88歳おじいちゃんの渡米記🇺🇸まえがき②「こども英学塾で紡ぐ大人の夢」

それでもアメリカ病はなかなかさめない。そうこうする内に、年を重ねて山崎家の一員となったが、いつかチャンスが来ないだろうかと不可能な事は判っていながら願いをかけた。やがて私も子の親となるや、 自分の若い時の夢を子供に託したくもなり、何とか英語を通じてその伝手が無いものかと考える。先ず自ら英語を修得すべく、その頃、新聞の広告欄で英国人の個人教授の有る事を知り、渋谷豊沢町のリリー･サンマス女史の門を叩く（女史は帝国大学初代英語教師の息女である）。

Yet my fever for America could not be cured. The years went by, and I became a part of the Yamazaki family. Although I knew it was impossible, I kept hoping against hope that someday my chance would come. At last, I became a father, and passed the dreams of my own youth on to my children, hoping that somehow we could use English to make the right contacts. But first, I needed to learn the language myself, and found out through classified ads in the newspaper that private lessons were being given by British teachers. This brought me to the door of Miss Lily Summers in Toyozawa-cho, Shibuya. (Miss Summers was the daughter of one of the first instructors of English at Tokyo Imperial University.)

リリー女史の教授は初歩ABCの基礎から教えるのでなく、その場の行動を質問的に教えるので効率的であったが、何故にも月謝が高く貧乏人には続かない。週二回で一ヵ月の月謝は１５円である。その頃のサラリーマンの給料は３０円前後だったと思う。

Miss Summers did not begin with the rudimentary ABCs – she had an efficient method of teaching with questions and answers about what was going on in the room. But the tuition was too high for a poor man such as myself, and I could not go on. The monthly fee for two lessons each week was fifteen yen. I suppose at the time, salaried employees were making about thirty yen a month.

ここは二か月で退塾し、次に日本橋浜町の首藤英学塾を訪ねて教えを乞う。ここは小中学生が殆どで、大人は一人もいない。とにかく塾長が私の熱意を買い、特別に入門を許される。月謝は２円である（後にこれが縁で師が亡くなられるまで師と仰ぎ、良き友人として六十有余年の交際が続く）。

So I stopped studying after two months, and next sought instruction at the Shudo English School in Hama-cho, Nihonbashi. Almost all the students were elementary school pupils, and there was not a single adult among them. Be that as it may, the headmaster was impressed by my enthusiasm and granted me special admission. The tuition was two yen a month. (Until his death, I regarded the headmaster as my teacher, and we enjoyed a friendship that lasted more than sixty years.)

又この学塾には国際親善学友会があり、海外と文通親善を計るのが目的である。私はその頃カメラを操作していたので、日本の風景など撮影して封入する等のお役に立てたのである。やがて各国からの通信が山積みするや私の様な未熟な者も受け持つ事になり、塾長のアドバイスを受けながら各国と文通を始めたのである。

The school had an International Friendship Society, with the goal of gaining overseas pen pals. At the time, I was a photographer, and helped out by taking pictures of scenery in Japan that the students could enclose with their letters. In no time at all, even a rank novice such as myself had a mountain of letters to answer, and I began corresponding with people from various countries with the headmaster's advice.

私の文通相手は米国ワシントン州コーラ･ピーターセン嬢、オハイオ州ヘレン･アグニュー女史、スタッキー女史、カナダクェベック市ローレンス　タイド女学校生徒、スウエーデンマルモのウラヴァーリン嬢等多彩であり、この時いよいよ私の志の一端が固めた様な気がしたのである。

It was quite a diverse group of pen pals: Miss Cora Petersen of Washington state; Miss Helen Agnew and Miss Stuckey of Ohio; and a student at a girls' school in Quebec, Canada. I felt that my plans were beginning to take shape at last.

そのうちに、第七回世界教育大会が東京で開催される事になり、アメリカからはオクラホマ代表文学博士マックマリン女史、オハイオ代表フローレンス･クリード嬢が来日され、首藤英学塾では目黒雅叙園で歓迎会を催した。私もその一員として参加、翌日から文部省、帝劇歌舞伎座等お伴したのである。離日には我家全員にて横浜港まで見送って別れを惜しむ（その頃まだ航空便なし）。帰国されてからも「たとえ言葉は違っても人種が異なっても人情に変わりはない」との感激の礼状に恐縮する。斯くして長い文通が続いたが、大東亜戦争で敵味方になった事は残念である。戦争が激しくなるや私も郷里に疎開するの已なきに至る。

Around this time, the seventh World Conference on Education was held in Tokyo, and Mrs. McMullin, D.Litt., representing Oklahoma, and Miss Florence Creed, representing Ohio, came to Japan, where they were greeted at a reception put on by the Shudo English School at the Gajoen in Meguro. I attended the reception and accompanied the party the following day to the Ministry of Education and to the Teigeki Kabuki Theatre. When the ladies left Japan, my entire family went out to the port at Yokohama to see them off. (Back then, there was no passage by airplane.) Upon their return, I received a moving letter that read, "Even though we speak different languages and are of different races, human kindness is the same." I was deeply grateful. A long correspondence followed, but unfortunately, our nations became enemies when the Great East Asian War broke out. When the fighting grew fierce, I evacuated to my hometown.

English translation by Paul Atkins
英語のリスニングの練習をしたい方は、是非動画もご覧ください。

#祖父 #おじいちゃん #アメリカ #渡米
#夢 #夢継ぎ #夢代人  #アメリカンドリーム
#英語 #アメリカ英語 #バイリンガル