夏の夜の肝試し ― 考える時間 ― (その2)
Dare in a Summer Night – Time to Think - (Part 2)
LLシホヤ新井教室の西側、すぐ近くに「大正天皇大礼記念碑」があります。
There is a stone monument for “Accession of Taisho Emperor” on the west of and very close to LL Shihoya Arai School.
ヨッシーが通った新井小学校の跡地です。
Arai Elementary School where Yoshy was attending once stood at the site.
夏休みになると、上町子供会の行事で「夜回り」がありました。夜7時～8時くらいだったでしょう。
In every summer holiday, “walking around Kanmachi area for noticing watching out for fire” used to be held by Kanmachi Children’s Associations. Yoshy remembers; it usually started at around seven and finished at around eight in the night.
自由参加でしたが、ほとんどの子供たち、小学生男女30人以上が小6男子の先導で、「火の用心、マッチ1本火事のもと！」などと拍子木を叩きながら大通りを巡りました。
Though attending there was voluntary, most elementary school students whose number was about more than 30 were walking around in our Kanmachi area crying and striking clappers in union; saying some catch-phrases. E.g., “Watch out for fire!”, “Only one matchstick could make a fire!” and so on.
裸電球の下で、「ハンコを刻む伊藤ハンコ屋さん」、「後片付け中の樋口魚屋さんや水口食料品店さん」、「アイロンがけが終わらない池田洗濯屋さん」、「残業している役場の職員」…｢縁台を出して、将棋をしているおじいさんたち｣…が目に浮かびます。
Many people were still working under naked light bulbs; e.g. “Ito Seal-maker carving names on a seal”, “Higuchi Fish shop keepers and Mizuguchi grocery store in the time of closing the day”, “Ikeda laundryman still ironing”, “some officers working overtime of City Hall”, “a few couple of old aged men playing Shogi”, etc. … I can still see them in my mind.
夜回りが終わると、だれとなく、「おい、肝試しをしよう！」…多分4年生以上、10名くらいが残った気がします。
Just after finishing patrolling; someone would say to us, “Shall we test our courage?”… Perhaps there were about ten children in the 4th grade and up who didn’t come back home soon.
この「大礼記念碑」へ一人で行って、「石灯籠の月型の窪み」に手を入れて、戻ってくるというものでした。
There has been “a stone monument for “Accession of Taisho Emperor”. We had to go to the stone lantern and insert our hands in the crescent hole of the stone lantern and return.
今のように、遊び場には防犯灯などありません。そこは、今よりもっと鬱蒼としていて、新井小の宿直室の灯りがかすかに見えるだけでした。
There were no security lights in a play yard. The spot was full of trees, much more thicker than now. The only weak light around there was seen at a night-watch room of Arai Elementary School.
つづく。
This continues to an upcoming blog.
ヨッシーの小学生時代の当地周辺の風景は、You can see lots of pictures of those days of Yoshy’s elementary school student by clicking：HERE:ここをクリックなさってください。