私は冬が好きなんですが、中々深々と寒くならないんですよね。
もう12月も半ばに差し掛かり始めて、来週には非常に高温になる日があるようで、今が12月という感じがしません。
雪が冬に1度か2度降るというより舞う日があるんですが、その日が何より楽しみです。
去年は素敵な名前を持つ庭に薄く積もった日が2日あって、とても嬉しかったのを強く記憶しています。
あまり雪が好きな人は居ないようですね。
粉雪や風花は好きでも、雪を好む人は年々減っていっているような気がします。
1時期、ホワイト・クリスマスをわざわざ意識しない地域に住んでいたので、雪が非常に厄介な物だとよく知っているんですが、当時から雪が好きでした。
今では信じられない程広く深い道路脇の排水溝に、雪が高く積もり、排水溝だと知っているんですが、積もった雪は固いのだと思い、勢いよく踏み込んでみたら、深く沈んで脛（すね）に青痣と切り傷を作ったりしていました。（大丈夫だったんですか？）←1月程で治りました。
冬の期間に降る雪の種類が、初冬・真冬・晩冬と違うので、あゝとうとうこの雪が・・・、と暗い藍色の空に大きな雪が雨のように降りしきるのを見上げ、これから春先になる迄、歩くと足の裏が痛くなるのを通り越し、危険な程何も感じなくなる日々が始まるんだな、と無表情になっていましたが、雪が好きでした。
何かが違うと思われていると思いますが、雪の話を続けます。
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| 午後のザ・プリンス（薔薇） / The Prince (Rose) in the Afternoon |
そんなに雪があるなら、雪だるまや雪うさぎ、そしてカマクラを作ってその中に炬燵を入れ、餅を網の上で焼けていいわね、と思われるでしょうが、誰もやりませんでした。
その土地に行って1年程経過した頃、「かまくらは作らないの？」と訊いてみると、「かまくら？ 作れるけど作らないよ」と、今日は家に電気が通っていた？ と尋いたかのような顔をされたのが衝撃的でした。
本格的なカマクラは、私は1度も作ったことがありません。
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| これでも12月なんですよ（笑） |
確か、ものすごく暇な時に、単に知り合いなだけの子供3.4人で、ピザを焼く竈のようなカマクラ的な物を作ってすぐ出来てしまい、誰一人、もっと高くして中で餅を焼こうと言い出さず、大して楽しくないレジャーなのだな、と私以外は再確認して終わったような記憶があります。
雪だるまはその土地に行った最初の年にだけ作りました。
雪合戦も一度しかやったことが無いと思います。
雪は雨と同じなんです。
降ってくるものでしか無いんです。
なので皆さんが遊びに行かれたり、暖炉を囲んでいる窓の外に小さく此方を向いている雪だるまは、歓迎の意で置いてあるんです。
頼まれて作る人は無表情で作っているので、もしそれを見かけたら、本当に雨と同じなんだな、と少し驚かれると思います。
松任谷由美の曲「恋人がサンタクロース」に、”雪の街から来る”という一節があります。
実際のセント・ニコラウスの住む街と、楽曲の登場人物である男の人が雪に慣れていると示唆する一節で、お馴染みですね。
楽曲の"私"は、雪が雨と同じ感覚の町に住んでいるんでしょう。
だから"遠い町へとサンタが連れて行ったきり"というエピソードから、その後、遠い町へ出掛けて”お洒落なお姉さん”と再会することが出来ないんです。
”雪の街から来る”という言葉と響きに、私は敬意を聴き取ります。
自分も雪を知っているから、それよりも雪深い街から”彼”が雪の夜に、”お姉さん”に逢いに来る。その凄まじい苦労が分かるからです。
この敬意の底にうっすらと 「命を懸けてやって来る」というニュアンスまで漂っているのを、雪を知っている私も感じ取っているんでしょうね。
多分、サンタクロースが尊敬されているのは、雪の夜に街を越えてやって来るからです。
雪が日常な場所でそういう暮らしを一時期していたと話すと、春が待ち遠しいでしょう？ とか、春が嬉しいでしょう？ とか、先入観だらけの定型を言われていましたが、特に春に価値を見出していませんでした。
冬が好きだったからです。
やがて雪に霙（みぞれ）が混ざり始めて、東京という所では"名残り雪"という美しい名前の粉雪が降るのだ。本当だろうか？ と、あゝ春が来てしまう。そう詰まらなく思っていました。
日本の物語には「雪」「あられ」という固有名詞はありますが、あまり「みぞれ」はありません。
何故なんでしょうね。
「あめゆじゅ・とてちてけんじゃ」と描かれているのに。
あんなにしみじみと喉を潤す、静かな雪の季節に忘れていた新緑の香りを思い出すものは無いのに。
「天上のアイスクリーム」は、アイスクリンと言う名前の、滑らかでは無い、ザクザクしたアイスクリームです。
今年の冬は、私はアイスクリームをいつもより食べたいと思います。
以上、”雪の街から来る” でした。
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I love winter, but it just doesn't get properly cold.
It's already mid-December, and next week is supposed to bring unusually warm days. It doesn't feel like December at all.
Rather than snow falling once or twice in winter, we get days when it just flutters down. Those days are what I look forward to most.
Last year, I vividly remember two days when a light dusting fell on a garden with a KAWAII name, and I was overjoyed.
Not many people seem to like snow much, though.
Even if they like powder snow or snowflakes drifting in the wind, it feels like fewer and fewer people actually enjoy snow itself.
I lived for a while in a region where people didn't particularly care about a White Christmas, so I know full well how troublesome snow can be. But even back then, I liked snow.
I used to step into the incredibly wide and deep roadside drainage ditches, piled high with snow. I knew they were ditches, but I thought the packed snow would be solid. When I stomped in forcefully, I'd sink deep, getting bruises and cuts on my shins. (Were you okay?) ← It healed in about a month.
The types of snow that fall during winter differ between early winter, midwinter, and late winter. So, when I'd look up at the dark indigo sky and see large snowflakes falling like rain, thinking, “Ah, finally, this snow...”, I'd become expressionless, realizing that from now until early spring, the days would begin where walking would go beyond just hurting the soles of my feet to becoming dangerously numb. But I loved the snow.
I know you probably think something's off, but I'll continue talking about the snow.
It's already mid-December, and next week is supposed to bring unusually warm days. It doesn't feel like December at all.
Rather than snow falling once or twice in winter, we get days when it just flutters down. Those days are what I look forward to most.
Last year, I vividly remember two days when a light dusting fell on a garden with a KAWAII name, and I was overjoyed.
Not many people seem to like snow much, though.
Even if they like powder snow or snowflakes drifting in the wind, it feels like fewer and fewer people actually enjoy snow itself.
I lived for a while in a region where people didn't particularly care about a White Christmas, so I know full well how troublesome snow can be. But even back then, I liked snow.
I used to step into the incredibly wide and deep roadside drainage ditches, piled high with snow. I knew they were ditches, but I thought the packed snow would be solid. When I stomped in forcefully, I'd sink deep, getting bruises and cuts on my shins. (Were you okay?) ← It healed in about a month.
The types of snow that fall during winter differ between early winter, midwinter, and late winter. So, when I'd look up at the dark indigo sky and see large snowflakes falling like rain, thinking, “Ah, finally, this snow...”, I'd become expressionless, realizing that from now until early spring, the days would begin where walking would go beyond just hurting the soles of my feet to becoming dangerously numb. But I loved the snow.
I know you probably think something's off, but I'll continue talking about the snow.
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| 午後のザ・プリンス（薔薇） / The Prince (Rose) in the Afternoon |
With all that snow, you'd think someone would make snowmen, snow rabbits, or a kamakura snow hut with a kotatsu inside to roast mochi on a grill, but no one did.
About a year after moving to that area, I asked, “Don't you build kamakura?” The response was, “Kamakura? We could build one, but we don't.” The look on their face was as if I'd asked, “Did you have electricity at home today?” It was shocking.
I've never built a proper kamakura myself.
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| Can you believe it's December already? (lol) |
I only made a snowman the first year I visited that place.
I think I've only ever had a snowball fight once.
Snow is just like rain.
It's only something that falls from above.
So those snowmen you see outside windows, facing slightly toward you as you go out to play or gather around the fireplace, are placed there as a sign of welcome.
The people asked to make them do so with expressionless faces, so if you happen to see one, you might be a little surprised to realize it really is just like rain
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Yumi Matsutoya's song “ Santa Claus is MyLove.” includes the line “coming from a snowy town.”
It's a familiar phrase suggesting the actual town where Saint Nicholas lives and that the song's male character is accustomed to snow.
The “I” in the song probably lives in a town where snow feels like rain.
That's why, after the episode where “Santa took me to a distant town,” he can't go back to that distant town to meet the “stylish lady” again.
In the words and sound of “coming from a snowy town,” I hear respect.
Because I know snow too, I understand the tremendous effort it takes for “him” to come from a town deeper in snow on a snowy night to meet the “lady.”
Beneath this respect, I sense a faint nuance of “risking his life to come”—something I, too, who know snow, must perceive.
Perhaps Santa Claus is respected precisely because he comes across towns on snowy nights.
When I mentioned living for a time in a place where snow was everyday life, people would say things like, “You must have longed for spring, right?” or “Spring must have been a joy, huh?” But I didn't particularly value spring.
Because I loved winter.
Eventually, sleet began mixing with the snow, and in a place like Tokyo, powdery snow with the beautiful name “Nagoriyuki” would fall. Is that really true? Ah, spring is coming. I found it rather dull.
Japanese stories have proper nouns like “Snow” and “Mizore,” but rarely mention “Sleet.”
Why is that, I wonder?
Even though it's depicted as “rain and sleet, dripping and falling” (AmeYujyu tote chite kenjya).
Nothing else reminds me of the scent of fresh greenery, forgotten during that quiet snow season that so deeply moistens the throat.
“Heavenly ice cream” is actually called " ice-cren" a rough, crunchy ice cream, not smooth.
This winter, I think I'll want to eat ice cream more than usual.
That's all from “Coming from the Snowy Town.
It's a familiar phrase suggesting the actual town where Saint Nicholas lives and that the song's male character is accustomed to snow.
The “I” in the song probably lives in a town where snow feels like rain.
That's why, after the episode where “Santa took me to a distant town,” he can't go back to that distant town to meet the “stylish lady” again.
In the words and sound of “coming from a snowy town,” I hear respect.
Because I know snow too, I understand the tremendous effort it takes for “him” to come from a town deeper in snow on a snowy night to meet the “lady.”
Beneath this respect, I sense a faint nuance of “risking his life to come”—something I, too, who know snow, must perceive.
Perhaps Santa Claus is respected precisely because he comes across towns on snowy nights.
When I mentioned living for a time in a place where snow was everyday life, people would say things like, “You must have longed for spring, right?” or “Spring must have been a joy, huh?” But I didn't particularly value spring.
Because I loved winter.
Eventually, sleet began mixing with the snow, and in a place like Tokyo, powdery snow with the beautiful name “Nagoriyuki” would fall. Is that really true? Ah, spring is coming. I found it rather dull.
Japanese stories have proper nouns like “Snow” and “Mizore,” but rarely mention “Sleet.”
Why is that, I wonder?
Even though it's depicted as “rain and sleet, dripping and falling” (AmeYujyu tote chite kenjya).
Nothing else reminds me of the scent of fresh greenery, forgotten during that quiet snow season that so deeply moistens the throat.
“Heavenly ice cream” is actually called " ice-cren" a rough, crunchy ice cream, not smooth.
This winter, I think I'll want to eat ice cream more than usual.
That's all from “Coming from the Snowy Town.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
