山陽方面への旅 ４ (Trip to San'yo Region -4-)

　一枚目のイメージは、11 月 21 日朝、かんぽの宿竹原の部屋から見た田園風景のスケッチ。二枚目のイメージは、11 月 22 日朝、かんぽの宿光の部屋からのスケッチ。室積湾を隔てて、室積半島が見える。

　ローカル線の旅で楽しいことの一つは、各駅の駅名表示板で次駅の平仮名表記を見て、その漢字表記を考えることである。これがかなり難しくて、次駅でしばしば予想外の漢字に出会うのが面白い。今回難しかった駅名は、呉線の「あきさいざき」「おおのり」「あと」、山陽本線広島・岩国間の「くば」「わき」、岩国・徳山間の「ふじゅう」「つづ」「こうじろ」「たぶせ」「くだまつ」など。

　沿線の山々の紅葉も満喫し、改めて日本は美しい国だと思った旅だった。しかし、美しい国といえば、来月の総選挙を控えて、沢田研二・作詞「我が窮状」の冒頭、「麗しの国日本に生まれ 誇りも感じているが／忌まわしい時代に遡るのは 賢明じゃない」が、しみじみと感じられる時期でもある。（完）

The upper image shows my sketch, made in the morning of Novembere 21, of the countryside landscape seen from the room of Kampo Hotel Takehara. The lower image shows my sketch, made in the morning of Novembere 22, of the view from the room of Kampo Hotel Hikari. Murozumi peninsula is seen beyond Murozumi Bay.

One of fun things on a trip by local lines is to guess the expression in Chinese characters of the name of the next station from the hiragana representation given on the sign board of the station. This is rather difficult, and we often find unexpected kanji when we arrive at the next station. Difficult examples we encountered in this trip are as follows: Akisaizaki, Oonori and Ato of Kure Line; Kuba and Waki between Hiroshima and Iwakuni of Sanyo Line; Fjuu, Tsuzu, Kōjiro, Tabuse and Kudamatsu between Iwakuni and Tokuyama of Sanyo Line.

We enjoyed autumn colors of the mountains along the route as well and thought again and again that Japan was a beautiful country. Speaking of a beautiful country, however, I think of the general election to be held next month and feel keenly the importance of the following words at the beginning of Kenji Sawada's song Waga Kyūjō (Our Plight) (Kyūjō is a pun with Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution that renounces war): I feel pride for the fact that I was born in the beautiful country of Japan. / However, it would not be wise to go back to the horrid days [of wars]." (End)