(A Collection of the Wise Sayings of Writers and Poets Related to the Shonai Region;　English Translation)　（９）

9 　茨木のり子 (1926～2006)

　日本の詩人、エッセイスト、童話作家、脚本家。本姓は三浦。大阪生れ。
主な詩集に、『見えない配達夫』『鎮魂歌』『自分の感受性くらい』『倚（よ）りかからず』など。戦時下の女性の青春を描いた代表作の詩『わたしが一番きれいだったとき』（1958年刊行の第二詩集『見えない配達夫』収録）は、多数の国語教科書に掲載されている。
　母親の宮崎（大瀧）勝が庄内地方の三川町東沼の出身で、夫の三浦安信が山形県鶴岡市出身であるところから、茨木のり子は幼い頃から幾度となく庄内を訪れていた。夫と死別してから東京で独り暮らしで、訪ねて来た親戚が寝室で死亡していたところを発見。生前より遺書は用意されており、それにより鶴岡市加茂の浄禅寺にある夫の眠る墓地に埋葬。
　
9 　Noriko Ibaragi (1926～2006)

　　　A Japanese poet, an essayist, a fairy tale writer, and a screenwriter. Her real surname is Miura. Born in Osaka.
　　　Her main poetry collections include "An Invisible Deliveryman," "Requiem," "Your Sensitivity," and "I Don't Want to Lean On (Yorikakarazu)." Her masterpiece poem "The Time When I Was the Prettiest" (included in the 1958 second poetry collection "An Invisible Deliveryman"), which depicts the youth of a wartime woman, has been published in many national language textbooks.
　　　Noriko Ibaragi had visited the Shonai region many times since her childhood, as her mother, Katsu Miyazaki (Otaki), was from Higashinuma, Mikawa-machi, in the Shonai region, and her husband, Yasunobu Miura, was from Tsuruoka city, in Yamagata prefecture. After the bereavement of her husband, she lived alone in Tokyo, and her relatives who visited her found that she had died in her bedroom. Her farewell note had been prepared. Based on it, she was buried in the graveyard where her husband slept at the Jozenji Temple at Kamo, in Tsuruoka city.

＜茨木のり子の名言・名文＞

・「もはや できあいの思想には倚りかかりたくない もはや できあいの宗教には倚りかかりたくない　もはや できあいの学問には倚りかかりたくない　　もはや 　　いかなる権威にも倚りかかりたくない 　　ながく生きて 　心底学んだのはそれぐらい 　じぶんの耳目 　じぶんの二本足のみで立っていて 　なに不都合のことやある 倚りかかるとすれば 　それは 　椅子の背もたれだけ」（『茨木のり子詩集』「倚(よ)りかからず」）
・「　(前半略)　駄目なことの一切を　時代のせいにはするな　わずかに光る尊厳の放棄　自分の感受性くらい　自分で守れ　ばかものよ」（「自分の感受性くらい」）
・「世界に別れを告げる日に　ひとは一生をふりかえって　じぶんが本当に生きた日が　あまりにすくなかったことに　驚くだろう」（「ぎらりと光るダイヤのような日」）
・「初々しさが大切なの 　人に対しても世の中に対しても 　人を人とも思わなくなったとき 　堕落が始まるのね」 (「汲む」)

<Noriko Ibaragi’s Wise Sayings>

・ "I don't want to lean on the ready-made idea anymore. I don't want to lean on ready-made religion anymore. I don't want to lean on ready-made study anymore. I don’t want to lean on any authority anymore. Living for a long time, that's what I learned from the bottom of my heart. Standing with only my two legs, what's the inconvenience? If I'm leaning on it, it's just the back of the chair" 　( "I Don't Want to Lean On. ")
・ "(Omitted in the first half) Don't blame the times for all disappointments. Don’t lose the last ounce of your disappearing integrity. Protect your sensitivity, as you are the only one. You’re a 

fool !. " ("Your Sensitivity") 

・ "On the day when a human being says goodbye to the world, he looks back on his life, he will be surprised that the days when he really lived are too scarce."　(" A Day Like a Shining Diamond ") 

・ " Innocence is important. When you don't think of people as people, both for people and for the world, the fall begins.” (“Dig Up”)　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　(To be continued)