Reading Wahei Tatematsu's "Umi-no-inochi"

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  • 立松和平「海の命」を読む
  • タテマツ ワヘイ ウミ ノ イノチ オ ヨム

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Abstract

In the teaching of kokugo, "Umi-no-inochi" by Wahei Tatematsu is usually interpreted as follows; Taichi, a fisherman, tries to avenge his father's death on a big fish called Se-no-Nushi, but he gives it up after all because he finds nature itself embodied in the fish. Such reading, however, seems to be far-fetched or at least inaccurate. First of all, it is quite difficult to read it as a story of vengeance, for Taichi seems to have no intention enough to kill the fish. Moreover, there is no textual evidence to indicate that the fish he happened to see is the same one which killed his father. In more "natural" (in the double sense of the word) reading, Taichi doesn't hate Se-no-Nushi at all but, like Old Yokichi, always worships it as a god of the sea.

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