今日も小名木善行さんのお話からです。
平安文化といえば、紫式部、和泉式部、清少納言など、女流歌人が活躍した時代でした。
この頃は、日本が平和と安定を享受し、女性が輝ける時代でした。
このように、女性が輝ける時代や社会というのは、世の中が平和でなければ実現できません。
戦乱の世でも活躍した女性はいましたが、そういった人たちはむしろ男勝りな人たちでした。
そうではなく、教養と文化という面で女性が輝けるのは、やはり社会が安定していなければなりません。
清少納言といえば枕草子です。
枕草子といえば「春はあけぼの やうやう白くなりゆく山ぎは・・・」と暗誦させられた記憶がある方が多いかと思います。
枕草子は、平安中期の清少納言の非常に格式高い文学作品だと教わった方も多いと思います。
しかし、この枕草子というのは、そもそも寝る前に枕元に置いておき、それを読んで「ふふっ」と笑うという内容の本です。
「夏は夜」も、外で遊んでいると夕立に遭い、みんなが軒下に入った時に顔を見合わせて笑うという情景を描いたのもなのだそうです。
あるいは、夜這いをする時に男が格好をつけて６０～７０センチもあるような長烏帽子（ながえぼし）を被って家に忍び込んだ時に、その烏帽子を鴨居に当てて大騒ぎをしてしまい、せっかくドキドキして待っていた女性や家族まで知れ渡ってしまうような大きな音を立ててしまい、「この人はいったい何を考えているのかしら？」という内容が書かれているそうです。
Today, we begin with another story by Zenko Onagi.
The Heian culture was a time when female poets such as Murasaki Shikibu, Izumi Shikibu, and Sei Shonagon were active.
This was a time when Japan enjoyed peace and stability, and women were able to shine.
Such an era and society in which women could shine could only be realized if the world was at peace.
There were women who played an active role even in a war-torn world, but they were rather manly people.
Instead, women can only shine in terms of culture and education if the society is stable.
The Pillow Book is one of Sei Shonagon’s most famous works.
Many of you may remember having to recite “Spring is at dawn and the mountains are turning white…” The Pillow Book was written in the middle of the Heian period (794-1185), and was written by the author Sei Shonagon, who was a famous author in the Heian period.
Many of you may have been taught that The Pillow Book is a very prestigious work of literature written by Sei Shonagon in the middle of the Heian period (794-1185).
However, the Pillow Book is a book that you keep by your bedside before going to sleep and read it and laugh at it.
“Summer is the Night” is also said to have depicted a scene in which a group of people were playing outside when an evening shower came and they looked at each other and laughed when they all went under the eaves of the roof.
Or, when a man dressed up for a night crawl wearing a long crow’s-bonnet (60 to 70 cm long) sneaked into a house and made a big fuss by hitting his crow’s-bonnet on the duck-roof, causing a big commotion. He made such a loud noise that even the woman and her family, who were waiting for him with great excitement, knew about it, and they wondered what he was thinking. The story is said to read, “What in the world is this person thinking?”