国破れて山河あり

松尾芭蕉が「夏草や兵どもが夢の跡」の句を詠んだ時に、連想していた漢詩

国破れて山河あり　城春にして草木深し

When Matsuo Basho composed the haiku “Natsukusa ya / Tsuwamono domo ga / Yume no ato,” he was reminded of a Chinese poem, which can be translated as follows:

“The country in ruins, mountains and rivers remain, The capital in spring, overgrown with grass and trees.”

この漢詩は、杜甫が戦争で家族と離れ離れになったときの漢詩です。戦争で国が破壊された悲しみと、春の勢いある自然が対比的に詠まれています。華やかな自然の花々を見ても、杜甫の悲しみはいっそう深まり、この後には家族と会えない悲しみ、苦労を重ねて白髪頭になってしまった自分の様子が切々と描かれます。

This Chinese poem was composed by Du Fu when he was separated from his family due to war. It depicts the sorrow of a nation destroyed by conflict and contrasts it with the vibrant energy of spring in nature. Despite witnessing the splendor of the blossoming flowers, Du Fu’s sadness deepens, and the subsequent verses portray his profound grief of being unable to reunite with his family and his own hardships that have led to his hair turning white.

杜甫は、苦労を重ねた詩人で、しばしば華やかな自然と自分の悲しみを対比的に描きます。しかし晩年の杜甫は、自分がいくら悲嘆に沈んでいても、国がどんなに乱れていても、毎年変わらない姿を見せる自然の壮大さに癒され、自分の苦しみも大きな自然の一部であると見なすようになったと言われています。

Du Fu, a poet who endured many hardships, often juxtaposed the vibrant beauty of nature with his own sorrow. However, in his later years, it is said that Du Fu found solace in the grandeur of nature, which remained unchanged year after year, even in the face of his own despair and the turmoil of the nation. He began to view his own suffering as part of the vastness of nature itself.