My name and Soho Tokutomi

Angry people set fire to his newspaper office 'Heimin-shinbunsha' 徳富蘇峰館訪問の感動が遠のきかけた折、我が最初の著書、『Still Waters Run Deep： Part I、1982年』が戸棚の奥から顔を出し、その中にMy name and Soho Tokutomiがあった。身近な話題を取り上げた短いエッセイや旅行記集で英文だけの本。一部ご紹介するが変な表現は笑ってね。　My name is Ayako, and 彩子 in Kanji. I was named by Soho through a magazine. My name was sent to my parents, written in India ink on fine thick Japanese paper. Nowadays the same name can be seen a lot; however, in those days I seldom saw the same Kanji character. Someone may think that my life and Soho’s doesn’t overlap, but Soho lived until 95.  Soho is the elder brother of the famous novelist, Roka Tokutomi. When I was a university student, he came to give a lecture.  It was DOSHISHA , the Tokutomi brothers studied when young, for several years. The time he came was only one year before his death (I was 19 years young then).  If I had met him after the lecture, or even listened to his lecture, I could have written my own special article. To my regret, I did not pay attention to him. I only remembered he was a convert.　

　和文にしよう。徳富蘇峰は明治、大正、昭和を通じての大新聞記者、思想家、社会事業家だ。新島襄の同志社へ進み、20歳で大江義塾を開き4年後上京、翌年「民友社」を創立。若くして「国民之友」や「国民新聞」を創刊し、平民主義を掲げて明治中期の指導的役割を果たし、ジャーナリズムの巨人と呼ばれた。が、約7年後人々にショックを与えた。平民主義者から一転、国家主義へ。日清戦争を契機に政治色を強めた。弟の蘆花は兄へある本の巻頭で「決別の辞」を突き付け、彼の「平民新聞社」は二度も焼打ちにあった。51歳で政界から離れ、著述や新聞事業に専念、出版界の指導者となり300冊以上の著作をものしたが、特に「近世日本国民史」全100巻完成は偉業、彼は文化勲章第一回受賞者だ。弟、蘆花ほどには知られていない徳富蘇峰について、我が名とのエピソードを介してご紹介した。 　Anyway, the time my parents asked for a name for me was during his best days as a critic at seventy-six years of age. What do you think of his life style? I learned that he was not in the least concerned with what people said. I dare say that during each period of his life, he lived his beliefs to the fullest.　（彩の渦輪）