Chief Patriarch contributed an essay of recollections related to the Tokyo Daikyōkai, which was published in the commemorative volume Zoku Azuma no Himorogi.
Also, from last autumn until January 28, the Kurozumikyō Treasure Hall hosted the exhibition Tea Utensils of the Twelfth Miwa Kyūsetsu, Hagi Ware. At the same time, the Tenmaya Art Gallery (Yonago, Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Okayama, and Takamatsu branches) held the exhibition Twelfth Miwa Kyūsetsu: The Path to Kyūsetsu. For the catalog of this exhibition, the Chief Patriarch contributed a recommendation for Master Miwa.
(Editorial Office)

東京大教会所と私

Tokyo Grand Branch Church and I

　私が東京の教会所を強く意識したのは、高校生の頃だったと思います。年頃もさることながら自意識過剰気味の私を、それとなく諫（いさ）めようとされたのだと今にして思いますが、父の先代教主五代様が、ご自身の学生時代のことをしみじみと話して下さったのです。五代様が國學院大学に入学して間もない頃、当時の東京の教会所に下宿してお世話になっていらしたのですが、その頃、毎朝お日の出前に欠かさず参って来て、廊下の拭（ふ）き掃除をして帰る娘さんがいました。彼女は、いつも次のような文句に節をつけて歌いながら拭いていたそうです。

I believe it was when I was in high school that I first became strongly conscious of the branch church in Tokyo. Looking back now, I think my father—the Fifth Chief Patriarch—was gently trying to admonish me, for I was somewhat overly self‑conscious at that age. He spoke to me with deep feeling about his own student days.
When he had just entered Kokugakuin University, he lodged at the branch church in Tokyo of that time. There, every morning before sunrise, a young woman would come unfailingly to worship, and then wipe clean the corridor floors before returning home. While wiping the floors, she would always sing, setting to melody the following words:

おれがおれがのがの字を捨てて　おかげおかげのかの字で暮らそう
「がの字とかの字。点二つあるかないかの違いだが大違い。かの字の心になったら人間も一人前」と諭して下さったのでした。

“Cast away the character ‘ga が’ of self‑assertion (ore ga ore ga おれがおれが), and live by the character ‘ka か’ of gratitude (okage おかげ).”
My father explained: “The difference between ‘ga が’ and ‘ka’ is only two dots, yet it is a great difference. When one’s heart becomes the heart of ‘ka か,’ then a person is truly mature.”

　学校を終えて白衣の生活に入って（神職になって）間もない頃、東京大教会所の初代所長岡田敏子（ときこ）先生のご長男で、戦前の中国とも縁の深かった故岡田有民命（みこと）の式年祭が執り行われることになり、私に斎主をということで、五代様も上京してお参りになるみ祭りとなりました。教会所での年祭も終わり直会（なおらい）となったとき、その頃すでに光を失い車椅子の御身ながら、増上寺の貫主椎尾弁匡師が岡田命の友人のゆえをもって参列されていて、師から佐藤尚武という痩身（そうしん）の老紳士を紹介していただきました。この時、伊勢神宮の奉賛会長であったこの方は、戦前はロシア大使であり、さらにはお若い頃に少年兵として日露戦争の日本海海戦に臨み、戦艦三笠の艦上にあって全軍を指揮した東郷平八郎司令長官（後の元帥（げんすい））の側に控えていらしたことを椎尾師から教えられ、私は、この時とばかりに佐藤氏にお話し申し上げました。

When I had just finished school and entered the life of the white robes (becoming a priest), it was decided that a memorial service would be held for the late Mr. Okada Aratami, the eldest son of Rev. Okada Tokiko, the first director of the Tokyo Grand Branch Church, who had deep ties with China before the war. I was asked to serve as the chief officiant, and the Fifth Chief Patriarch also came up to Tokyo to attend the service.
After the annual memorial at the branch church was completed and the naorai 直会(communal meal) began, there was present Ven. Shiio Benkyō, the abbot of Zōjōji, who, though already blind and in a wheelchair, attended because he had been a friend of Mr. Okada. From him I was introduced to Mr. Satō Naotake, a slender elderly gentleman.
At that time, Mr. Satō was the president of the Ise Jingu Support Association. Ven. Shiio told me that before the war he had served as ambassador to Russia, and that in his youth he had been a boy soldier in the Russo‑Japanese War, standing on the deck of the battleship Mikasa beside Commander‑in‑Chief Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō (later Marshal), who directed the entire fleet in the Battle of Tsushima. Hearing this, I seized the opportunity to speak with Mr. Satō.

　それは、本教に伝えられている話として、日本海海戦に際し東郷司令長官は、御母君が岡田敏子先生から御道信仰の指導を受けられていたことから本教を知り、武運長久のご祈念を受けられたこと、さらに戦艦三笠の上で
教祖神の御神詠
　身も我も心も捨てて天地（あめつち）の
　　　　　　　　　　　　たったひとつの誠ばかりに
を朗々と吟じ続けられたということが伝えられていると申し上げました。そして、御神詠を吟じ続けられたということは本当なのかどうかを、佐藤氏にお尋ねしました。

This is a story handed down within Kurozumikyō. It is said that, at the time of the Battle of Tsushima in the Russo‑Japanese War, Commander‑in‑Chief Admiral Tōgō Heihachirō came to know Kurozumikyō because his mother had received guidance in the Way from Rev. Okada Tokiko of the Tokyo Grand Branch Church. He received prayers for long‑lasting military fortune, and furthermore, upon the battleship Mikasa, he is said to have continued to recite aloud the divine poem of the Divine Founder:
“Casting aside body, self, and heart,
to live only in the one sincerity of heaven and earth.”
I then asked Mr. Satō whether it was true that Admiral Tōgō had indeed continued to chant this divine poem.

「なにしろ戦のさ中、しかも子供の私でしたから元帥の吟じられるお言葉までは分かりませんが、たしかに朗々としたお声で何かを吟じられていたことは耳に残っています」とのお答えをいただいたのでした。

I received the following reply:
“After all, it was in the midst of battle, and I was only a child, so I could not understand the exact words that the Marshal was reciting. But I clearly remember in my ears that he was indeed chanting something in a resonant, sonorous voice.”

　私自身の東京大教会所においてつとめさせていただいたみ祭りや講話は枚挙にいとまがありませんが、特に忘れがたいのは斎主をつとめた2人の大先輩の葬祭式です。

At the Tokyo Grand Branch Church, there have been countless memorial services and lectures in which I have been privileged to serve. Yet what remains most unforgettable are the funerals of two great seniors, at which I officiated as chief celebrant.

　学生時代ハンドボールに打ちこんでいた私が、慶應義塾大学との定期戦でご縁のできた日本ハンドボール界の重鎮西敏郎氏の葬儀、また“四十の手習い”で始めた空手道の師範で、これまた慶應の空手道部の創立者小幡功氏の葬儀を、いずれもご本人の遺志でもっておつとめできたことは、思い出しても胸熱くなるみ祭りとして今に新しいのです。

During my student days, I devoted myself to handball, and through a regular match against Keio University I came to know Mr. Toshiro Nishi, a leading figure in Japanese handball. It was his funeral that I was able to conduct. Likewise, in my “forty‑year apprenticeship,” I began the practice of karate, and my teacher was Mr. Obata Isao, founder of the Keio University Karate Club. His funeral, too, I was able to officiate, in accordance with his own wish.
Even now, recalling these ceremonies fills my heart with warmth—they remain fresh in my memory as truly moving services.

　あまりに個人的な思い出話に終始しましたが、これをもって祝辞といたします。
　末筆ながら、皆様のいよいよのご開運をお祈り申し上げます。

Though I have spoken at length of personal recollections, I offer this as my congratulatory message. In closing, I sincerely pray for your ever‑greater good fortune.

天駆ける人

The Man Who Soars to the Heavens

　萩焼の連綿たる三輪家の跡を継ぐべく生まれ育った人、三輪龍作という陶芸家の存在を知ったのは、今から30数年前になります。それは、白萩の“ハイヒール”に出会った日です。この作品の前に立ったとき、常に茶陶の本流にあっていわゆる”味”のある萩茶碗の若き主という私の思いこみは、見事に打ち砕かれました。失礼ながら、やんちゃ坊主のお遊びといった思いさえ頭の隅をよぎったのですが、見つめるうちに、素人の私にさえも突きさすように飛びこんで来る鋭いものに、この方はなまじいの人ではないと、たちまち不遜（ふそん）な思いは消え失せました。

It was more than thirty years ago that I first came to know of the existence of the potter Miwa Ryūsaku, born and raised to inherit the unbroken lineage of the Miwa family of Hagi ware. That was the day I encountered his work, the White Hagi “High Heel.”
Standing before this piece, my preconceived notion—that he was simply a young master of Hagi tea bowls, always within the mainstream of tea ceramics, producing vessels of the so-called “taste” of Hagi—was shattered completely. To be frank, at first a thought crossed my mind that it was nothing more than the playful mischief of a mischievous boy. Yet as I gazed upon it, even to me, a mere amateur, something sharp and piercing leapt forth. At once I realized this was no ordinary man, and my irreverent thought vanished entirely.

　それからというもの、三輪龍作という人は私の心にかかり、年を経るほどに見上げるような意味で、遠い人になっていきました。

From that time onward, Miwa Ryūsaku remained in my thoughts, and as the years passed, he became ever more distant in the sense of someone I could only look up to.

　宗教の世界で仏縁とか神縁とか申しますが、まさにご神縁としかいいようのないことから、会ったこともない私に、10年前の岡山天満屋での大個展に際し、一文ものするようにとのお声がかかりました。まずは作品にお目にかかるべく出かけた私の前に、立ちはだかるように迫って来たのは、「卑弥呼」と題された“いのち”の塊そのものの巨大な作品群でした。胸ぐらを掴まれてゆさぶられるような衝撃、しかもそれは、半ば畏怖（いふ）の思いもないまぜにしたごとき感動でした。しばらくの後、その思いは一層の畏敬の念に変わっていきました。どちらが宗教人なのかと自問するような、崇高なものをこの作り手の中に感じたのです。

In the religious world we speak of “Buddhist ties” or “divine ties (shin’en 神縁),” but in this case it could only be called a shin’en. Though I had never met him, ten years ago, at the time of his great solo exhibition at Tenmaya in Okayama, I was asked to contribute a written piece.
When I went to see the works, what confronted me, looming before me, were massive creations entitled Himiko 卑弥呼(a 3rd‑century shaman‑queen of Yamatai in ancient Japan: Translator’s note)—sheer masses of “life” itself. The shock was as if I had been seized by the collar and shaken. It was a sensation mingled with awe, a profound emotion that soon transformed into deep reverence. I felt within this creator something sublime, something that made me ask myself: which of us is truly the religious man?

　しばらくして、にこやかな笑みを満面に私の前に現れた三輪龍作氏は、実にさわやかで、初めてお目にかかったにもかかわらず、まるで学生時代を共にした学友のような感に浸らせてもらいました。なごやかなひとときの中に垣間見せる鋭さ、そして重厚さは、この方が実に一代で出来た人物でないことを改めて教えてくれました。三輪家十二代を継ぎ、名号休雪を名乗られたとの知らせをいただいたのは、それから7年後、平成15年のことでした。

Some time later, Master Miwa Ryūsaku appeared before me with a radiant smile. He was truly refreshing, and although it was our first meeting, he gave me the feeling of being an old classmate from my student days.
Within that cordial moment, however, there flashed glimpses of sharpness and gravity, reminding me once again that this was not a man formed in a single generation.
It was seven years later, in 2003 (Heisei 15), that I received the news: he had succeeded to the twelfth generation of the Miwa family and had taken the name Kyūsetsu.

　十二代休雪は、かつての毛利藩萩の人にふさわしく、金彩で、しかもはるか父祖の血を辿（たど）るがごとく「シルクロードわん」という名のもとに、鮮やかにその第一歩を踏み出されました。まさに天衣無縫、いつに変わらぬ天馬空を行くがごとき作風に、改めて目を見張りました。しかし、このような雄大深奥な作品も、ご自身を厳しく追い込み、絞りに絞りこんで、そこから弾き出されるような力を得て初めて生まれでるものではないかと拝察しました。

The Twelfth Kyūsetsu, in a manner befitting one descended from the people of Hagi of the former Mōri domain, took his first brilliant step with works adorned in gold, tracing back as if along the bloodline of his ancestors, under the name Silk Road Bowl.
As if woven by heaven, without a seam, his style remained ever unchanged—like a celestial steed galloping through the skies—and I was once again struck with astonishment. Yet I perceived that such grand and profound works could only be born from the severe discipline he imposed upon himself, pressing and refining until the power was forced forth.

　三輪家に深く根差したまさに“深根”の上に、十二代のつけるさらなる花はどのようなものか、そして結ぶ実はいかなるものになるのか。氏への期待はいよいよ強いものになっていきました。それは、かつて氏自身の言葉として耳にしたものですが、「伝統が真に生きるためには“現代”との激しいばかりの対決を避けては成らない」との一言が、私の中で渦まき続けているからです。

Rooted deeply in the soil of the Miwa family—upon that very “deep root”—what further blossoms will the Twelfth bring forth, and what fruit will they bear? My expectations of him grew ever stronger.
This was because of words I once heard from him: “For tradition to truly live, it must not avoid a fierce confrontation with the present.” That statement continues to swirl within me.

　十二代三輪休雪、龍作先生のますますのご健勝といよいよのご進展を、心から祈り上げることです。

I sincerely pray for the continued health and ever‑greater advancement of the Twelfth Miwa Kyūsetsu, Mr. Ryūsaku.