IZUNO

静岡県中伊豆の吉奈温泉は、ずっと昔、奈良時代の頃から湯治場（温泉に入って病気などを治療すること）として盛んで、人が訪れておりました。温泉の湯に浸かると子供を授かるという評判でした。
A long time ago, there was a man known for visiting the Yoshina Onsen hot-spring baths of Nakaizu in Shizuoka Prefecture from around the time of the Nara Period, which has been a hot-spring resort area well known for its medicinal properties.
The hot-spring waters of the Yoshina Onsen are also well known for the bringing good fortune to children in terms of future success if they soak in the onsen waters.

そんな温泉から奥に入った天城山の山中で、年老いた夫婦と、息子の少年が暮らしていました。夫婦はこの地の生まれでなく、かつて温泉の評判を聞いて、わが子欲しさから吉奈温泉まで来て湯に浸かり、ようやく子供を授かったようでした。
Deep in the mountains of Mt. Amagi, there was an elderly couple and their young son. The couple was not born of this place. Once they heard of the reputation of the onsen, they decided to soak in the onsen and were able to raise their son who became a gifted child.

老夫婦は、息子を大切に育てていました。小屋の前に畑を作って、食物を実らせ、慎ましく暮らしていました。
The elderly couple cherished the boy while raising him. The planted a garden in the front of their mountain cabin and raised their own food and lived a humble lifestyle.

少年は、毎日農作業を手伝いながら、手の空いたときは山野を元気に駆け回ったりしながら大きくなっていきました。
The boy grew up healthy and strong while helping out with the farm work every day and enjoying the surroundings of mountain during his spare time.

ですが、どうしても気になることがありました。
「とうさまとかあさまはどうして、こんな森の中で、不便な暮らしを続けているんだろ」
However, there was always something that the boy wondered about.
“Why have my mother and father continued to live deep in the forest and suffering such a difficult life?”

少年は、両親の年老いた背中を見て、悲しくなることが幾度もありました。
また、これまでずっと、「吉奈の里へ下る道は、急で危ないから行っちゃ駄目だ」と、言い聞かせられていたことも気がかりでした。
The boy looked upon his parents as they became older with their backs bent over with age and felt saddened.
All this time, his parents warned him that taking the trail down the village of Yoshina was dangerous and told him not to go there, which seemed to bother him a little bit.

「何でなんだろ。僕にはちっとも危なくなんかないのに……」
“Well, I wonder. It doesn’t seem that dangerous to me.”

ある日、少年が、いつものように山野を駆け回って戻ってくると、小屋の中から父母の話し声が聞こえてきました。
「わしたちがいずれ死んじまったら、あの子は里に降りていかねぇだろか」
「そうだぁ。心配だぁ」
One day, when the boy came home back from his usual running around in the fields and forests, he heard his parents’ voices from inside the cabin.
“After we pass away, our son won’t go down to the village.”
“Yes, that worries me.”

少年は、小屋に入ろうとして足を止め、じっと聞き入りました。
「悪いのはわしたちだ。温泉に浸かるとき、あんなこと言っちまったせいで、あの子があんな姿になっちまって……」
「あの子には、ほんにかわいそうなことしたなぁ」
The boy stopped himself just before entering the cabin and listened closely.
“We were in the wrong. When soaking in the hot spring, the boy has turned in to the person he has become because of what was said.”
“Oh, I feel so sorry for our son. It’s just pitiful.”

少年は、慌てて川の方へ走っていきました。そうして水面に映る自分の顔を見つめます。
途端に、ぼろぼろと涙が込み上げてくるのでした。
The boy ran down to the river in a panic and looked at his reflection in the still water.
As soon as he recognized his reflection, tears welled up in his eyes and he started sobbing.

「おかしいと思ってたんだぁ……。なして、とうさまとかあさまには、ちゃんと二つあって、僕には一つしかないのか。この、頭の上のものが、僕には、なして余分に付いているのか……」
“I knew that something was strange. Why is that my mother and father each have two each, but I only have one. And what is this on the top of my head? Why do I have this extra thing growing on top?”

水面に映った少年の顔には、目が一つしかありませんでした。そして、頭の上には、鋭く尖った角が生えていたのです。
The reflection of the boy’s face on the still waters revealed that he had only one eye and had a short, sharp horn growing on the top of his head.

少年は、父母からずっと言われていました。
「いまは目が一つ、頭に角が一本あるそんな姿でも、歳を取れば、目は二つに増えるし、角は折れて無くなってしまうのだ」と。
「いずれはわしらと同じ姿になるんだから、目と、角のことは気にしなくていいんだよ」と。
For as long as he could remember, the boy’s parents has always told him, “As you grow older, you will grow a second eye and have two eyes just like us. And, as you get older, the horn will eventually fall off. You will look just like your us.”

しかし、その両親の言葉が嘘だったのだと、少年は悟ったのでした。自分は、父母とは違う存在なのだと。
「とうさまとかあさまは、僕のために……こんな姿をしている僕を育てるために……不自由な暮らしを送っていたんだ」
However, the boy wondered if what his parents had always told him might not be true. If they were lies, he realized that he would have a different existence from that of his parents.
“To raise a disfigured boy like me, my mother and father made sacrifices for me and lived in seclusion from the rest of the world.”

ずっと以前、少年がまだ生まれる前、両親は、吉奈温泉に来た際に、湯に浸かりながら、冗談でこう言い合ったのでした。
「なんとしても、我が子が欲しいのう」
「ええ」
Long before the boy was even born, his mother and father made a light joke while soaking the waters of the Yoshina hot spring.
“I want a child no matter what it takes.”
“Yes, me, too.”

「なぁ、この温泉に浸かったご利益（神が人間に与えるお恵みのこと）で、子供を授かったらどうする？」
「そうなって欲しいですよ」
“I wonder what we would do if a child were born by the divine grace of these hot spring waters?”
“I so wish that were to come true.”

「けど、わしらはもういい歳だ。五体満足な子ばかり生まれてくるとも限らないぞ。もし望まない容姿で生まれてきたらどうする？　それでも大切に育てていく自信はあるか？」
「もちろんです。かわいいわが子ですもの」
「ああ。そうだな。なんとしても子が欲しい。どんな容姿だっていい。例え目が一つ、角が一本で生まれてきたって、わしらは大切に育てていく自信がある……」
“Yes, but we are too old now. There is no possibility that we could give birth to normal, healthy baby. What if we gave birth to a baby who was abnormal and not what we expected. Would we still have the confidence to carefully nurture and raise such a child?”
“Of course! I would love a child of our very own no matter what.”
“Yes, I know. Whatever it takes, I want a child of our own. I don’t even care about the baby’s appearance. The baby could have only one eye and horn growing out of the top of its head, and I know that I would still love and nurture the baby with all my heart.”

それから少し経って、男の子が生まれたのでした。
After a passage of time, the couple gave birth to a baby boy.

二人は、息子の姿を見て、大きな衝撃と深い悲しみに襲われましたが、わが子を育てるために決心し、天城山の山中に入って小屋を作り、今日まで暮らしてきたのでした。
Upon seeing the baby for the first time, the couple were in utter shock and deeply saddened. They decided that it would be best to raise the boy in seclusion away from society. The went deep into hills and forests of Mt. Amagi, built a cabin, and lived there ever since.

目が一つ、角が一本の少年は、自分が普通の人とは違う、化け物のような姿だと悟って以来、両親の元には戻りませんでした。
父母は、毎日、山の中で叫び続けました。
「どこいったぁ！　帰っておいで！」
「戻ってこーい！」
With only one eye and a horn growing from out of the top his head, the boy realized that he was different from what any normal boy looked like, and began to think of himself as some kind of monster. From that point forward, he decided to never return home again.
Day after day, his parents went deep into the hills and forests of the mountain shouting his name and pleading for him to come home.
“Where have you gone!? Come home!”
“Come back!”

その声は少年に届いていましたが、少年は帰りたいのをぐっと堪えて、耳を塞いでいました。
と、うずくまって堪えていた少年の足元近くで、一匹のうさぎが飛び跳ねました。
Although their voices had reached the boy, and regardless of how much he wanted to reach out and answer their call, he decided it best to plug his ears to keep from hearing his parents.
Near the boy’s feet there was something moving. He looked down and saw a small rabbit hopping away.

少年は、抑えていた感情をぶつけるように自分の頭の角を兎めがけて突き刺しました。
うさぎはすぐに血を流して死んでしまいました。
「うあ。うああ……」
The boy felt that he was up against feelings that he had suppressed. Suddenly, he turned his head to the rabbit and pierced it with his horn.
With the shedding of so much blood, the rabbit died immediately.
“Oh! Oh, no!”

少年は、血まみれになって転がったうさぎを抱いて、声を震わせて泣きました。
The boy cried with a trembling voice has he held the body of the dead rabbit all covered in blood.

それから毎日、少年は、頭に生えている角を使って、必死に狩りをしました。
そうして、いのししやうさぎを、両親の小屋の前へと、こっそり送り届けました。
いつかは、両親が、里へと降りてくれることを願いながら……。
Every day thereafter, the boy used his horn and desperately started hunting. He hunted down and killed wild boar and rabbit, and quietly took his prey to the front doorstep of his parents house for them to eat.
He patiently waited and hoped for the day that his parents would finally decide to go down the mountain and return the village.

年月が過ぎていきました。
Little by little, the years passed.

両親はとうとう里へは降りていきませんでした。年老いて、二人とも、目がほとんど見えなくなり、それでもその日も、山にいる息子に向かって、語りかけていました。
「おーい。帰ってこーい」
「どうか姿を見せておくれ……」
In the end, his parents never left the mountain to return to the village. In the end, his parents never left the mountain to return to the village. As they both grew even older, they slowly began to lose their sight. To this day, they still seek out their son calling out to him as he remains hidden deep in the mountain.
“Son! Come home!”
“Please! Just give us a sign or show your face!”

二人は、以前よりもぼんやりするようになった意識の中で、息子を思い、悲しんでいました。
すると。小屋の前に気配が感じられました。二人は慌てて戸を開け、見回します。
With the passing of time, their hopes of ever seeing their son again began to fade, and they were left with emptiness and sadness.
Then one day, there was suddenly something at the door of the cabin. They quickly opened the door and looked around.

「許しておくれ」
「すまないなぁ。悲しい思いをさせて」
語りかけましたが、息子の姿はありませんでした。
ですが、息子の声が聞こえてきます。
“Please forgive us!”
“We are so sorry we brought you so much unhappiness.”
Although they knew their son could hear them and they were able to hear his voice, he never appeared before them.

「そんな、謝らないでください。僕は父さんと母さんに感謝しています。尖った角があるおかげで、狩りをすることが出来ます。目が真ん中に一つだけのおかげで、低く生えた木々の枝に横から瞳を傷つけられることなく、獲物めがけて突進することが出来るのです。だから僕は、山の中で不自由なく暮らしていけるのです」
“Please, there is no need to apologize! I am grateful to both of you. Thanks to the horn, I can hunt for food and not go hungry. With only one eye in the middle, I can stalk prey deep into the vegetation without fear of branches or limbs hurting my eye from the side as I rush in to snatch my prey. So, I am able to live comfortably here in the mountain.”

少年は今日も両親に、狩りで捕らえた大きないのししを運んできていました。
年老いた父母は、互いの手を取り合いながら、ぼろぼろと涙を流すのでした。
That same day, the boy caught a large boar in a hunt and brought it to his parents’ cabin.
His aging parents grasped each other’s hand and cried tears of joy and appreciation.

吉奈の里に住む者が、天城山の山中で、悲しく呼びかける年老いた夫婦の声を、たびたび、聴くことがあったといいます。
It is sad in the village of Yoshina that if you listen carefully, you can sometimes hear the sad voices of an old couple calling out to their son deep in the heart of Mt. Amagi.

老夫婦は数日して亡くなってしまいました。それから小屋の前には、二つの塚（お墓）が作られ、山で摘んだ花がいっぱい、供えられていたそうです。
The elderly couple passed away some days later. In front of the cabin were two large mounds that were built and covered in flowers that seemed to have been placed on the graves as offerings.

 

吉名温泉周辺のおすすめスポットはこちらから＞＞＞

Introduction the Area Surrounding Yoshina Onsen＞＞＞