#202 川上弘美『神様』
小さな細い魚がすいすい泳いでいる。水の冷気がほてった顔に心地よい。よく見ると魚は一定の幅の中で上流へ泳ぎまた下流へ泳ぐ。細長い四角の辺をたどっているように見える。その四角が魚の縄張りなのだろう。くまも、じっと水の中を見ている。何を見ているのか。くまの目にも水の中は人間と同じに見えているのであろうか。
Vocabulary:
川上弘美 かわかみひろみ Kawakami Hiromi (author, 1958-)
冷気 れいき cool air
心地よい ここちよい feeling good, comfortable, pleasant
縄張り なわばり territory, demarcation
Translation:
Small, thin fish were swimming in the water. The cool air coming from the water feels good against my hot face. Looking closely, you can see that the fish swim upstream and then downstream again within the confines of a fixed area. They appear to be following the borders of a long, narrow square. The square probably marks the fish's territory. The bear is also looking into the water. What is he looking at? Do the water’s depths appear the same to the bear as to us humans?
Link for the text I used:
火照る, ほてる to feel hot, burning.
•••
辺 へん area. side, edge.
辺り あたり vicinity, surroundings
辺 ほとり bank, shore
↳「細長い四角の辺」ってへんと読みと思います
Great passage, I loved working through this one ❤️✨ I got tripped up 「よく見る」reading it as “frequently looking” vs “Looking closely/carefully”.
…ように見える = appears to be…