平安時代一の美男、和歌の名手、父方母方ともに天皇につながる高貴な家系の出身、しかし政治の世界では不遇で、恋に生きた人です。在原業平を主人公とした『伊勢物語』では、純愛、禁断の恋など、様々な恋が語られます。
Ariwara no Narihira在原業平 was regarded as the most handsome man of the Heian period, a master of waka poetry和歌, and a member of a noble lineage connected to the imperial family on both his father’s and mother’s sides. Despite this prestigious background, he was politically marginalized and is remembered as a man who lived for love. In The Tales of Ise伊勢物語, a work that takes Narihira as its protagonist, various forms of love are depicted, including pure devotion and forbidden romance.
最初の段は奈良の都で、主人公が成人後(当時は12から15歳くらい)に、初めて女性に手紙を送った場面です。以下はその場面の現代語訳です。
The opening episode is set in the ancient capital of Nara. It portrays the moment when the protagonist, having reached adulthood (which at the time meant around the ages of twelve to fifteen), sends his first love letter to women. What follows is a modern paraphrase of that scene.
昔男(在原業平)が成人して、奈良の古都、春日の里に土地を持っている縁で、狩りに行きました。その里に、とても美しい姉妹が住んでいました。この男は、姉妹の姿が古びた里に似合わないほど美しかったので、心が乱れました。男は、着ていた狩り用の服の袖を破り、和歌を書いて姉妹に贈りました。その男は、しのぶずりという模様の着物を着ていました。
春日野の若紫のすり衣しのぶの乱れ限り知られず
春日野に住むあなたたちの美しい姿を見て、春日野の若紫の衣のしのぶ模様のように、私の心は限りなく乱れています。
Long ago, a man of old (Ariwara no Narihira), having come of age, went hunting because he owned land in Kasuga Village in the ancient capital of Nara. In that village lived two sisters of extraordinary beauty. Their appearance was so striking—far too refined for such an old, rustic place—that the man’s heart was thrown into turmoil. He tore the sleeve of his hunting robe and wrote a waka poem on it, which he sent to the sisters. At the time, he was wearing a garment dyed with a shinobuzuri pattern.
waka poem:Seeing the sisters’ beauty in Kasuga Plain, my heart was thrown into turmoil, just like the shinobu pattern on a robe dyed with young purple plants of Kasuga.
『みちのくのしのぶもぢずり誰ゆえに乱れそめにしわれならなくに(みちのくのしのぶもじずりの模様のように心が乱れるのは、誰が理由なのか、私ではない、あなたの魅力が原因だ)』という古歌を引用した本歌取りという技法を使っています。
昔の人は、このような情熱的な恋をしたそうだ。
This poem employs a technique known as honkadori, or allusive variation, drawing on an older poem:
The poem suggests that the turmoil of his heart is not his fault, but caused by the irresistible charm of the beloved.
People of the past loved with such passion.
これが在原業平を主人公とする『伊勢物語』の冒頭です。『伊勢物語』の最初が奈良で始まること、在原業平が昔男と呼ばれていることは、まるで在原業平と、昔都のあった奈良との深い結びつきを暗示しているようです。在原業平の祖父平城天皇は、都を京都から古都である奈良に戻そうとし、そして失敗して一族は政治の表舞台から外れることとなりました。在原業平は、祖父の愛した古都奈良で、華やかだった一族の昔を偲んでいたのかもしれません。そして一族の複雑な立場が、在原業平を恋に向かわせる原因だったのかもしれません。
This episode forms the opening of The Tales of Ise. The fact that the work begins in Nara, and that Ariwara no Narihira is referred to simply as “a man of old,” feels as though it hints at a deep connection between Narihira and the former capital,Nara. His grandfather, Emperor Heizei, once attempted to move the capital back from Kyoto to the ancient city of Nara, but failed, and as a result the family was pushed out of the political spotlight.
Perhaps Narihira, standing in Nara—the city his grandfather had loved—was reflecting on the former glory of his family. And perhaps it was this complex position, caught between imperial blood and political exclusion, that drove Ariwara no Narihira toward a life devoted to love.
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