| TOP |
Short short with English summary
| 淡い藤色 東京近郊のゴールデンウイークは、藤の花盛りだ。東京の北１００ｋｍの、足利フラワーパークは藤の名所である。私の処からは、地下鉄北千住で特急に乗り換えることになる。北千住の駅で特急座席指定券を買ったら、私の座席、通路側には小柄な中学生が座っていた。私は、今買ったばかりの座席が窓際である筈がないと思ったので、自分の座席指定券を確かめた。すると私の座席は窓側だった。 そうか、通学に特急を使う学生だなと私は思った。最近はやりの高級感のある広い明るい電車はどんどん北に向かった。停車駅の少ない特急であるにも拘らず館林の直ぐ一つ手前の茂林寺前で停まった。文福茶釜の茂林寺である。私は隣席の彼女が通学の地元学生だと思い、「茂林寺は見えますかね」と尋ねた。「いえ、この辺は初めてでわかりません」という応えだった。地元学生というのは、まったくの私の思い込みだったのだ。話してみると、彼女は中学生・高校生・大学生ではなく、二十歳代の社会人だ。 足利市駅に着き、これから藤を観に行くので降りますというと、彼女も藤を観にいくという。シャトルバスでフラワーパークに着いて、1,700円という高い入園料を払った。「これから、右と左に分かれて、別々に行きますか？」と訊ねたら、「どうせなら、二人一緒に話しながら」ということになった。それから、帰りに錦糸町駅で別れるまで、半日の淡い藤色のロマンスだった。 Wisteria In Japan, we have a long series of holidays from end of April to beginning of May. This chain of holidays is called the golden week (GW). Wisteria blossoms full around Tokyo in this GW-week. There is a park 100 km north of Tokyo, Ashikaga Flower Park. The park is famous as a wisteria flower park. Since I live in a central part of Tokyo, I had to change at a subway station Kitasenju to a limited express train. I bought a reserve seat at Kitasenju. In the train, I found a young girl, teen ager, in my reserved seat. The train started from Asakusa. My ticket was from Kitasenju. Some stations had passed already. I thought my seat bought just a few minutes before ought to be ail-side, not window-side in such a special sightseeing express. I confirmed my reservation and my place was the window-side. I thought the girl was a student from a local area using the super express as her commuter. The luxurious train ran nearly non-stop towards north. The train stopped just a short distance from a large station, Tatebayashi. There is a Japanese folktale about a racoon dog: A racoon dog in a temple in Tatebayashi, Morinji temple. The story is famous and popular among Japanese children. Because I had had a fixed idea that my neighbour girl was a local student, I asked her if I could recognize the Morinji temple from the train window. Her reply was “I don’t know. I have never been here.” Through our short conversation I realized she was from Tokyo and not a teen but a woman of twenty some years old. The train arrived at Ashikaga city. When I said I was going to see the wisteria blossoms, it turned out she was also going to see the wisteria. We had to take a shuttle bus to the park. The admission was expensive, 1,700 yen. I asked her if we would go to each own way. She replied we could go together. Therefore, we were together for a half-day’s promenade. It was a pale wisteria romance. |
| TOP |