はじめのひとこと
お客様がいま立っているこの長崎の町を、オリファントという人が、英語の本に書き残しています。
長崎を囲む丘には、大小あわせて六十二の寺と、七百五十の茶屋がある、と。
ただし、それは「見積もられている」数だ、とも書いています。
This town of Nagasaki, where you are standing, was described in an English book by a man named Oliphant.
On the hills around Nagasaki, he wrote, there were sixty-two temples, large and small, and seven hundred and fifty tea-houses.
But he also wrote that these numbers were "estimated."
その本は、エルギン卿の使節の記録です。
オリファントは、この町は森の丘のふもとに寄り添っている、と書きます。
丘の斜面の美しい場所は、どれも寺か茶屋が占めている、と。
寺も茶屋もどれも、安らぎを求める日本人に、おいしいお茶と、広い眺めを与える。
寺も茶屋も、美しく造られた庭の中にある。
そして、景色の庭づくりでは、日本人は世界のどの国民にも勝る、と書いています。
この箇所は、六十二と七百五十を誰が見積もったのかを、書いていません。
The book is the narrative of the Earl of Elgin's mission.
Oliphant writes that the town nestles at the foot of wooded hills.
Every lovely spot on those hillsides, he says, is taken up by a temple or a tea-house.
All of them offer the Japanese, in search of rest, delicious tea and wide views.
Both the temples and the tea-houses stand in beautifully laid-out grounds.
And in landscape gardening, he writes, the Japanese excel every other nation in the world.
This passage does not say who made the estimate of sixty-two and seven hundred and fifty.
記録の言葉
この話のもとになった記録の言葉です。ページは、その本に刷られたものです。
Laurence Oliphant『Narrative of the Earl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japan in the Years 1857, '58, '59』（New York: Harper & Brothers, 1860）一次史料
It is estimated that there are sixty-two temples (large and small) and seven hundred and fifty tea-houses on the hills round Nagasaki, all offering to the Japanese in search of repose delicious tea and extensive panoramic views.
The city itself, like a lover at the feet of his mistress, nestles at the base of wooded hills of exquisite form／these hill sides are dotted with the most enchanting sites, and every one of them is occupied with a temple or a tea-house.
Both are situated in grounds beautifully laid out. In landscape-gardening the Japanese excel every other nation in the world.