Curiosities of Lotus Asia/Chapter 17

Page 116-123


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 空前の盛り上がりを見せた天狗たちの新聞大会。
その影響は、溢れかえる新聞紙というかたちで、香霖堂店内にも現れていた。
The tengu newspaper competition had reached an unprecedented climax. And as a result of that, the interior of Kourindou was now overflowing with newsprint.
しかしなぜそれは急な盛り上がりを見せたのか。
そこには、幻想郷と外の世界との間のバランスが、深い影響を及ぼしていたのだった。
But why the sudden increase? The reason behind this was deeply influenced by the balance between Gensokyo and the outside world.
冬が間近に迫った幻想郷。
雪のように舞う新聞紙の中で霖之助が語る、紙にまつわる物語。
Winter was approaching Gensokyo. Amidst the newspaper leaves fluttering down like snow, Rinnosuke tells a tale about paper.
洛陽の紙価 Price of Paper in Luoyang[1]
事実は情報の上に建つ砂上(さじょう)楼閣(ろうかく)。何故か定期的に発行されていた号外は幻想郷の風に舞い、無責任な記事は人の口を通して幻想郷に浸透した。記事の内容は古い物から新しい物、誰もが知っている物から真実かどうか疑わしい物まで様々である。 Truth is built upon information just like a tower that is built upon sand. Extra editions that were constantly being released for whatever reason fluttered around in Gensokyo’s wind, and irresponsible news articles permeated everyone’s conversations. The articles ranged from old news to recent news, and from facts that everyone knew to ones of questionable truth.
 我々が知る事実の(ほとん)どが、情報の上に成り立っているものだ。どこかで事件が起きたとしても、それを目の当たりにする機会は(ほとん)どなく、運よく事件に出くわした人が発する情報を元に事実を推測するのみである。そうした情報というあやふやな土台の上に成り立っているものが事実なのだ。 Most of the truths we know are built upon information. When an event takes place, we usually don’t have the chance to witness it with our own eyes. With luck, we can at most conjecture about it through the information that the event creates. And what we call truth is built upon this uncertain base of information.
 多くの事実があやふやな土台の上に()る以上、事実は(はかな)く、(もろ)い。それどころではなく、事実は情報によって容易に変化させられるのだ。自分が情報を発するとなれば、事実を変化させる事に留意して発しなければならない。ただ真実を伝えるだけという情報は、現実には存在しない。事実こそが究極の幻想。幻想郷にも存在しない幻想だ。 Most truths are not only built on uncertain bases, they are also fleeting and fragile. Truth is, in fact, easily changed by information. If one is to create information, then one must keep in mind that this information will change reality. There’s no such thing as information that conveys only but the truth. Truth itself is the ultimate illusion, an illusion that doesn’t exist even in Gensokyo.
 その事を理解しているとは思えない新聞が大量にばらまかれたのも、つい最近まで天狗の新聞大会が行われていたからである。新聞大会は今に始まった事ではないが、今年の大会は空前の盛り上がりを見せ、それと同時に天狗の新聞の存在も幻想郷のアカデミズムの間に浸透したのだった。 And there were a lot of newspapers being scattered around that didn’t seem to understand that. That’s because there was a tengu news tournament going on until recently. This tournament is not a new event, but this year there was an unprecedented climax, and at the same time, the tengu newspapers seemed to permeate every corner of academia in Gensokyo.
 しかし何故、毎年行われていた筈の新聞大会が、今年になって急に盛り上がりを見せたのだろうか。それには二つの理由が考えられる。一つは昨今の異変続きで記事にするネタが豊富であった事、それともう一つ、こっちの方が直接的な理由だと思うが、紙の供給が急激に増えて価値が下がってきている事だ。紙の入手が容易になれば新聞が増える事も当然である。同じく、紙の入手が容易になる事は僕にとっても有難い事であった。 But the question remains of why this news competition that has happened every year has suddenly increased in activity. I can think of two reasons for this. One is that the recent incident’s aftermath provides a plethora of article material. And the other one – that I believe has a more direct relation – is that the supply of paper has seen a sudden increase, and its price has dropped accordingly. If the availability of paper increases, it’s a matter of course that the number of newspapers will increase too. And similarly, the fact that paper has become more easily available is something I’m very grateful for.
 ――カランカラッ Knock, knock.
「もー、号外、号外って毎日のように配ってたら何が号外なのよ」 “Honestly, when you release extras every day, then there’s nothing extra about them!”
「いや、それを店に持ってこられても困るんだけどね」 “Yes, but they’ll still be a bother even if you bring them inside my shop.”
 霊夢は束になった新聞紙(それも号外ばかり)を手に持っていた。新聞紙を拾い物という定義でうちに持ってきている様だが、うちは廃品回収屋ではない。そんな新聞紙が商品になる訳もないのである。 Reimu had a sheaf of newspaper prints (all of them extras) in her hands. We are not a garbage collection establishment, and there is no way those newspapers could be considered articles to be sold.
「あら、何をしているのかしら? 本を読んでいる訳じゃないのね」 “Oh? What are you doing? You don’t seem to be reading a book.”
 僕は机に向かい筆を持ち手を動かしていた。そう、本を書き始めたのだ。今まで書きたくても紙が安定して入手できなかったので、紙の入手が容易になった今、やる事は一つである。 I was facing the table moving a hand that was holding a writing brush. Yes, I had started to write a book. I had always wanted to write one, but couldn’t easily get hold of enough paper. But now that paper is easy to come by, that’s at least one thing I can do.
「毎日の出来事を書きためていこうと思ってね」 “I was thinking of writing about everyday happenings.”
「日記って事? それが何の役に立つのかしら」 “Like a journal? But what would it be useful for?”
「新聞の真偽があまりにも疑わしいからさ。僕が事実に限りなく近い情報を書き留めていこうと思うんだ」 “Because the authenticity of these newspapers is somewhat questionable. So I was thinking of writing the facts as close as possible to the truth.”
「事実じゃないのね」 “That‘s still not truth.”
「事実は書くと事実じゃなくなるんだよ。だから事実を書く事は出来ない。ちなみに、幻想郷に歴史らしい歴史が無いのは何故だか判るかい?」 “When you write down a truth, it is not truth anymore. That’s why it’s impossible to write down the truth. Don’t you know why there isn’t any historical history in Gensokyo?”
「毎日が平和だからでしょ? 歴史に残る物って、一部の人だけに都合が良くて大多数には悪い事ばかりだもの。それに異変が起こってもすぐに解決するし」 “Because every day is peaceful? The things that remain as history are things that were good for a few people and bad for a lot. And even if we have an incident, it’s quickly solved.”
「それだけじゃないんだ。歴史が無いのはもっと単純……!」 “That’s not all to it. There’s a simpler reason for the lack of history… !!”
 窓ガラスが砕ける音で会話を中断された。 Our conversation was interrupted by the sound of a window pane breaking.
「号外だよー。これを読まないと明日は無いわー」 “Extra! Extra! If you don't read it, there’ll be no tomorrow!”
 割れた窓から遠ざかっていく天狗の声が聞こえる。 You could hear a distant tengu voice through the broken window.
 慌てて割れた窓に近づいて見たが、すでに配っている者の姿は遠くにあった。窓ガラスを割った事もお構いなしの様子である。 I quickly went and looked through the broken window, but the figure of the deliverer was already far away, and didn’t seem to worry at all about the glass she had broken.
「まったく、号外でも何でもいいが、天狗ってものはもっと落ち着いて配れないものなのかな」 “Geez, they can call it extra or whatever, but can’t those tengu deliver things in a more calm manner?”
「号外を配って回るのもおかしな話だけどね」 “The fact that they are distributing extras around is already weird in itself.”
 割れた窓に応急処置として霊夢が持ってきた古新聞を貼った。新聞紙ではちょいと貧乏くさく見えてしまうが、障子(しょうじ)の代わりである。もう外は冷たい風が吹く季節だ、こんな新聞紙でも貼らないよりはいい。 As an emergency measure, I stuck some of the old newspapers Reimu had brought over the broken window. Using newspaper pages gives it an appearance of poverty, but it would work fine as a paper frame. It was the season of cold winds out there, and it was better to cover it with newspaper than nothing.
「新聞紙の障子なんかすぐに破れそうだけど……また同じ窓から号外を投げ込まれちゃうわよ?」 “Won’t a newspaper frame get torn easily? Like when another extra gets thrown through the same window?”
「いや、そんな事は無いさ。新聞紙だろうが、紙の方がガラスよりは強いんだよ。それも圧倒的に」 “No, that won’t happen. Even if it’s newspaper, paper is stronger than glass. By a wide margin.”
「そうかなぁ」 “I wonder about that...”
「霊夢は疑問に思った事が無いのかい? 何故あんなに(やわ)そうで薄い紙を戸や窓に使うのかを」 “Haven't you ever thought about that, Reimu? Why such thin and weak-looking paper is used for door and window frames, I mean.”
「明かりを取り入れる為じゃないの?」 “Isn’t it because it lets light through?”
「それだけだったら、今はガラスだって有るんだから取って代わっても不思議ではないじゃないか。それに最近は外の光を取り入れる必要も減ってきているだろう」 “If that was the only reason, it wouldn’t be strange if they had all been replaced by glass by now, would it? And lately, the need for gathering light from the outside is decreasing.”
 僕は霊夢に障子が持つ結界としての神秘性を語った。障子に使われる紙は破こうと思えば子供の力でも破く事が出来る。汚れた手で触れれば、もう取り返しがつかない。ガラスと違い障子は洗う事も出来ない。 I told Reimu about the mysterious nature of paper frames as borders. Even a child could tear that paper if they wanted to. If they were touched by dirty hands, their original state can't be restored. Unlike glass, paper frames can’t be washed.
 そんな障子だからこそ、それを破る事や汚す事を(とが)める人物が必ず必要となる。障子の近くで暴れている子供を叱る。汚れた手で触れようとする子供を止める。こういう人物が居て、初めて障子は障子としての機能を持つ。 And because they were like that, if they were torn or dirtied, someone would definitely be to blame. Children that were rowdy around them would get scolded, and the ones who would touch them with dirty hands would be stopped. For these kinds of individuals the paper frames served their first purpose as paper frames.
 (ほとん)どの場合、障子の貼られた家屋に住む者がその役回りとなる。障子の頑丈さはその人物や家屋が持つ力そのものであり、その強さは計り知れない。 In most cases, this was the duty of those who lived in houses with paper doors. The sturdiness of the paper frames would ultimately be based on the power of the household to keep them that way. In a way, their strength is immeasurable.
 そんな障子のお陰で建物の近くで暴れる者も居なくなる。戸を乱暴に扱う者も居なくなる。これがもし頑丈を売りにした材質、たとえば鉄や石などに取って代わったら、人間の行動はがさつになり、建物の中ですら激しい行動をとるようになるだろう。それでは、近いうちに頑丈さも破られてしまうのだ。 Thanks to the paper frames, people don’t act violent near buildings, and nobody handles doors roughly. If they were replaced with a sturdier material, like iron or stone, then the behavior of people would turn rougher, they would even start acting violently inside buildings. And before long, even their sturdiness wouldn't hold.
 障子には人間の危険な行動を未然に防ぐ力が有るのである。ただ障子の頑丈さは一定ではなく、それは中に住む者の力に比例する。廃屋の障子は赤子の力でも容易に破る事が出来るが、神が住まう神社の障子は大人の力でも決して破れない。 Paper frames have the power of preventing dangerous behavior from people. The strength of a paper frame is not definite; it is proportional to the strength of the ones living inside it. The paper frames of an abandoned house can be torn apart even by a baby, but not even an adult could tear the frames of a shrine housing a god.
「霖之助さん。その破れない筈の障子に目があるわよ?」 “Hey, Mr. Rinnosuke, do those unbreakable paper frames have eyes?”
 窓を見ると、新聞紙の障子に開けられた穴から覗いている目が見えた。 Looking at the window, I saw an eye peeping through a hole in the newspapered frame.
「――それで、今日の号外の内容は何だったんだ?」 “So, what does today’s extra say?”
 魔理沙には新聞紙の窓に穴を開けた罰として、貼り直しさせた。 As a punishment for making a hole in the newspapered window, I made Marisa fix it.
「ああ、どうでもいい内容だ。天狗の新聞大会の優勝者が決まったという事だったよ。優勝者はどっかの聞いた事もない大天狗の新聞『鞍馬諧報(くらまかいほう)』だってさ」 “Ahh, it was really unimportant. They decided the winner of the tengu newspaper competition. Some paper I've never heard of, the Great Tengu’s ‘Kurama Humorous Report.’ " [2]
「本当にどうでもいい内容ねぇ……」 “That’s really unimportant, isn’t it...”
「本当にどうでもいい内容だな」 “That’s really unimportant.”
 その優勝者である大天狗の『鞍馬諧報』も読んだ事が有るが、さっき窓から投げ込まれたこの『文々。新聞(ぶんぶんまるしんぶん)』の号外がかわいく見える位の大げさな物である。内容は事実とは大幅に異なり、有る事無い事面白おかしく書かれた記事しか無い。さらに情報をありったけ詰め込んで、ボリュームが有る様に見えるだけの酷い物であった。 I have read the Great Tengu's “Kurama Humorous Report” already, but this extra that was just thrown through my window, the “Bunbunmaru Newspaper,” was so exaggerated it was somehow cute. Its contents were a great way off reality, and all of its articles were riddled with half-truths yet written in a humorous manner. And in addition, everything was packed together so tightly, as if it were trying to appear voluminous. It was truly awful.
 ありったけの出来事を詰め込んだ物は、物事を深く考えない者たちを何か知識を得た様な気分にさせてしまうのだろう。羅列された情報だけが知識なら、人の知識は出来事を羅列した本や新聞と同じじゃないか。本や新聞から知識が得られるという理由は、決してそこに知識が書かれているからではない。本や新聞に書かれている事柄はあくまでも真実を構築するあやふやな土台、つまり情報であり、それは知識足り得ない。その情報を元に考えて初めて知識となるのだ。大天狗のそれに比べると、内容はともかく『文々。新聞』の方がいろいろと考察も出来、知識がぐっと深くなるのだ、とそう思う。まぁ内容はともかく。 Maybe by having a lot of news crammed together, people who just couldn’t think deeply about anything would get a sense of having acquired more knowledge. If knowledge was just enumerated information, then wouldn’t human wisdom be the same as books and newspapers enumerating events? The reason that we can get knowledge from books and newspaper is most definitely not because the knowledge is written on them. The things written on books and papers are but an uncertain basis on which to construct the truth. They are just information and that’s not enough to gain knowledge. When you think about what this information is, then it starts to become knowledge. Regarding its content at least, this “Bunbunmaru Newspaper” has more inquiries, and its knowledge goes much deeper compared to the Great Tengu one, or so I think. Well, regarding its content, anyways.
「ところで、何で急に新聞が増えたんだ? 全然知らなかったけど、新聞大会は毎年やってたんだって? だとしたら新聞大会だけが原因じゃないだろう?」 “By the way, why has the number of newspapers increased so suddenly? I had no idea before, but this newspaper competition is held every year, isn't it? If that’s true, then the competition can’t be the only cause, right?”
「それは、紙の入手が容易になった事が一番の原因だな。ここのところ幻想郷の紙の価値が急激に下がっている。外の世界から紙が大量に舞い込んで来たんだよ」 “The main cause would be paper becoming much more accessible. The price of paper in Gensokyo has just dropped sharply. Seems a great quantity of paper is dropping in from the outside world.”
「ふーん。幽霊の次は紙ねぇ。舞い込み放題ね」 “Hmm... First phantoms, and now paper. Sounds like all kinds of things are dropping.”
「コンピューターは、紙を使わないで情報を集める式神だ。それと紙の増加を(あわ)せて考えると、紙で情報を伝える事は既に幻想の域に達していると言えるだろう。もう既に、外の世界では本を書いたりする事自体が幻想なのかも知れない。まぁその恩恵で僕も本を書こうかと思っていたんだけど」 “Computers are shikigami capable of gathering information without using paper. When you consider that together with the increase in paper, then you could say that paper has already reached the realms of fantasy as a form of transmitting information. It may even be that the act of writing books itself has already become fantasy in the outside world. But, it’s thanks to that I’m thinking about writing one now though."
「物忘れが酷くなったのか?」 “Maybe they're becoming more forgetful?”
「本を書いている人はみんな物忘れが酷いのかい?」 “You mean that all writers are forgetful?”
「どうせ、ヘビイチゴになるぜ」 “Yeah, they’re all like Indian strawberries.” [3]
「それを言うなら日蓮和尚でしょう?」 “You mean like that and Nichiren Oshou?” [4]
「君たちが言いたいのはきっと、三日坊主だ」 “I believe what you two want to say is ‘three-day monk’ ” [5]
 幻想郷には歴史らしい歴史がない。それは毎日が平和だからでも、異変がすぐに解決するからでもない。もっと単純な理由である。 Gensokyo doesn’t have any historical history. And that is not because everyday is peaceful and the incidents get quickly solved. There’s a simpler reason.
 それは、妖怪の寿命が永過ぎるからだ。歴史となる事件でも、当事者が生きている以上都合のいいように情報が変化し続け、その曖昧(あいまい)な情報の上に立っている事実がいつまで()っても定まらない。事実は情報の上に建つ砂上(さじょう)楼閣(ろうかく)なのだ。真偽の不確かな事実が生まれては、風に吹かれて崩れ落ちる。いくつもの事実の楼閣が乱立し、すべてが雨で溶ける。歴史になるには客観性が一番大事なのだが、当事者が生存し続けるとなかなか主観から離れられないから、幻想郷には歴史が無いのだ。 That is because a youkai’s life span is too long. Even if an event were to become history, as long as the involved party is still alive and can go changing the information at their will, the real truth cannot be determined, not upon this uncertain foundation. Truth is a tower built upon the sands of information. If a truth of uncertain authenticity is built, it will crumble in the wind. No matter how many “towers of truth” are erected, they can all melt under the rain. Objectiveness is the most important thing in history, but if the concerned party is still around, it cannot quite separate from its interests. And that’s why there’s no history in Gensokyo.
 僕は外の世界から舞い込んだ紙に、できる限り客観の目で見た幻想郷を書き留めようと思う。これが歴史に繋がるのだとすれば、本を書き始めた事が一番最初の歴史になる。一番最初の歴史とは、幻想郷の歴史が誕生したという歴史だ。僕は自分の本の冒頭に「幻想郷の歴史が誕生した」と書いた。 I intend to use this paper that fell in from the outside world to write about the Gensokyo I see in the most objective fashion I can. If that can become history, then the beginning of my writing of this book will become our very first history. And this first history would be exactly about the birth of Gensokyo’s history. I wrote, at the beginning of my book: “The history of Gensokyo has been born.”
「それにしても紙が増え過ぎよねぇ。天狗は何処(どこ)からこんなに紙を集めて来るのかしら?」 “Anyway, this is just too much paper… Where are the tengu gathering so much of it?”
「紙が増えたのは、外の世界で紙を使う事が減ったからでしかない。さっきも言ったように、紙で情報を伝える事自体がもう幻想なのだろう」 “The only reason for the amount of paper to be increasing is because it is decreasing in the outside world. Like I said before, the very use of paper as a way of transmitting information might be already fantasy.”
「やっぱ何でもかんでも口伝なのか。外の世界は人が多いからな。人の数だけ口があるし」 “So it’s all word-of-mouth now? Well, there are a lot of people in the outside world, so they must have a lot of mouths at least.”
「ただ、反対に幻想郷はこれから紙による情報伝達が盛んになるかも知れないよ」 “So that means that, in contrast, communication through paper might become popular in Gensokyo.”
「天狗の新聞みたいにか? それは迷惑だな」 “Like the tengu newspapers, y’mean? That’d be annoyin'.”
「迷惑ねぇ」 “Yeah, it would be annoying.”
「まあ……迷惑だけどね」 “Well... I suppose it would be annoying.”
 もうすぐ僕の手によって幻想郷に歴史が生まれようとしている。僕の書き留めた本が幻想郷の歴史書となる時代が来るだろう。その時初めて幻想郷のアカデミズムが動き、幻想郷は外の世界に近づく事になる。ついでに言うと、僕が書いた本も飛ぶように売れて店も安泰という訳だ。店の売り物が拾い物だけじゃなくなれば、香霖堂は道具屋としての格も上がるかも知れない。 Gensokyo’s history would soon be born through my hands. I wonder if it will come the age when my book will become Gensokyo’s history textbook. At this time, academism will start to take place in Gensokyo, and Gensokyo will become closer to the outside world. Incidentally, if my book does fly off the shelves, it would help a lot with the shop. If I sell more than just goods I collect, then Kourindou could maybe rise above that of a mere second-hand store.
 幻想郷に紙が大量に舞い込むと、幻想郷の紙の価値が下がる。それと同時に、新聞や本が書ける様になり、紙の需要も急激に増すだろう。 Due to the large amount of paper raining down on Gensokyo, its price has dropped. And at the same time, newspapers and books can now be written, increasing the demand for this paper.
 幻想郷の紙価が下がることで洛陽(らくよう)の紙価が上がる。外の世界で紙が消えようとする時、幻想郷の紙が急増する。(とき)の大群が幻想郷の空を翔る時、外の世界の空から鴇が失われる。何事にもバランスが有るのだ。小さな所しか見えない人間には世界の天秤は見えてこない。 If the price of paper goes down in Gensokyo, it goes up in Luoyang. When paper disappears in the outside world, it proliferates in Gensokyo. When large flocks of crested ibises fly through Gensokyo’s skies, they must have disappeared from the skies of the outside world. There’s a balance to everything. People who only focus on the small things could never see the balance of the world.
「ほんとに、どの新聞もどうでもいい内容ばかりだな。三途(さんず)(かわ)の河(はば)が求められたってさ。それが判ると何か嬉しいのか?」 “But really, all these papers have completely pointless stories. Like figurin' out the width of the Sanzu River. What’s so good about that?”
 魔理沙は、霊夢が持ってきた古新聞の束を崩し、どうでもいい内容の新聞を読んでいた。 Marisa was flipping through the sheafs of old newspaper Reimu had brought, reading some of the pointless contents in them.
「三途の河の河幅は渡りきるまでの時間と同様だから、君みたいな人間でも安心して死ねる様になるってことじゃないか」 “Because the width of the Sanzu River is related to how much time you take to be ferried across it. Even a human like you would be more relieved in dying knowing it, isn’t that so?”
「時間がかかると退屈だから、死ぬ前に何か持って行かないといけないって事か」 “It'd be borin' if it takes too long, so maybe I can bring somethin' along for the trip?”
「魔理沙が渡る三途の河の河幅が広いってことは、自分でも判っているのね」 “Seems like you realize yourself that the Sanzu River will be wide when you cross it, Marisa.”
「狭いよりは広い方がいいな」 “Better wide than narrow.”
「良くないよ。河幅が広いというのは人との繋がり、それもお金を貸してくれる程の信用を持った友人が少ないという事だ。店の商品を勝手に持って行く様では河は渡りきれない程広くなるんじゃないかな?」 “No, it’s not. The width of the river depends on your relationship with others. If the number of friends good enough to lend you money is small, it’ll be wide. If you go taking away things from my store on your own, it will be so wide you won’t be able to be ferried all the way across, you know?”
「だから広い方が良いじゃないか。広ければ店の商品を持って行けるんだろう?」 “That’s why it’s good for it to be wide. If it’s so wide, can I take some stuff from the store with me?”
 内容はどうでもいい新聞だが、それでも魔理沙たちはそこから知識を得ようと頭を働かせている。知識というものは、自分で考えて、自分の論を持って初めて身に付く。それは書いてある物ではなく、書いてある事から自分なりに考えて初めて知識となるのだ。多くの情報や出来事だけを集めた新聞や本を有り難がっているうちは、知識など集まりもしない。見ているだけ、読んでいるだけ、()っているだけ、書いているだけ、喋っているだけでは知識は高まらない。 Even though the newspaper was full of unimportant content, the girls could use it to get their heads working and acquire some knowledge. Knowledge is something you think about yourself, compare it against your existing ideas, and apply to your own situation. It’s not something that’s written somewhere, you have to pick up what’s written and think about it for knowledge to first appear. While it’s thankful that there are newspapers and books that gather lots of information and happenings, they don’t really gather knowledge. Your knowledge won’t increase just by seeing, reading, memorizing, writing or speaking.
 それを助長するような大天狗の新聞を優勝させるのは間違いだと僕は思う。購読数で新聞の優劣を付ける事は危険である。知識を勘違いした人間や妖怪が増えるだけなのが目に見えているじゃないか。今度天狗に会ったらそう申告しよう。 I think it’s a mistake to declare a newspaper like the great tengu’s one that promotes these things the winner. Judging the merits of a newspaper only by the number of subscribers is dangerous. Couldn’t they see that this would just increase the number of humans and youkai that misunderstand knowledge? The next time I meet a tengu I’ll be sure to mention it.
「でもまぁ、天狗の新聞大会は決着が付いたんだよね? これで内容のない号外の量も(ようや)く落ち着くわよね」 “But anyways, this tengu newspaper competition is over now, right? That means the number of unimportant extras will finally go down.”
「そうだね。それに定期的に号外を配られたんじゃ、購読してるのと変わらないし。まあ僕は定期購読もしているんだけど、それでも号外が配られる。号外は自分に関係する大きな事件があった時だけで良い」 “That’s right. And they were delivering extras with such regularity that it was the same as having a subscription. Well, I do have subscriptions, and even so I still got extras delivered to me. I’ll be glad if they only did that when there’s an extra with big news that relates to me.”
「でも、新聞大会は毎年有るんだろう? 足も速ければ気も早い天狗のことだから、すぐに来年の大会に向けて準備を始めそうな気も……」 “But there’ll be another newspaper competition next year, right? And with them bein' so quick to think and act, the tengu might soon be startin' up for next year…”
 魔理沙の台詞(せりふ)(さえぎ)るように、再び新聞紙の障子(しょうじ)を破って号外が投げ込まれた。二人が呆れた表情で窓から投げ込まれた号外を見ていた。 Marisa’s line was interrupted by another extra tearing through the paper frame. The two of them looked at it with surprised expressions.
 僕は一年間も障子を貼り直し続けないといけないのかと思うと、軽い眩暈(めまい)を覚えた。 When I thought of having to fix paper frames all throughout the year, I started to feel a little dizzy.

References

  1. The title alludes to the Chinese story, "Luoyang's Paper is Expensive" 洛陽紙貴. The writer Zuo Si (250-305) composed such great poetry that demands for paper increased greatly because the nobles in Luoyang wanted to copy his poems, thus inflating the price of paper in Luoyang.
  2. Analysing 鞍馬諧報 (Kurama Kaihou): "Kurama Tengu" (鞍馬天狗; Tengu on Mt. Kurama), the king of the tengu in some folklores; "cynical/humorous" (謔的, kaigyakuteki); the word often used in the name of bulletin/journal (, kaihou). In total, it signifies "Kurama Tengu's Humorous Journal".
  3. Indian strawberries ripen very fast about in 3 days.
  4. Nichiren is a Buddhist monk very famous both in good and bad aspects.
  5. A Japanese idiom "three-day Buddhist monk" (三日坊主, mikka bouzu) means "a person who is too fickle, impatient to keep something important customary".

Notes

  • This chapter is the original idea of the Aphorism grantly written in Curiosities of Lotus Asia, showing Rinnosuke's motivation of recording everyday events.


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