2013年02月04日大日乃光２０３３号（1）
『英霊のご遺骨帰国は、ご先祖様とのご縁繋ぎ』（1）
『英霊のご遺骨帰国は、ご先祖様とのご縁繋ぎ
The Return of Ashes of WWII Soldiers – A Reunification with Ancestors』
ご遺骨帰國運動に全国から寄せられたメッセージ
Voices of the Japanese in Response to the “Repatriation of the Ashes of WWII Veterans Movement”.
寒い日々が続きます。全国の信者の皆様お元気でしょうか？ 寒い中にも日本全国から心温まるメッセージが「ミャンマー／ビルマご遺骨帰國運動」のホームページhttp://mbr-rtj.net/ に寄せられています。
The winter season is testing us with its bitter cold climate. I hope all of you are keeping well. Despite the chill, we continue to receive heartfelt warmth of messages from people who have accessed the website for “Myanmar/Burma Repatriation of Ashes Movement”.
○新聞、インターネットで運動の趣旨を知り、ささやかながら協力させて頂きます。この運動が実を結び、少しでも多くのご遺骨が帰国できることを祈ります。
（福島県 男性）
Upon learning the existing of this movement via press and the internet, I have decided to make my humble contribution to the cause. I hope that the movement will come to fruition and that the ashes of as many a people will finally be repatriated to Japan. (Male, Fukushima Pref.)
○早く日本にお戻りになられますように。
（宮城県 女性）
We hope you (the ashes) would make it back to Japan as soon as possible.
(Female, Miyagi Pref.)
○亡き戦友の爲に （千葉県 男性）
This is for my deceased fellow soldiers.
(Male, Chiba Pref.)
○かつてビルマ戦線で戦った九十四才の戦友です。お帰りなさい!! （群馬県 男性）
I fought in Burma. I am a fellow ex-soldier aged 94. Welcome home!!
(Male, Gunma Pref.)
○戦後六十八年を迎え、一刻も早い遺骨の帰国を祈ります。私も第三十一師団百二十四連隊の一員でインパール作戦に参加し、多数の戦友が戦死しています。少額ですがよろしく願います。 （福岡県 男性）
68 years have passed since the end of WWII. I wish for the return of the ashes before long. I took part in the Battle of Imphal as a member of the 24th Regiment of the 31st Division. Many members perished in the war. It’s not a lot but I would like to make a token contribution.
(Male, Fukuoka Pref.)
○皆様の活動を誇りに思います。少額ですがよろしくお願い申し上げます。
（新潟県 男性）
I am proud of your movement. A small contribution to your cause.
(Male, Niigata Pref.)
○一日も早く日本に帰ってこられますように。 （栃木県 女性）
I hope for your imminent return to Japan.
(Female, Tochigi Pref.)
○お世話になります。私の祖父の遺骨がミャンマー（ビルマ）に眠っています。よろしくおねがいします。 （徳島県 女性）
Thank you for your undertakings. My grandfather is thought to have perished at war in Burma. Please do take care of him.
(Female, Tokushima Pref.)
○亡くなった父がビルマに行っていました。生きていたらきっと寄付したと思います。娘の私が少しですが寄付させて頂きます。（京都府 女性）
My late father was in Burma during the war. If he were still alive he definitely would have made some donation. I, the daughter, would like to afford a small token on his behalf.
(Female, Kyoto Pref.)
○小生の兄はビルマで戦病死、遺骨は未だに帰還していません。よろしくお願いします。 （東京都 男性）
My elder brother perished in fighting in Burma. His ashes have not yet returned. Please search for him.
(Male, Tokyo Met.)
この原稿を書いている現在は、まだ東京での共同記者会見を開催する前ですから、先のメッセージの数もそれほど多くはありませんが、皆さんのお手元にこの『大日乃光』が届く頃には、事務局の同志の皆さんが悲鳴を上げる程に沢山のメッセージと募金が寄せられていることでしょう。
I pen this article before the cause is publicized through a Joint Press Conference to be held in Tokyo. Therefore more such notes are expected to arrive, in particular, by the time you receive this “Dainichi-no-hikari” Newsletter from us. I would have thought that the staff at the editorial office would be screaming in joy of receiving so many messages and donations from everywhere.
生死を分けた切符？
Live or Let Die – the ticket that decided the fate of two people?
数年前に出会ったある佳人は、広い人脈を持ち、行動力も兼ね備えておられます。 その方が先日電話で、
I had the honor of meeting one gentleman a few years back who has a wide social network and is a master of getting things done. The man spoke to us over the phone the other day, saying;
「なぜ私が川原貫主様のご遺骨帰国運動を、こんなにも応援するのか訳が分かりました。それは、最近母に聞いて知ったことですが、私の伯父がビルマ戦線で亡くなっていたからです。
“Now I realize why Rev. Kawahara, the chief of Renge-in, pours so much of his energy into supporting the Myanmar/Burma Repatriation of Ashes Movement”. I learned of late, from my mother, that my uncle died in war in Burma.
伯父はビルマでの戦闘末期に大切な伝令の軍令を受けましたが、『自分には妻も子供もいない。だがこの部下には多くの子供がいる。この伝令役を果たせば戦線から離脱出来るので、命が助かるかもしれない。部下のこの男が死ぬより、自分が死んだ方がましだ』と言って部下に伝令役を引き継ぎ、戦場に残った伯父は亡くなったそうです。私の母がそのことを、かつてその伝令役を引き継いで生還された部下の方から聞いたのです。伯父の遺骨箱には紙切れ一枚しか入っていなかったと母が話してくれました。四万五千六百柱の中に、私の伯父が確実に含まれているのです」と。
My uncle was given a mission to pass on some highly classified intelligence within the army. This was close to the end of WWII. He goes, “I’m single and without a family. But this junior of mine has many children. He might be lucky enough to escape death if he was the one to accept this task of being the runner for the army. Perhaps, he could simply escape from the battalion after accomplishing his mission. It’d rather be me than my report who dies!” This uncle of the person talking to me on the phone died as a result of his decision. This episode was relayed to my mother later on by the very person who took the job of being the Orderly and survived. In the box that was supposed to contain the remains of my uncle, only a single piece of paper was found. There is no doubt that my uncle is among the 45,600 bodies that have yet to be identified in Burma.
何という悲しくも尊い話でしょう。
What a heartbreaking yet remarkable an episode this is.
私は電話で彼からこの話を聞きながら涙がこみ上げてきました。
My eyes swell in tears upon hearing him speak on the phone.
自分の命よりも、妻や子供のいる部下に生き残るチャンスを与えたそのお方の心の内を想像した時、心の葛藤はいかばかりであったのか、助かる可能性の切符を部下に渡す時の思いはどうだったのか、などなど考えさせられました。想像を絶する迷いの中での決断の瞬間は、どんな心の状態だったのでしょう。
Many thoughts entered my mind; what sort of an agony might he have had to endure in making such a decision of self sacrifice, knowing that he did this for the benefit of a fellow whose wife and children, unlike himself, awaited for his return back home in Japan? To give such a ticket for survival to a junior in command, what sort of a decision was that? How does it feel when you make a decision of to this effect amidst a state of play that could easily have torn your soul apart?
〝お陰様〟
OKAGESAMA - The sense of Dues and Owes
続けて彼は、
「伯父の霊魂が、貫主様とのご縁を結んでくれたように感じています。ご縁というものは不思議なもので、ただ本人の知らないところで先祖や精霊の働きによるものがあるんですねー」と、しみじみと話されました。
He carried on and said this. “It is as if my uncle, his soul, had guided me to you, Rev. Kawahara. Fate is magical. It seems that our ancestors and spirits can cause us to act without us being aware of their Will.”
信者の皆さん達の中にも、このような不思議なご縁を日々の生活の中で実感しておられる方は多いはずです。
I am convinced many of you reading this would have come across situations where you have noticed some magical powers at play in your day to day encounters.
目に見える縁の背後に出会うべくして出会い、助け合うべくして助け合う、認め合うべくして認め合う、ということは確実にあるように感じております。
“En”, or fate, are both visible and yet they aren’t. Those that aren’t do contain the Will or Fate played out by our forbearers. We were designed to meet certain people, designated to help one another, and made to value one another in reciprocation. This, I believe, does exist. For sure it does.
こんな話をしますと「何だかオカルトがかってますねー」と言う方もおられます。
When I speak like this, some think it is a cult like attitude on my part.
そのように考える方は、私達が日頃何気なく使っている「お陰様」「袖擦り合うも他生の縁」という言葉の語源や意味を少し深く考えて見てください。
If you do happen to think so, then you might want to be reminded of such phrases, say, as “OKAGESAMA” (which is a frequently used idiom in the Japanese language to convey one’s appreciation for another’s act in your favour), or “Even a brief rubbing of one another’s sleeves of clothing can be considered a mark of a relationship in one’s past/future life.”
そうすれば、かつて我々の先祖の方々がどんな思いでこれらの言葉を生み出し、使っておられたのかが分かります。
If you digest the meanings that are inherent in such phrases, you would now begin to understand better the reasons for our ancestors weaving of these idioms.
こちら熊本では、自分にはとって都合の良いことも悪いことも、どちらに対しても「のさる」または「のさり」と言います。良い事も「のさり」、悪い事も「のさり」と。
例えば身障者の居られる家庭を「あの家は身障者をのさっとらす」と言い、「今日はいい土産をのさって嬉しい」と言った具合です。
Here in Kumamoto, people use this local term “NOSARU” (vb.) or “NOSARI” (n.) (which in its broadest sense translates as “to get”). For instance, they might say “that family NOSARU (got) a physically disabled person”, or “I feel so happy I NOSATTA (received) a nice souvenir today.”
ところで「頂き物」という意味合いの「のさる」相手は、必ずしも人間ではありません。
ある意味では「お陰様」と呼ばれる、姿形が無くても、「御」を付け「様」を付けて呼ぶ、「何者かは分からないが尊いお方」を「お陰様」と言うのです。
By the way, NOSARU in the context of gifting, the recipient of the action of NOSARU uses the term to thank the action by “the thing” which bestowed him/her with the present. That is why “OKAGESAMA” – which literally means “an honorable shadow “, or a “God only knows someone up there” – this phrase is used despite that “shadow” of a subject does not refer to any tangible object or a “thing”.
「お陰様」と言う時の、その心持ちは、何かは分からないが大いなる働きやお力によって助けられたり、考えさせられたりしていることへの、感謝の心が籠められているのです。（続）
Contained in the phrase “OKAGESAMA” we, the Japanese, harbor the admiration for a work of a power that assists us or causes us to pause for thought, which is beyond our imagination. (to be continued)
大日新聞（月3回発行）を購読されたい方は、
右の「お申し込みはこちら」からお申し込みいただくか、
郵送料（年1,500円）を添えて下記宛お申し込みください。
| お問い合わせ |
〒865-8533 熊本県玉名市築地玉名局私書箱第5号蓮華院誕生寺
TEL:0968-72-3300 |
