「書物の達人」丸谷才一(まるやさいいち）（英語対訳）1

　丸谷才一（本名・根村才一、一九二五年・大正一四～二〇一二年・平成二四）は、小説家、文芸評論家、英文学者、翻訳家、随筆家です。一九二五年山形県鶴岡市馬場町乙三番地に、開業医・丸谷熊次郎（一九五六年七十四歳で死去）とその妻・千(せん)（一九七八年八十五歳で死去）との間の次男として誕生。次男であるがなぜか「才一」と名付けられました。一九三二年鶴岡市朝暘第一尋常小学校に入学、一九三八年同小学校を卒業。一九三八年旧制鶴岡中学校（現・山形県立鶴岡南高等学校）に入学し、一九四三年に同中学校を卒業。一九四四年旧制新潟高等学校文科乙類に入学、一九四七年三月旧制新潟高等学校を卒業。一九四七年東京大学文学部英文科に入学、一九五一年東京大学大学院文学研究科修士課程修了。学生時代から執筆活動をし、生涯で小説、評論、翻訳、随筆、対談など数多くの本を書いています。そして、芥川賞、谷崎潤一郎賞、川端康成賞、大仏次郎賞、菊池寛賞などの名だたる文学賞を総なめにしました。一九五四年十月、演劇批評家・根村絢子と結婚。戸籍上は根村姓を継いで、二人には長男の根村亮がいます。二〇一二年十月上旬に体調を崩し入院、同月十三日に八十七歳で心不全のため死去。夫婦の墓は鎌倉霊園に丸谷才一の俳号「玩亭(がんてい)」を使い「玩亭墓」としてあります。
　彼の長兄丸谷八郎は医学博士で、鶴岡市で産婦人科医師として医院を開業していました。丸谷八郎は鶴岡南高等学校の第三代鶴翔同窓会会長を務めており、筆者が教諭として勤務中に学校行事などでお話を聞く機会がありました。また、彼の娘で、丸谷才一の姪(めい)である落合良(りょう)（旧姓丸谷）は、ソニー(株)で初の女性管理職（退職後に東京電機大学講師など）となり、活躍する女性として同窓会創立周年記念式典で記念講演をしたのを聞いたことがあります。落合良の弟、丸谷紘一も産婦人科医で、鶴岡市で父の後を継いでいましたが、三代続いた産婦人科医院を閉院しました。
　二〇一一年十月二十五日文化勲章受章、二〇一二年七月十七日山形県名誉県民の称号も与えられました。丸谷才一を「才ちゃん」と呼んでいた姪の落合良は、山形県名誉県民の称号を「君が代理で受け取って」と丸谷才一に言われ、独特の「旧仮名遣(づか)い」にふり仮名をつけて知事へのご挨拶を代読しました。

(1) The Background and Life of Maruya Saiichi, “A Master of Books”

　　　Maruya Saiichi (real name Saiichi Nemura, 1925, Taisho 14-2012, 2002) was a novelist, literary critic, English literature scholar, translator, and essayist. In 1925, a medical practitioner, Kumajiro Maruya (died at the age of 74 in 1956) and his wife Sen (80 years old in 1978) lived at Otsuzo, Baba-cho, Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. He was born as the second son of his father (who died at the age of five). Although he is the second son, he was named ``Saichi'' for some reason. In 1932, he entered Tsuruoka City Chouyou the first Elementary School, and graduated from the same elementary school in 1938. In 1938, he entered the former Tsuruoka Junior High School (currently Yamagata Prefectural Tsuruoka Minami High School) and graduated from the same junior high school in 1943. In 1944, he entered Niigata High School under the old system and graduated from Niigata High School in March 1947. In 1947, he entered the Department of English Literature, Faculty of Literature, University of Tokyo, and in 1951 completed his master's degree at the Graduate School of Letters, University of Tokyo. He has been writing since his student days and has written many books during his lifetime, including novels, reviews, translations, essays, and conversations. He went on to win many prestigious literary awards, including the Akutagawa Prize, the Tanizaki Junichiro Prize, the Kawabata Yasunari Prize, the Osaragi Jiro Prize, and the Kikuchi Kan Prize. In October 1954, he married theater critic Ayako Nemura. On the family register, the family name is Nemura, and the two have an eldest son, Ryo Nemura. In early October 2012, he became ill and was hospitalized, and died of heart failure on the 13th of the same month at the age of 87. The couple's grave is located in Kamakura Cemetery and is designated as the ``Gantei Tomb,'' using Maruya Saiichi's haiku name ``Gantei.''
　　　　His eldest brother, Hachiro Maruya, was a doctor of medicine and opened a clinic as an obstetrician and gynecologist in Tsuruoka City. Hachiro Maruya is the third president of the Tsuruto Alumni Association at Tsuruoka Minami High School, and I had the opportunity to speak with him at school events while working as a teacher. In addition, his daughter Ryo Ochiai (maiden name Maruya ), who is Maruya Saiichi's niece, became the first female manager at Sony Corporation (after retiring, she became a lecturer at Tokyo Denki University, etc.) and played an active role. As a woman who is a member of the Alumni Association, I once heard her give a commemorative lecture at the alumni association's founding anniversary ceremony. Ryo Ochiai's younger brother, Koichi Maruya, was also an obstetrician and gynecologist and had succeeded his father in Tsuruoka City, but he closed the obstetrics and gynecology clinic that had been in operation for three generations.
　　　He was awarded the Order of Culture on October 25, 2011, and was also given the title of Honorary Citizen of Yamagata Prefecture on July 17, 2012. Maruya Saiichi's niece Ryo Ochiai, who used to call him ``Sai-chan,'' was told by Maruya Saiichi that ``you should accept the title of honorary citizen of Yamagata Prefecture on his behalf '',　He added a furikana and she read the greeting to the governor on his behalf.　（To be continued)