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『ねずみのよめいり』（Nezumi no yomeiri）
訳者：デビッド・タムソン（Translator : David Thompson）
［絵師:鈴木華邨（Illustrator：Kason Suzuki）］
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■ あらすじ
裕福な鼠カネモチは、一人息子フクタローの嫁に親類のハツカを選
んだ。媒酌人を立て二人を会わせ、見合いがうまくいくと、花婿は花嫁に帯、絹織物、鰹節などを贈り、花嫁は花婿に裃<かみしも>、鰹節、
スルメなどを贈って結納が取り交わされた。衣裳が作られ、必要な物
が買い揃えられ、ハツカの両親は娘に嫁の心得を教え、カネモチは
嫁を迎える用意をした。花婿の家からの迎えが来て、花嫁が駕籠
<かご>に乗り行列を従えて到着した。式が始まり「三三九度」が行わ
れ、若い夫婦と花婿の両親が花嫁の家を訪れると儀式は終わり、彼
らは幸せに暮らした。
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注釈
昔話として現在普及している話は、鼠が婿取りのために太陽や風の
もとを訪ねる筋だが、江戸時代の赤本ではそのくだりは無く、鼠の見合い、結納、道具送り、婚礼準備、花嫁行列、祝言などが順を追って書かれているのみである。Ｄ.タムソンもこの赤本に倣い、結婚に関わる日本の慣習をわかり易く紹介し、フランス語版、スペイン語版も同様の訳となっている。絵師は裏表紙の絵に「華邨<かそん>」と記されていることから、鈴木華邨だとわかる。
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■ Outline of this story
A wealthy mouse named Kanemochi picked Hatsuka, daughter of a relative, to be the bride of Fukutaro, his only son. He had a go-between arrange a formal meeting between the two with a view to marriage. The meeting went well, and the two then confirmed their marriage promise by sending each other gifts. The bridegroom-to-be sent the bride-to-be a belt, silk cotton, and dried bonito, etc., and she in turn sent him a linen kami-shimo*, dried bonito, dried cuttle-fish, and others. Once the bride's dress had been sewn and the necessary items had been procured, Hatsuka's parents instructed their daughter in what a wife must know, and Kanemochi made arrangements to welcome her into their home. An entourage from the groom's family came to get the bride, who was then carried on a palanquin with a long train of her own people to her new home. The two exchanged nuptial cups in the "three times three"**, and the wedding ceremony ended with a visit by the newlyweds and the parents of the groom to the home of the bride. And they all lived happily ever after.
*A linen kami-shimo is the formalwear for members of the samurai class in the Edo era.
**"Three times three" ceremony is a Japanese wedding custom in which the bride and groom exchange three cups of sake, drinking three times from each cup in turns. |
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Note
In the story currently presented as a "mukashi banashi"
(i.
e
.,
legend), the mouse journeys to the sun and the wind to find
a bride. This passage, however, is missing from the Red
book version of the Edo era, which merely describes the sequence of formal meeting, marriage promise, delivering of pieces of furniture, wedding preparations, bridal procession, and wedding ceremony. D. Thompson followed this version in his translation, which is a straightforward sketch of Japanese customs surrounding marriage and weddings. The French and the Spanish translations are of the same character. In the illustration of the back cover, the name of “Kason” is noted. |
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