一昨日、南方熊楠さんの探訪をしましていわゆる「民俗」についてのわたしなりのフィールドワークに１章が加わった感がありました。たくさんの体感写真群を撮影したので、札幌に帰還後その写真類を整理整頓して、「シン民俗」とでも言えるようなテーマを掘ってみたいと思っています。書物を通して人物や事柄への知識を深めるというよりも、わたしの場合は、その体験した肉体感覚を基礎にして、リアリティを構築するという方が数寄なようです。
で、きのうは関西にきたら会う知人と会合しておりましたが、その場への道すがら一向に進まない渋滞にため息をついていたら、ふと前に停車しているクルマの長大さに気付いた。徐々に「気付いて」きて、これは「宮形」ではない、洋式だけれど霊柩車であると知れてきた。
霊柩車についてはそれと遭遇すると、いかにも「禍福はあざなえる縄のごとし」というコトバ通り、それを悪い知らせと考えるひともいる一方、ラッキーと考えるタイプのひともいるという。わたしは、だいたいなんでも楽天的な志向なので、幸運の黒いクルマ、と思っている。なので、長い信号待ちの時間中、前車に乗っておられるだろう故人の方にじっと手を合わせ、こころのなかで般若心経を唱えさせていただいていた。＜実際に後部のガラス越しに白い棺桶とおぼしき映像も判断できていた。＞ 高齢になってきて、死というものとの向き合い方が、おどろおどろしいものから、平明でごく自然なことと受け止めるようになってくる。そういった意識の反映なのでしょうね。ただ、日常的にいつも霊柩車と遭遇するワケでもない。すこし「非日常的」なスキマ時間。
さて選挙が終わって、国民の意思は示された。個人的な「感覚」なのですが、日本の自民党総裁選挙という政党の制度では３年に１度と決められているのだけれど、一方で日本の進路と国運にとって死活的に重大なアメリカ大統領選挙との「日程調整」が今回のようにミスマッチであることは、これまでの政党政治の常識的判断力が衰えていることを実感させられる。制度はそうなっているけれど、これまでだったら保守側の「知恵」として日程調整があったのではないかと思う。今回のようにアメリカの帰趨が定まらない段階で、主権者たる国民に対して国の運命を選択させるというのは、まことに愚の骨頂だと思えた。「こんなタイミングで、なにをどう選べというのか？」と。政治家からの政治センスの喪失。
そういう「しっぺ返し」が、いま深く明瞭に、与党に向けられているのだと思う。
English version⬇
A hearse suddenly appeared in front of me...
Why did the ruling party ask the people for their trust at this point in time, when the U.S. is still undecided about the course of events? The sovereign is showing its answer to the deterioration of its political sense. ...
The day before yesterday, I visited Kumagusu Minakata, and I felt that I had added a chapter to my fieldwork on so-called “folk customs. I took a lot of photos of the experience, and after returning to Sapporo, I would like to organize the photos and explore the theme of “thin folklore”. Rather than deepening my knowledge of people and things through books, I prefer to construct a reality based on the physical sensations I have experienced.
Yesterday, I had a meeting with an acquaintance whom I will meet when I come to Kansai. On the way to the meeting place, I was sighing at the traffic jam that was not progressing at all, when I suddenly noticed the length of the car parked in front of me. Gradually, I “noticed” that it was not a “miyakata,” but a hearse, albeit a Western-style one.
As for the hearse, when you encounter it, some people consider it as bad news, while others consider it lucky, as the saying goes, “A bad luck is as good as a bad rope. I am generally optimistic about everything, so I think of it as a lucky black car. So, during the long wait at the traffic light, I was praying for the deceased driver in the car in front of me and chanting the Heart Sutra in my heart. ＜I could actually see an image of what appeared to be a white coffin through the rear glass. ＞ As people get older, they come to accept death as a natural and natural thing, rather than a frightening thing. I think this is a reflection of such an awareness. However, we do not always encounter a hearse in our daily lives. It is a slightly “unusual” time.
Now that the election is over, the will of the people has been expressed. My personal “feeling” is that the LDP presidential election is held once every three years under the party system, but the mismatch in the scheduling of the U.S. presidential election, which is critical to the course of Japan and the nation's destiny, is a sign of the decline of common-sense judgment in party politics. This is a reminder of the decline of common-sense judgment in party politics. Although the system is in place, I believe that in the past, the conservative side would have adjusted the schedule as a matter of “wisdom. But I think it is a foolish thing to let the sovereign people of the United States choose the fate of their country at a time like this, when the outcome of the U.S. election is still undecided. At a time like this, how can we choose? I thought. The politicians have lost their sense of politics.
I believe that this kind of “payback” is now being directed at the ruling party in a deep and clear way.
