2019年06月11日朝刊
田辺聖子さん逝く
Seiko Tanabe and her insights on marriage will truly be missed
[中文译文]
作家田边圣子37岁才结婚。对方是40多岁的医生，还带着4个孩子。朋友们都很替她担心，都觉得这段姻缘撑不了太久。大家都在赌，有的说能撑一年，有的说最多半年，最长的说能撑3年。
但是这些猜想全都错了。两夫妇互称“小笨蛋”“那个谁”，经常一起去喝酒，两个人之间的话总是说不完。她把两人一起经历苦与乐的经历写成了书出版，书名为《Kamoka no Occhan》，Kamoka是关西方言，意思是会变身的妖怪之类的东西。
田边在91岁的时候过世。她一辈子就恋爱和结婚留下了很多的至理名言。比如“家庭和睦的诀窍就是睁一只眼闭一只眼”，“结婚就是外交，是谈判和谋略的机关算尽”。这些简单平易却又一针见血的话，久久不能磨灭。
在丈夫去世的那一年她出版的随想集《人生就是互相欺骗》中有这样一节。“想要夫妇关系和谐，最重要的一句话是：”哦哦，我知道了“。这句话丈夫说也行妻子说也行。这样的话，一定家庭和睦诸事顺利“。 想说的话可能非常多，但是故意让它烂在肚子里不说出来。这就是夫妇的智慧吧。
《源氏物语》《伊势物语》等古典文学不断在现代被重新翻开。其中的焦点还是恋爱和情爱的烦恼。只要经过田边一解释，那些文学作品中描绘的王朝里高贵的男男女女，就感觉好像是自己身边学校和职场遇到的朋友一样触手可及。真是不可思议。
她在接受本报采访时说，”我一直想写有意思的恋爱小说。恋爱小说一般寂寞和悲凉的故事比较多。但是恋爱本来应该是很有意思的“。她就一直这样，为我们讲述穿越千年也未曾改变的男女之间的机微情感，给我们揭开夫妇和谐的妙法。
[日文原文]
作家の田辺聖子さんは３７歳で結婚している。相手は４０代の開業医で子供が４人。危ぶむ友人らが「いつまで持つか」と賭けをした。最多は１年、次が半年、長くて３年との声もあった。
予想は全て外れる。夫妻は「おっちゃん」「あんた」と呼びかわし、よく飲み、よく話した。苦楽を共にした相方は「カモカのおっちゃん」として作品に登場する。カモかとは関西の言葉で、化け物や怖いものを指すそうだ。
田辺さんが９１歳で無くなった。恋愛や結婚をめぐる金言が多く残された。「家庭円満のコツは見て見ぬフリ」「結婚とは外交。駆け引きと謀略に尽きる」。平易にして鋭い言葉が胸にしみる。
夫を見送った翌年に刊行した随想集『人生は、だましだまし』にこんな一節がある。「夫婦円満に至る究極の言葉はただ一つ、『そやな』である。夫からでも妻からでも良い。これで世の中は按配よく回る」。言いたいことは多々あれど、あえて腹に収めておく。夫婦の知恵だろう。
「源氏物語」「伊勢物語」など古典を次々と現代によみがえらせた。焦点を当てたのはやはり恋や愛の悩みだ。この人の手にかかると、王朝文芸の高貴な男女が、まるで学校や職場の知り合いの様に身近に感じられるから不思議である。
「面白い恋愛小説を書いてやろうと思ったの。恋愛小説って寂しい、悲しいのが多い。恋愛こそ面白いのに」。本紙の取材に語っている。千年たっても変わらぬ男女の機微を語り、夫婦の妙を教えてくれた。
[英文译文]
Author Seiko Tanabe, who died on June 6 at age 91, was 37 when she married a general practitioner in his 40s with four children.
Her friends were highly skeptical of this union and made bets on how long it would last. Topping the odds was for its one-year survival, followed by six months, while some chanced a long shot at "three years max."
They were all off.
Tanabe remained happily married to her husband, Sumio Kawano, until his death in 2002.
Their mutual terms of affection were "Occhan" and "Anta"-- the former a friendly and casual appellation for a middle-aged man, and the latter for "you". Devoted to each other through thick and thin, the couple drank together a lot and talked a lot.
Kawano appeared in a number of Tanabe's essays as a character named Kamoka no Occhan. I understand that in Kansai dialect, which the couple spoke in their private lives, a "Kamoka" denotes some scary being, like a goblin or monster.
Tanabe has left us with numerous wise sayings about romance and marriage. For instance: "The secret to a happy marriage is to pretend you didn't see what you don't want to see in your partner." Another: "Marriage is diplomacy. It's all about bargaining and conniving."
These pithy comments resonate deep in one's heart.
Her collection of essay, titled "Jinsei wa Damashi-damashi"(Life is about making do with what you've got) and published the year after Kawano's death, contains this observation: "To reach a state of total marital harmony, the one and only word that ultimately does the trick is "soyana" (something like"Yeah, I get it"). It makes life go all right, never mind which partner says it."
This is the sort of practical wisdom learned through marriage-that there are many instances where you want to mouth off or complain to your spouse, but you just keep your thoughts to yourself.
Tanabe is also credited with reviving, in this contemporary era, masterpieces of classical Japanese literature such as "Genji Monogatari" ("The Tale of Genji") and "Ise Monogatari" ("The Tale of Ise").
Typically, she focused on the stories' romantic elements, including lovers' anguish. It is an amazing feat that Tanabe's renditions turn the aristocratic heroes and heroines, who inhabited the ancient imperial court, into readily relatable colleagues or classmates in our daily lives.
"I wanted to write love stories that are fun to read," Tanabe said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun. "Many love stories are sad and poignant. What a shame. Romance is the thing that's fun and fascinating to read."
Throughout her career, Tanabe taught readers the timeless subtleties that are peculiar to marital life.
