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Our personal sympathies are with the flower arrangement of the tea-master
rather than with those of the flower-master. The former is art in its proper
setting and appeals to us on account of its true intimacy with life. We should
like to call this school the Natural in contradistinction to the Naturalesque
and Formalistic schools. The tea-master deems his duty ended with the selection
of the flowers, and leaves them to tell their own story. Entering a tea-room
in late winter, you may see a slender spray of wild cherries in combination
with a budding camellia; it is an echo of departing winter coupled with the
prophecy of spring. Again, if you go into a noon-tea on some irritatingly hot
summer day, you may discover in the darkened coolness of the Tokonoma a singly
lily in a hanging vase; dripping with dew, it seems to smile at the foolishness
of life. 私の好みからすれば花の宗匠の生け花よりも、茶人の生け花の方により一層の共感を おぼえます。茶人の生け花は茶人独特の活け方による芸術であって、人生と密接に関わ るものとして心に訴えかけてくるのです。我々はこの流派を形式派や写実派と区別して 「自然派」Natural（ナチュラル）と呼びたいと思います。茶人は花を選んだところまで が自分の役目と考え、後はそれぞれの花が自ら語りだすのに任せます。 冬の終わりの頃、茶室にはいると、山桜の小枝にほころびかけた椿の小枝一輪が添え てあるのを見ることがあります。それは去り行く冬の余韻と、やがて来る春の先触れを 取り合わせているのです。またいらつくほどに熱い夏のさなかに、昼のお茶によばれて いくと、ほの暗い床の間の冷気の中、掛け花入れに活けられた一輪の百合の花が目につ きます。露に濡れながら、花は愚かしき人生に微笑みかけているようです。 |
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A solo of flowers is interesting, but in a concerto with painting and
sculpture the combination becomes entrancing. Sekishiu once placed some
water-plants in a flat receptacle to suggest the vegetation of lakes and
marshes, and on the wall above he hung a painting by Soami of wild ducks flying
in the air. Shoha, another tea-master, combined a poem on the Beauty of
Solitude by the Sea with a bronze incense burner in the form of a fisherman's
hut and some wild flowers of the beach. One of the guests has recorded that he
felt in the whole composition the breath of waning autumn. 花のソロも面白いのですが、絵画や彫刻との合奏もうっとりします。石州はかって、 湖の草木のように水盤に水草を活け、壁には相阿彌（そうあみ）の飛ぶ鴨の絵を掛けま した。茶人紹巴（しょうは）は漁師の小屋と海辺の野の花を型どった青銅の香炉に、浦 のわびしさを詠んだ歌の掛け物を組み合わせて、客に過ぎ行く秋をイメージさせました。 |
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Flower stories are endless. We shall recount but one more. In the sixteenth
century the morning-glory was as yet a rare plant with us. Rikiu had an entire
garden planted with it, which he cultivated with assiduous care. The fame of
his convolvuli reached the ear of the Taiko, and he expressed a desire to see
them, in consequence of which Rikiu invited him to a morning tea at his house.
On the appointed day the Taiko walked through the garden, but nowhere could he
see any vestige of the convolvulus. The ground had been leveled and strewn with
fine pebbles and sand. With sullen anger the despot entered the tea-room, but
a sight waited him there which completely restored his humour. On the Tokonoma,
in a rare bronze of Sung workmanship, lay a single morning-glory - the queen
of the whole garden! 花物語は幾らでもありますが、もう一つお話しましょう。16世紀の日本では朝顔はま だ珍しい花でした。利休はその花を庭一面に育てました。利休の花の評判は秀吉の耳に も届き、見たいといいます。利休は秀吉を朝の茶に招待しました。当日、秀吉が利休の 庭を歩いても、朝顔の影すら見えません。地面は平にならしてあり、綺麗な小石や砂が まかれてありました。怒りをこらえながら茶室に入った秀吉は、そこで彼を迎えたもの を見て機嫌をなおしました。床の間には宋代の青銅の器があり、それには、庭園の女王 、一輪の朝顔が活けてあったのです。 |
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In such instances we see the full significance of the Flower Sacrifice.
Perphaps the flowers appreciated the full significance of it. They are not
cowards, like men. Some flower glory in death - certainly the Japanese cherry
blossoms do, as they freely surrender themselves to the winds. Anyone who has
stood before the fragrant avalanche at Yoshino or Arashiyama must have realised
this. For a moment they hover like bejewelled clouds and dance above the
crystal streams; then, as they said on the laughing waters they seem to say:
"Farewell, O Spring! We are on to Eternity." このような例では、花御供（はなごく）Flower Sacrificeの意味がよくわかります。 花自身も覚悟ができています。人間のように卑怯ではありません。花の中には死を誇り とするものもあります。そう、日本の桜は風の吹くままに散っていきます。吉野山や嵐 山の花吹雪を見れば、誰でもこのことを感じます。この瞬間、宝石をちりばめた雲のよ うに、空に浮かび、清流の流れの上に舞い、さざなみに乗って船出します。 ”さらば春よ、わたしは永遠の旅に出ます” |
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