8月11日から15日まで、妖怪電車が運行しています。
本数は一日5本のみ。詳しくは公式ホームページをご覧ください。
Monster Train runs in Kyoto from Aug 11th to 15th. They are limited to only five trains so check the schedule below.
①嵐山駅(Arashiyama Sta.) 17:00 (5:00PM)
⇒ 四条大宮駅(Shijo Omiya Sta.) 17:24 (5:24PM)
②四条大宮駅(Shijo Omiya Sta.) 17:40 (5:40PM)
⇒ 嵐山駅(Arashiyama Sta.) 18:04 (6:04PM)
③嵐山駅(Arashiyama Sta.) 18:30 (6:30PM)
⇒四条大宮駅(Shijo Omiya Sta.) 18:54 (6:54PM)
④四条大宮駅(Shijo Omiya Sta.) 19:10 (7:10PM)
⇒ 嵐山駅(Arashiyama Sta.) 19:34 (7:34PM)
⑤嵐山駅(Arashiyama Sta.) 20:00 (8:00PM)
⇒ 四条大宮駅(Shijo Omiya Sta.) 20:24(8:24PM)
大人 220円 こども 110円 妖怪 100円 (コスプレ)
Adult 220 yen, Children 110 yen, monster cosplayer 100 yen
車内に入るとあちこちにお化けが。
Monsters here and there in the train!
妖怪に扮した有志のコスプレイヤーと、嵯峨美術大学の学生さんの妖怪が出現します。子ども達が泣き出してしまうレベルのクオリティで、車内は阿鼻叫喚でした。
Cosplayers and students of Kyoto Saga University of Arts dressed up as ghosts and monsters showed up. They were so monsters that many children cried, screamed and clung to their parents.
乗車中、近くに寄られたときは私も思わず悲鳴を上げてしまいました。
While the train was running, they also came to me and I ended up to scream.
さて、日本人にとって、妖怪や怪談といえば夏の代名詞でもあります。
Do you know that ghost stories are symbolic to summer for Japanese people?
どうして夏でないとだめなのか？それはお盆と関係があります。
Why is it summer? It's related to Obon custom in Japan.
お盆の時期は、あの世から死者の霊が帰ってくるとされます。あの世とこの世がもっとも近い時期だと言えるでしょう。浮かばれない死を遂げた霊に対する鎮魂の意を込めて、舞や狂言を奉納したり、怪談ものの芝居を楽しむようになりました。
Obon is held mid-summer and it it said that deceased ancestors' spirits are coming back to our world. They live in the other world from ours, but two worlds come closest in Obon season. For the repose of dead souls, it has been a tradition to dance, perform a play or show something funny, and gradually the public also started to enjoy it.
ではここで、車内に登場した鬼婆(おにばば)のお話を一つ、紹介しましょう。
Now, let me share with you a story about onibaba -- a devilish womn.
鬼婆とは、老婆の姿をした、人を喰らう鬼です。人に忌み嫌われ、恐れられた存在ですが、鬼婆には悲しい過去があるのです。
Onibaba is nowadays used as "hag" but originally meant a devil with a shape of an old lady who eats human. She is always to be abhorred and resented, but she has a miserable past that turned her to Onibaba.
昔々、美しい姫君に仕える女がいました。女は姫君をたいそう愛し育てますが、姫君は病に伏し話すことができなくなりました。話せない姫君を治す方法が妊婦の生肝だと聞いた女は、姫君のために自分の娘を省みず山へ出て宿を始め、妊婦が来たら殺して肝を奪おうと、待ち続けました。
Long long time ago, a woman served a prity girl. She loved the girl so much and devoted herself but the little girl became sick and unable to speak. She heard the cure was a fresh liver of an expectant mother, so she decided to get it for her princess. She started to live in a deep mountain alone without her own daughter, letting travelers stay in her house and waited for that the right person comes.
幾年も経ち女が老婆になった頃、お腹に赤ん坊のいる若い夫婦が泊まりにやってきました。「遂にこのときがきた」と、老婆は旦那が外出した隙に、女の腹を裂き、肝を手に入れました。
Many yeas had passed. The woman became old. Then a young couple with an expected baby came to stay. "Now at last!" While her husband was out, she cut open the lady's belly and got her fresh liver.
すると女が持っていたお守りが目に入ります。よく見ると、自分が娘に渡したお守りではないですか。自分の娘を手にかけたことを知った老婆は気が狂い、鬼婆となって、宿に泊まる人を喰らい続けるようになってしまったんだとさ。 おしまい。
Suddenly a piece of something jumped out at the old. Looking carefully, it was a lucky charm she gave her daughter. She realized that she laid violent hands on her own real daughter, and it made her go bonkers. After then, she has been continuing to kill and eat travelers staying her place. That's all we know.
様々な慣習や催しも、文化的背景があって成り立っています。そんなところに思いを馳せるのも楽しいですね。
Such a train event and tradition are based on cultural background although we're not very much aware of. If you know more, it deepens your life in Japan.