| 山形県朝日村田麦俣。山深い豪雪の里。そこに日本でただ一人、生業として鷹狩りをする男がいる。 |
Deep in the mountains in Yamagata Prefecture, the northeastern district
of Japan. There lives a man who hunts with hawks.
| He hunts not for a pleasure nor for a show. He is the last professional
falconer in Japan. He, Matsubara Hidetoshi (55), was born to be wild. |
自然を愛し、自然と闘い、自然に陵駕され、自然と一体になった･･･
松原英俊、55歳。
After graduating from college he became an apprentice to Mr. Kutsuzawa
Asaji, the model of a documentary movie titled “The Old Man and The Hawk”.
Since then, he has been living in the mountains as a falconer for
over 30 years.
彼は大学卒業と同時に映画「老人と鷹」のモデルともなった鷹匠・沓沢朝治氏に弟子入りし、以来30年、大自然の中で鷹と共に生きている。
鷹狩りの季節(冬)が終われば山菜や鷹の餌となるへびなどの小動物を求めて山に入り、夏には自然の中で少年たちを指導し、秋には農家の手伝いなどをして暮らす。年収100万円。妻も子もある。
Winter is the season for hunting. In the snowy mountains he
and his hawk pursue game together. Springtime, when the hunting season is over,
he goes into the forest for finding edible wild plants. He also gets small
animals such as snakes and frogs for his hawks' food.
He teaches children the skills and wisdom to get along in nature at summer
camping school held by the village he lives in. And in autumn, he works
on a farm nearby. His annual income is about one million yen. He has
a wife and a 14-year-old boy.
| 結婚してこどもができるまで、水道も電気もガスもない山奥の小屋に住んでいた。明かりは石油ランプとろうそく、水は山清水、燃料は薪、風呂は川べりに置いたドラム缶。都会の文明に対抗するかのようなすさまじい生き方だが、彼にとってはほとんど理想に近い生活だという。 |
Until marrying, he had been living in a small hut in the mountains
without city water, gas and electricity. He took a drum can bath, read
books by lamplight, warmed himself by firewood. It is incredible to us
who live in civilized society. But it is almost ideal lifestyle for him.
Once he said "The most important thing for me is to live in
nature. I don't want to restrain anyone and I don't want to be restricted by
anything." And he has been trying to live that way.
「自分にとって自然の中で生きていくことがいちばん大切なのです。何ものをも束縛せず、何ものにも拘束されず、自由でありたいのです。」彼はかつてこのように語り、そのように生きようとしつづけている。
