From downtown Seattle to the Pacific coast is about 150 kilometers due west. With a tent in the car, I drove leisurely along the coastline toward the Oregon border, planning to stay perhaps two nights depending on how things went. On a drive like this, it is part of the pleasure to stop in the small, weathered harbor towns scattered along the way and fill up on clam chowder or a light local meal. Once across the Olympic Mountains, the smell of the tide drifts through the car window, and before long, beyond gently rolling grasslands, the sea connected to Japan comes into view. At this time of year the weather is especially unsettled near the ocean, changing from sun to cloud and back several times a day. The seaward sky was covered by a smooth layer of cloud. Perhaps light was scattering within it, because the grassland glowed with beautiful colors as though softly illuminated from above. From the top of a hill, the wind rushing up through the grass made a soft sound like the surf, while its changing strength drew bands of many shapes across the fields.
シアトルのダウンタウンから太平洋岸までは直線距離で西へ約１５０kmだ。テントを積み海岸線をオレゴンとの州境まで、状況によっては２泊くらいするつもりでのんびりと走った。そんなドライブは点在している古びた小さな港町で、クラムチャウダーやその土地柄の軽食などで腹を満たすのも楽しい。オリンピック山脈を越えれば潮の匂いが車窓から流れ込み、間もなくなだらかな草原が続く向こうに日本に繋がる海が見えてくる。今の時期になると特に海側は天候が不順で、晴れたり曇ったりの変化が日に何度となく訪れる。海方向は平坦な雲に覆われ、光がその雲に乱反射しているのか、上から優しく照らされているような草原の輝きと美しい色合いを見ることができた。そして丘に上ると草を吹き上げる風音が、さわさわさーっと潮騒のように鳴り、風の強弱で草原がいろいろな形の帯を描いていた。
On this cloudy day the temperature was only a little above 10°C, and a cold sea wind blew. Even the hand carrying my monopod grew numb, and I considered going back to the car for the leather gloves inside. It was not that I had hoped for sunshine. This overcast atmosphere, peculiar to the Northwest coast even in summer, made me feel that I had truly left the city behind, and I liked it very much. I heated some cheap whiskey, brought along as disinfectant, over the stove. Cradling the cup as its sharp alcoholic aroma rose and sipping it little by little brought a peace that city life cannot offer.
曇ったこの日の気温は１０℃少しで冷たい海風が吹き、１脚を担ぐ手もかじかんできて、車の中に革手袋があるので取りに戻ろうとさえ思った。別に晴れていることを望んでいたわけでもなく、ノースウエストコースト独特の夏でもどんよりとしたこの雰囲気が、街を離れたという気分にさせてくれてなかなかいいのだ。消毒用に持ってきた安ウイスキーをコンロで温め、ツンとアルコールの香りが立つカップを手のひらで包みながらちびちび飲む幸せ感は、都会生活では味わえない安らぎだ。
In places there was fog, creating a mysterious landscape. The wind off the sea was fairly strong, and many people were enjoying flying kites. In the shallow water left by the receding tide, a Dungeness crab had washed ashore upside down. I had not obtained a crabbing license that year, though it was large enough to keep under the rules. Telling myself that I had merely picked up something already lying there, I made it into that day's miso soup. I had only rinsed it in seawater, yet the minerals of the sea blended magnificently with miso whose best-before date had expired about two years earlier. Squinting through the smoke from the driftwood used as fuel, I ate the crab broth. Its exquisite flavor would surely have won first prize in the miso-soup division of any cooking contest.
場所によって霧がでていて不思議な風景を見せてくれている。海からの風が結構強いので凧上げを楽しんでいる人達も多かった。潮の引いた浅瀬でこの地方のダンジョネスクラブが一匹裏返しになって打ち上げられていた。今年は蟹の捕獲ライセンスを取得していなかったが、ルール上のサイズで穫ってもいい大きさだったし、まあこれは置かれていたのを拾ったのだからと、勝手な言い訳でその日の味噌汁にしてしまった。海水で洗っただけだったが、海のミネラルと賞味期限なるものが２年ほど前に切れている味噌とすばらしく融合して、燃料に使った流木の烟りで目をしばしばしながら食べた蟹出汁は、料理コンテスト味噌汁部門で優勝間違いなしの絶妙な味わいだった。
Beneath the heavy clouds, the darkening sea heaved violently. The wind shattered the crests of the waves, and their spray, perhaps catching the light, suddenly began to gleam silver. Just then a line of pelicans came flying from the distance and began diving between the waves as if dancing. Were they playing an athletic game, or catching small fish? Either way, it was remarkable that they never broke formation. My camera and lens were wet with spray, but I could not take my eye from the viewfinder. Between this professional troupe's performance and the booming roar of the waves bearing down on shore, adrenaline must have flooded my body, because I began to tremble. I reached a perfect summit of exhilaration, like the full orchestra swelling at the finale of a grand composition.
厚い雲の下、暗くなり始めた海は激しくうねり、風が波頭を粉々にしたその飛沫が光を含んだのか、突然銀の輝きを見せ始めた。その時彼方からペリカンが列をなして飛んでくるやいなや波の合間に踊るようにダイビングする。スポーティな遊びをしているのか、小魚を穫っているのか、それにしても一本の隊列を崩さないのがすごい。カメラもレンズも波しぶきに濡れていたがファインダーから目が離せず、このプロ集団のパフォーマンスと荒波が向かってくるズズズズバーンズバーンという濤声に、自分もアドレナリンが体内に放出されたのか身が震えだし、壮大な楽曲のフィナーレのオーケストラ全体の盛り上がりのような完璧な精神興奮の頂点に達した。
I love looking at lighthouses. There is something deeply romantic in the sight of one standing silently and gazing into the distance, and I feel it teaches us the strength of will to face whatever may come and see our decisions through. This is North Head Lighthouse, built about a century ago where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean. The area has been called Cape Disappointment for more than two hundred years; perhaps something unfortunate happened here in those days. True to its name, as I was leaving I struck the right side of my car against a tree and dented it, though my own careless driving was to blame. “Cape Disappointment” indeed. Still, this lighthouse and the magnificent Pacific view stole my heart. I would like to return after dark, when its beam can be seen sweeping the sea. In a storm, it must be a dramatic sight.
灯台を見るのは好きだ。静かに立ち尽くし、遠くを望んでいる姿を見ていると何ともロマンを掻き立てられるし、これから起こり得るいろいろな出来事に敢然と向かい合い、決行できる強い意志力も学べるように感じる。ここはNorth Head Lighthouseという名の、コロンビアリバーと太平洋の合流点にあるおよそ１００年前に建てられた灯台だ。この辺りは２００年以上も前から「Cape Disappointment」と呼ばれているのだが、その頃何事か良くないことがあったのだろう。実はその名の通り、帰り際に自分の乱暴運転が原因なのだが立木に車の右側をぶつけ、凹ましてしまった。なるほど「失望岬」とはよく言ったもんだ。しかしこの灯台と太平洋の雄大な景色には心を奪われる。暗くなり、海を照らす光線が見える頃にもう一度行ってみたい。嵐だったらドラマチックな光景だろうなあ。
It is a bad habit of mine: when I see a scene like this, I imagine the human drama behind it. I could simply call it “young people's memories of a summer day,” but instead my thoughts begin to wander. These two, who looked like high school students, suggested a romance nearing its end. He makes a show of following her, but he is growing tired of dealing with a girl who becomes angry over little things. She, meanwhile, dislikes his insensitivity in dismissing everything as “a little thing.” They had borrowed her father's gleaming car for a picnic, yet now there seemed no chance of spreading the food they had brought across a blanket and eating it with smiles and cheerful conversation. The bread, fruit, and cans of cola slung over his shoulder were beginning to feel heavy... Ah, the poor pair. No sooner had I thought this than they began shrieking and splashing water at each other. Finally, although the waves were washing around their knees, they stopped and held each other tightly. All's well that ends well, and there I was, endearingly taking photographs while worrying needlessly on their behalf.
自分の悪い癖でこのような情景を見るとそのバックグラウンドの人間ドラマを想像してしまう。「若者達の夏の日の思い出」で済ましたらいいものを、あれこれと考えを巡らせてしまうのだ。高校生らしきこの二人の姿は恋の終局を思わせる。彼は一応彼女を追うものの、ちょっとしたことで怒り出す彼女に手こずって付き合うのがしんどくなりつつあるし、彼女は「ちょっとしたこと」と何でも軽く片づけてしまう彼の無神経さが気にいらない。折角父親のぴかぴか車を借りてピクニックに来たのに、これではあれこれ持ってきた食べ物をシートに広げ、ニコニコ顔で楽しく会話をしながら食べることも叶わないと、彼は肩にかけたパンや果物や缶入りコーラが重く感じてきている．．．ああかわいそうな二人。なんて思っていたらすぐにきゃーきゃー叫びながら水のかけ合いを始めたもんだ。挙げ句の果てに膝まで波に洗われているのに立ち止まってしっかり抱き合っている。まあ結果良しなんだけど、取り越し苦労までしながら写真を撮っている自分がかわいくて。
I titled this photograph “Another Day, Another Destiny...” When I noticed this half-finished bottle of beer abandoned on the beach, a line from “One Day More!” in the moving musical Les Misérables, which I had seen recently, suddenly came to mind, though I do not know why. Its human drama was entwined with the French Revolution and filled with hope, frustration, courage, love, and resolve. It felt like a powerful spice scattered over my own life. I do not mean it in the slightly reckless sense of the old Yujiro Ishihara song “Tomorrow's Wind Will Blow Tomorrow.” Perhaps it is closer to Scarlett O'Hara's final line in Gone with the Wind: “Tomorrow is another day.” I understand it as words containing the will to stand tall and face my destiny once more tomorrow. Yet the reason this scene brought those words to mind was entirely intuitive; there was no logic to it at all.
この写真のタイトルは「Another day, Another destiny…」。海岸でこの置き去りにされた飲みかけのビール瓶に気付き、自分でも何故なのか分からないが、最近見た感動的なミュージカルLes Miserablesの “One Day More!” の中のこの一節がふと浮かんだ。希望、挫折、勇気、愛、決断など、フランス革命に絡んだ人間模様は、自分の人生に強烈なスパイスを振りかけてくれるようなものだった。昔石原裕次郎が歌った「明日は明日の風吹く」のような少し捨て鉢な意味ではなく、「風と共に去りぬ」のヒロインのスカーレット・オハラの最後のセリフ「Tomorrow is another day. 」に近いかな。「もう一日、堂々と明日の自分の運命に立ち向かう」のような意志を含んだ言葉と解釈している。でも何故この情景がこの言葉を連想させたかは実に感覚的なものでロジックは全くない。
This is at 46 degrees north, around the latitude of Cape Soya at Japan's northern tip. Because of the warm current, it does not ordinarily feel like a northern sea. In bad weather, however, it changes completely, becoming as rough as the northern coast of the Sea of Japan. This evening was peaceful as spring, and the sun took a long time to set. The waves were calm, and I could have watched forever as gulls and pelicans circled slowly in search of food. The sky gradually turned red, while the color illuminating the beach changed with an almost mystical beauty. Gazing absently at this transformation makes the complications of everyday life disappear entirely. The vast sea has not only given life to this planet; it also grants us countless blessings. Yet when its temper turns, it rages in stark contrast to this calm, and human beings can do nothing but stand helplessly and accept its anger. We are destined to coexist with the sea that surrounds us. I hope we can take only a little of its bounty and otherwise remain on terms such as these, simply admiring its scenery.
ここは北緯４６度、日本で言えば北端の宗谷岬辺りだろう。しかし暖流なので通常は北の海という感じはしない。ただ天候が悪い日は一転して日本海側の北地方のような荒海になる。この日は春のような長閑な夕べで、太陽も長い時間をかけて沈んでいく。波は静かでカモメやペリカンがゆっくりと旋回しながらエサを探している様はいつまでも見飽きることがない。空は少しずつ赤く染まり、砂浜を照らす色がとても神秘的に変化していく。こんな移り変わりをぼんやり見ていると、日常生活の煩雑さを完璧に忘れてしまう。だだっ広い海は、この星に生命を与えてくれただけでなく実にいろいろな恵みも与えてくれている。その一方機嫌をそこねるとこの静けさとは裏腹に激しく荒れ狂い、人間は抵抗する術もなく手を拱くだけで怒りを受け入れることになる。しかし我々にとって、囲まれている海とは共存しなければならない運命にあるのだから、恵みを少し貰いながらこうして景色を愛でる程度に付き合っていければと思う。