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Curiosities of Lotus Asia/Chapter 26
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| < | Chapter 25 | Curiosities of Lotus Asia | Chapter 27 | > |
| 幻想郷を操る妖怪 八雲の名前に隠された秘密とは…!? |
What is the secret behind the name "Yakumo," the youkai who manipulates Gensokyo!? |
| 幻想郷に多大なる影響を及ぼす、八雲紫。千年以上前に人間界と の境界を創り出し、巫女たちを幻想郷に封じ込めているとまで言わ れる彼女だが、その力の源が名前に隠されていたことが明らかに…!? |
Yukari Yakumo, a youkai with great influence in Gensokyo. It's rumored that over a thousand years ago she created the barrier with the human world and sealed the shrine maidens in Gensokyo, but will the power hidden in her name finally be brought to light!? |
| 八雲立つ夜 | The Night the Storm Clouds Rolled In |
|---|---|
| |
Just as one wonders if the towering summer cumulonimbus clouds would open up with a pouring rain shower, they steal away all of the day's muggy warmth. Moonlight filtered in the window, obscured by rain. |
| 霊夢と魔理沙の二人は昼から店内に居たのだが、突然の夕立の |
Reimu and Marisa had been at the store all day, but as a sudden evening shower prevented them from going home, they remained for dinner. |
| 「最近、紫の様子がおかしいのよ。もぐもぐ」 | "Yukari's been acting odd lately. *smack*" |
| 「あいつの様子がおかしいのは今に始まった事ではないぜ。もぐもぐ」 | "Ya say that like she wasn't odd t'begin with. *chomp*" |
| 「二人とも、口に物を入れている時ぐらい喋るのを止めたらどうかね」 | "Why don't you two try swallowing what's in your mouth before you start talking?" |
| 今日は一人で食事をするつもりだったから夕食は質素な物だった。そもそも僕は余り食事を取らないのである。夕食と言っても精々、お新香をつまみにお酒を呑む程度である。そもそも人妖である僕には、食事は |
I'd been planning on eating alone tonight, so the menu was meager. I don't eat meals often in the first place. Dinner for me is really just sake with a side of pickled vegetables. A half-youkai like myself doesn't really need to eat much to live; it's more for pleasure. If the sake is delicious, that's enough to last me through the night. |
| だが霊夢と魔理沙の二人はそういう訳には行かず、何か食べ続けないと力尽きいつか倒れてしまうだろう。幸い酒の |
But that won't do for Reimu and Marisa; if they don't eat regularly, they'll get weak and eventually collapse due to lack of stamina. A lot of foods high in salt content go well with sake and make good snacks. Some rice and something salty would probably perk them right back up for a while. |
| 「紫の様子がおかしいって、あの妖怪、八雲紫の事かい？」 | "Yukari has been acting odd? Do you mean that youkai, Yakumo Yukari?" |
| 僕はあの妖怪が苦手だ。外の世界の物を扱ううちとしては、外の世界と幻想郷を分けている彼女にお世話になっているのだが、近くに居られると常に何か見透かされている気がして落ち着かない。 | I really don't like her. I make my living by collecting things from the outside world, so I really do owe her a lot, since she keeps Gensokyo and the outside world separate, but whenever she's around it feels like something's looking right through me, and I can't think straight. |
| 「最近、紫が私に |
"Yukari's actually been helping me train lately. It's really weird."[1] |
| 「霊夢に稽古？ ……妖怪が？ 変だね、妖怪が妖怪退治の専門家に稽古を付けさせるなんて……。それは確実に何か |
"Helping you train...? A youkai? That's unusual for a youkai to train a youkai hunter... It seems like she's plotting something. What are you going to do about it, Reimu?" |
| 「だから紫が何を企んでいても大丈夫な様に、しっかりと稽古する事にしたの」 | "It doesn't matter if she's up to something, since I've been training." |
| 「まぁそれしか無いと言えば、それしか無いけど……」 | "Well, if you say so..." |
| それはどのみち、紫の言う通りに動く事になっている。 | No matter how you look at it, that just means you're doing exactly what Yukari wants you to do. |
| 幻想郷が幻想郷たる |
Gensokyo is the place it is because of Yukari's ability to control borders. Her power is what separates Gensokyo from the outside world. There really aren't any youkai in Gensokyo who could stand against her. Needless to say, a human probably wouldn't stand a chance either. |
| 「……八雲、紫か。自ら『八雲』って名乗るぐらいだから、どうあがいても『巫女は彼女の言いなりになる』しかないだろうね」 | "Yukari... Yakumo, huh? Since she probably chose the name 'Yakumo' herself, I guess you have no choice but to bend to her will. "Shrine maidens must do as she says."" |
| 食事を終えたので月を眺めながらお酒を呑む事にした。昼の暑さを |
Dinner was finished, so we sat outside and gazed at the moon while sipping sake. The rain had wiped away all traces of the day's heat, so it was a crisp summer evening. It was the best kind of night for watching the moon, but Reimu and Marisa had already taken all the sitting space in front of the entrance, so I stood behind them and enjoyed my sake. |
| 「あーそういえば神社に洗濯物干しっぱなしだったわ。さっきの夕立大丈夫かなぁ」 | "Oh, I was drying some clothes at the shrine before I left. I wonder if they'll be all right, since we had that storm." |
| 「いやまあ、大丈夫な訳が無いぜ。店から出られないくらいの雨だったんだからな」 | "Of course they aren't. It was rainin' so hard we couldn't leave." |
| 「そうねぇ、もう一度洗わないとね。ところで霖之助さん、さっきの話の続きなんだけど……何で『私が紫の言いなりになるしかない』の？」 | "I guess so. I'll probably have to wash them again... By the way, Mr. Rinnosuke, about what we were talking about earlier... What do you mean "I have to do as she says?"" |
| 「ああ、だって八雲紫って名前がすべてを表しているだろう？」 | "Well, the name "Yukari Yakumo" says it all, doesn't it?" |
| 僕は物を見ただけで名前が判る能力を持っている。その事もあってか名前に関してはちょっと |
I have the ability to tell what something's name is just by looking at it, so maybe I go on a little too much about names, thanks to that. |
| 物に付けられた名前には大きく分けて二種類ある。それは『物の性質を表す名前』と『物の性質を決定付ける名前』である。前者は物の色や形等の見た目や、他の物とは異なる特徴、道具の場合などは用途で命名した物である。道具や動植物、自然物等は |
You can generally divide names into two categories. There are names that describe an objects's characteristics, and names that determine its characteristics. The former are names that generally describe something's shape, color, other external attributes, or in the case of things like tools, their utility. Most animals, plants and natural objects are named in this fashion. |
| 後者はまだ性質が定まっていない物や、ただ単に他と区別したいときなどに名付ける物である。人名や妖怪の個人名や、商品名などはこちらである。この場合は最も命名の力が大きく働く。だから人間の性格等は名前で大きく変わってくる為、名付けの親は様々な意味を持たせるのが普通である。決して口に出した時の語感だけでは命名しないものだ。 | The latter type of names are usually given to those things whose nature hasn't yet been determined, or to those that the namer wishes to merely distinguish from other things. The names of people and the personal names youkai take on fall into this category, as well as the names of most commodities. These are the names that have the most power over a thing. Since a person's name has a great effect on the sort of personality they develop, parents normally give their children names that hold various meanings. They don't just pick names that sound pleasing to the ear. |
| 「八雲紫の『紫』は虹の最も外側の色だ。虹というのは雄の龍と雌の龍の通り道として二つの輪っかがセットで現れるんだが、お互いの外側の色が紫なんだ」 | "The name 'Yukari' means 'violet,' and violet is the outer-most color in the rainbow. In fact, when a dragon flies through the sky, the pair of rainbows it leaves behind appear to be an identical set, but in fact, the outermost color of both is violet." |
| 「確かに、虹って良く見ると二つ見えるときが有るけど……色の並びは覚えていないわ」 | "That's true. I've seen two rainbows when I look closely, but I can never quite make out how the colors are arranged." |
| 虹が現れる時は、良く見ると比較的はっきり見える内側の虹と、その外側に薄い虹の二つが掛かっている事が多い。それぞれの虹の色の並び方は異なっている事は余り知られていない。 | When rainbows appear, they often form in pairs: an inner rainbow that you can see easily at a glance, and an outer rainbow that's considerably fainter. Quite a few people don't seem to know the order of the colors in each rainbow. |
| 内側の虹は下から順に紫、藍、青、緑、黄、橙、赤の順に並んでいるが、外側の虹は下から赤から紫の逆順に並んでいる。つまり、二つの虹を |
From bottom to top, the colors of the inner rainbow are violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red, but the outer rainbow goes from red to violet in the reverse order. In other words, it's reversed. So, if you put the two rainbows together, from bottom to top the colors progress from violet to red, and then from red back to violet. The border between the rainbow and the sky is certainly colored violet. |
| 「それだけでも自分の名前が境界を暗示しているだろう？ それともう一つ、『八雲』の方だが……言葉の意味だけ取ると八雲とは『 |
"Just going by that, her name obviously is a reference to borders, right? But that's just her first name. Her other name, 'Yakumo,' if you take it literally, it refers to the kind of clouds that pile up on themselves in many layers." |
| 「言葉の意味だけってどういう意味？」 | "What do you mean, if you take it literally?" |
| 「と言うのも、八雲という言葉は単体で使われる事は少ないんだ。八雲とは神々の地の出雲に掛かる言葉である事が多いんだ。彼女の場合は恐らく『八雲立つ |
"Well, the word 'yakumo' isn't used by itself very much. However, it's used quite extensively in the divine land of Izumo. In her case, it's quite likely she's taken it from the verse: Yakumo tatsu Izumo yaegaki tsumagomi ni yaegaki tsukuru sono yaegaki wo. |
| 「何よその呪文」 | "What is that? An incantation?" |
| 「これは |
"It's a poem that was composed by his divinity, Susano-o. They say it's the first Japanese poem ever written. Quite surprising, isn't it?" |
| 「へぇ。素戔嗚尊って荒々しいイメージだったけど歌を詠んだりしてたのねぇ。それでどういう意味の歌なの？」 | "Huh, I've always pictured Susano-o as more violent. I had no idea he wrote poetry. But what does it mean?" |
| 「内容はもの凄くシンプルで『幾重にも美しい雲が重なる出雲の国に、我が妻である |
"The contents are very simple: 'In the land of Izumo, covered by beautiful, heavy clouds, I've built a great fenced mansion to let my wife, Princess Kushinada, live a peaceful life in seclusion.'" |
| 「……えーっと、家を造ったってだけ？ 歌としてはどうなのかしら」 | "...Sooooo, it just means he built a house? Why bother with a poem about something like that?" |
| 「まあ初めての和歌だからね。八重垣を繰り返して言う所なんか、家を作った事で浮かれている感じが歌に表れていて良いじゃないか」 | "Well, it's because it's the first Japanese poem. The way he repeats the word "yaegaki" over and over really brings out his merry spirit at having finished that house, don't you think?" |
| 「馬鹿っぽいとも言えるけどね」 | "It seems more foolish to me." |
| 巫女が神様に対して馬鹿っぽいと言うのも |
Well, what about a shrine maiden calling what the gods do foolish...? |
| 「結論を言うと八雲紫という名前は、境界を意味する下の名前と併せて『神様を閉じこめる堅固な |
"Getting to the point, aside from the primary meaning of borders, Yukari Yakumo's name also has the hidden meaning of 'A strong fortress to keep the gods trapped inside'. Now, if you substitute shrine maidens for the gods, it's obviously Gensokyo. Yukari will never let the shrine maidens escape from Gensokyo." |
| 霊夢は黙ってしまった。思い当たる節は幾らでも有るのだろう。 | Reimu became quiet. She probably had a lot to think about. |
| このまま黙ってお酒を呑んでも美味しい事は美味しいが、それ以上の楽しみが無いので僕の方から新しい話題を振る事にした。 | It's nice enough to sit in silence and drink sake, but you only get so much out of it, so I decided to renew the conversation a different topic. |
| 「さっきの和歌だけど、口に出してみるともう一つの側面が見えてくるんだよ」 | "Oh, and speaking of that particular verse, you can see yet another side to it if you say it out loud." |
| 「八雲立つ…… えーっと何だったか忘れたぜ」魔理沙がそう言ったので、僕はもう一度復唱した。 | "Yakumo tatsu... uhhh, how'd it go again? I forgot." When Marisa said this, I recited it once more. |
| 「『八重垣』が何度も出て来てリズム感が有って詠んでて楽しいだろう？ それに、その八重垣はすべて最初の八雲の『や』に掛かっているんだ」 | "Isn't the sense of rhythm from the repetition of the word 'yaegari' pleasant? And it goes well with the "ya" from the very first word 'yakumo.'" |
| 「や、や、や……確かにやかましいくらいだけど。何でそんな事したのかしら？」 | "Ya, ya, ya... it's almost too much ya. I wonder why he wrote it that way?" |
| 「 |
"Of course, there's a meaning behind it. But the true meaning is hidden in another word pronounced 'ya.'" |
| 「本当かしら？ で、どういう意味なの？」 | "Really? What would that be?" |
| 「それは |
"Why, the splendid 'night' that always hides itself from the great Amaterasu." |
| 風が冷たくなってきた。先ほどの |
The wind had gotten rather cold. As the ground that had dampened earlier that evening dried, it probably caused the wind to pick up. I sipped on my "fuel." It didn't cool me down too much, but it did speedily give rise to a new line of thought. After all, if you look at the world the same all the time, you won't get any ideas more profound than what's in the realm of common sense. |
| 「実は八と言う数字は夜と密接な関係が有るんだ。八も夜も『や』と読むだろう？」 | "The number eight is actually very closely related to the night. Can't you read both characters as 'ya'?" |
| 「それだけだと、焼き肉も夜になるぜ。ま、普通は夜か。でもそれだけじゃあ偶然じゃないのか？」 | "Well, yeah, but you can do the same thing with 'yakiniku,' since you eat it at night. But usually it's pronounced 'yoru.' Isn't that all just coincidence though?" |
| 「八と夜だけならそう思うのも仕方がないだろう。だが不思議な事に、他の国の言葉でも八と夜は |
"You might think so, if it was just the kanji for night and eight. But what's interesting is that those two words are almost the same in other languages, too." |
| 「そうなの？ |
"Really? I don't know much about other languages." |
| 「英語の『エイト』と『ナイト』、ラテン語の「オクト」と『ノクト』、ドイツ語の『アハト』と『ナハト』……他にも世界の言語の多くが八と夜が似ているんだ。これでも偶然かい？」 | "In English, it's 'eight' and 'night', in Latin, it's 'octo' and 'nocto'[2], in German, it's 'Acht' and 'Nacht' and in a lot of other languages, eight and night sound very similar. Are those all coincidences?"[3] |
| 「ふーん、外の世界の国の事はよく判らんがな。ま、どうして八と夜の言葉の読みが似ているんだ？」 | "Hmm, I don't know much about the countries in the outside world. So why are words for night and eight so similar?" |
| 「これには諸説有って、残念ながら正確な理由は誰も知らない」 | "There are a few explanations, but unfortunately no one has a definitive answer." |
| 「何だよ、持ち出しておいて理由は判らないのかよ」 | "What? Why are ya bringin' somethin' up that you don't even get?" |
| 「何しろ他の国の言語は語源に関しても調べる事が多すぎて単純じゃないんだ」 | "It's not that simple. To begin with, the etymology is probably different for each language." |
| 魔理沙は不満そうだったので、今度調べておくよ、とだけ答えておいた。 | Marisa didn't seem satisfied with that answer, so I promised I'd look into it some more. |
| 「でも、日本に限って言えば理由は想像付く。日本では『八雲』、『八重垣』、『 |
"Anyway, we can speculate about why that is in Japanese, at least. The 'ya', or eight, in words like 'yakumo', 'yaegari' and 'yaorozu no kami' doesn't literally mean the number eight, but a very large number of something... Now, I hope you'll notice that whenever it's used that way, it's always pronounced 'ya'." |
| 「坂の多いと言う意味の『八坂』、幾重にも花びらが重なった『 |
"Let's see, a great number of hills is 'yasaka', when cherry blossoms pile up it's 'yaezakura', the great many-headed demon Yamata no Orochi... Hm, it really is pronounced 'ya' whenever it means 'many'." |
| 「これらの言葉は、漢字が当たられる前から存在していた古い言葉なんだ。今の日本語では、数が多い事を八とは言わないよね」 | "All of these words are very old words that existed before we started to use kanji for writing. You don't say that you have 'eight' of something in modern Japanese if you want to say that you have a lot." |
| 「八人前で大量に持ってこられても困るぜ」 | "Yeah, it'd be a huge pain to have to make enough food for 'eight' people." |
| 「結論から言うと、数が多い『や』に八の字を当てたのは、八が大きい数だったからに過ぎない」 | "Anyway, my point is that the only reason this word for many, 'ya' was written with the character for eight is because eight was a big number." |
| 「八が大きい数？ もっと大きい数なら幾らでも有るぜ？」 | "Eight is a big number? Aren't there lots of bigger numbers?" |
| 「いや、一桁の数字で考えると九が最大だが、八も九に次いで大きな数字だ。でも九は久、つまり永久を意味し、昔から無限を表していた。漠然と多いと言う状態は有限だから、感覚的に無限よりは少ない事が判る。だから、九の一つ下の八の字を『や』に当てた、と言った感じじゃないかな」 | "Well, it's true that nine is a larger digit, but eight and nine are both big numbers. However, nine, read as 'kyuu', is linked to the 'kyuu' in 'eikyuu', or eternity, so it's been linked to the infinite for a long time. After all, if there are a lot of something, there's still a finite amount, so it's obviously less than infinity. That's why eight, the number one less than nine, was given the pronunciation 'ya', I believe." |
| 「ふーん。元々八は『や』とは読まなかったと言うのね？ それが夜と何の関係が？」 | "Hmm. So you mean the character for eight wasn't always read 'ya'? What's its connection to the night, then?" |
| 「八では夜が『や』だったんだよ。非常に多いと言う言葉に夜を当てたんだ」 | "Well, it's the word for 'night' that was originally pronounced 'ya', not eight. Anything that was incredibly high in number was linked to the night." |
| それだけではない、日本の数字の呼び方にはもっと多くの秘密が隠されている。 | And that's not all. The Japanese names for numbers hide many more secrets like this. |
| 「何で非常に多いという言葉が夜なのかしら？」 | "I wonder why the word for a great number of things was the same as the word for the night?" |
| 「今夜みたいな、月の明かりだけが頼りの夜に空を |
"To answer that, all you need to do is gaze up at the sky on a moonlit night like this. Isn't it obvious why the word for the night came to mean 'a great many'?" |
| |
The clouds that had given us a sudden squall earlier in the evening had completely vanished. In their place, the skies of Gensokyo were filled with a countless number of stars. Forgetting my sake, I gazed up at the starry sky. The silvery river that flowed through the sky was more than enough to crush any reckless challengers who thought they could count every star within it. |
| それとは対照的に昼の空に浮かぶ太陽は無二の存在であった。 |
In comparison, the sun floated high in the daytime sky without peer. It's only natural then, that the great Amaterasu, that is, the sun, would be worshipped as the highest god. |
| 夜には無数の星が浮かんでいた。まるで太陽から身を隠さなければいけない者たちのか細い光の様だった。満点の夜空は、人間の存在が太陽に比べるとちっぽけな物だという事を感じさせられると同時に、太陽に負けた妖怪たちの切なさも表している様だった。 | A countless number of stars twinkled in the sky. Their faint light made them seem like they had to hide themselves from the sun. All across the world, the night sky expressed how tiny humans must have felt in comparison to the sun, as well as the pain the youkai felt from it. |
| 「何にしても、紫が何を |
"Anyway, I think it'll be okay even if Yukari's planning something, so I guess I just have to train." |
| 「ま、そういう事になるかな。霊夢にとっても稽古になって力が付くのなら良い事だし、それに……」 | "Hm, maybe so. It will be good for you to get more powerful by training, and besides..." |
| 紫に |
There was no way to stand up to Yukari, nor was there any reason to do so. |
| 「うん。取り敢えず神社に帰ったら、新しい修行のメニューでも考えるかな」 | "Yep. Anyway, I'd probably better go back to the shrine and figure out a new training schedule." |
| 「その前に、夕立で悲しい事になっている筈の洗濯物を再度洗濯するのが先だぜ」 | "But I'd wash that laundry again before that, if I were you. That storm probably did a number on it." |
| 「うう」 | "Ohhh..." |
| 「大体、夏に夕立なんて付き物だ。昼間晴れていようと、外に洗濯物を出したまま長時間家を離れるなんて不用心すぎるぜ」 | "Evening storms happen all the time durin' the summer. Even if it's sunny all day, hangin' your laundry out to dry and leavin' your house like that is just careless, y'know." |
| 「洗濯物は |
"Well, the laundry was already wet, so what's the harm in a little rain?" |
| 「まあそうかも知れんけど」 | "Mm, maybe you're right." |
| 「いやいや、そんな事ばかりしていると服が傷んでしまうよ。そうじゃなくても君たちの服は弾幕で寿命が短いんだから、洗濯ぐらいはちゃんとした方が良い。物を大切にしないといけないよ」 | "No, that's not it. If you don't take better care of them, your clothes will fall to pieces some day. I suppose with all your danmaku battles they're not fated to live long to begin with, but that means you should at least take proper care of them when doing laundry. It's important to value your possessions." |
| 「はいはい。明日は乾くまで神社を離れないわよ。夏の日差しなら一眠りもすれば乾きそうなもんだしね」 | "All right. I won't leave the shrine until they're dry tomorrow. I bet they'll dry up in a flash under the summer sun." |
| 「眠っていたら留守なのと変わらんがな」 | "But if ya fall asleep, it'll be just as bad as leavin'." |
| 数字の一は『ひと（つ）』とも読める。一二三を『ひぃふぃみぃ』と数える様に、一は『ひ』である。それは言うまでも無く日、つまり太陽の事だった。日本の数字は、太陽に始まり『ふぅ（風）』『みぃ（水）』と空、大地と経て、夜まで繋がっている。日本の数字は九までで森羅万象を表しているのだ。 | The number for one can be pronounced hito, or hitotsu. When you count 1, 2, 3 as "hi, fu, mi", one is "hi". Needless to say, that's the same "hi" as the word for day. In other words, the sun. The Japanese counting systems starts out with the sun, and goes on to the wind ('fu'u), the water ('mi'zu), the sky, the earth and connecting everything to the night. By counting to nine, the Japanese number system includes everything in nature. |
| 数字一つとっても言葉とはこれだけ深い意味を持っている。だからという訳でもないが、名前に数字を含める事は深い意味を隠しやすく、強力な妖怪ほど数字を名前に含めたりするのだ。数字を、ただの個数を表すだけの言葉だと思ったら大間違いである。そう思って周りの物を見てみると良い。 |
Even a single number has so many deep meanings to it. So needless to say, a name that incorporates numbers can easily hide very deep meanings, so it's not surprising someone like a strong youkai would do so. It's a huge mistake to think numbers are merely words to measure quantity. If that's what you think, you'd better look at the world around you a little harder. You might start seeing a great number of carefully hidden secrets. |
Notes[edit]
- ^ The scene Reimu is given lecture by Yukari is desribed earlier in Silent Sinner in Blue, on July 2007 edition of Comic Rex, in July 08, while this chapter was published on October 2007 edition of Dengeki Moeoh, in August 25.
- ^ In Latin, the form as headword is "nox" (the root "noct-"), not "nocto". "Nox" has no inflectional form as "nocto".
- ^ As you know, Rinnosuke is choosing linguistic cases as he likes (and the English and German words are derived from Latin to begin with). There are many cases the two words aren't similar to each other respectively as: in Chinese "八" (bā) and "夜" (yè); in Russian "восемь" (vósem') and "ночь" (noč'/noch'); in Finnish "kahdeksan" and "yö". Don't take his points-out seriously.
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