夏目漱石　初期の漢詩 : 叙景表現を中心として : 第二章　第五節　花の「色」

In this continuing series of papers, I have been mainly discussing the scenic descriptive expressions in Chinese poetry written by Sōseki before his study in the West （from 1900）. In this second chapter, I discuss his expression of color, an issue that is also emphasized in his Bungakuron （Criticism of Literature）. In the fifth section of this chapter, I focus on “flowers”, which have a strong presence in his novels, and investigate the expression of their colors. There are 58 instances of “flower” in Sōseki’s poems, which can be divided into two classes depending on whether or not they are given specific names. In this section, I consider the meaning of “flowers” in Sōseki’s poetry by focusing on those without specific names. Individually named flowers （such as “peach,” “plum,” “rape blossoms,” etc.） will be discussed in the next section. If, for the sake of convenience, we use the frequency of expressions as an index for unspecified flowers, the most common expression is “falling flowers,” which appears 4 times, followed by the following 5 expressions, each of which appears twice: “wildflowers” 野花, “graceful flowers” 幽花, “elegant flowers” 閑花, “spring flowers” 春花, and “flower red” 花紅. There are 11 expressions that occur only once, such as “floating flowers” 蘋花, “blurred flowers” 烟花, “flying flowers” 飛花, etc. A wide variety of flowers can be recognized, but the 5 expressions that are used twice each demonstrate a certain uniqueness; in particular, “wildflowers” 野花, “graceful flowers” 幽花, and “elegant flowers” 閑花 are worthy of special attention. Firstly, I consider these three expressions, and finally turn to the most common one, “falling flowers” 落花. As a result of studying “wildflowers” 野花 and “graceful flowers” 幽花, I argue that both are related to Tao Yuanming’s poetry of retreat. Although there are differences in the directness of expression and depth of thoughts between the two, they can be interpreted as representations of Sōseki’s desire to live in seclusion. I also point out that the expression “graceful flowers” 幽花 in particular embodies Sōseki’s aesthetic view and is a symbol of his longing for seclusion. The Chinese character 閑 （kan） in “elegant flowers” 閑花 does not have a negative meaning, such as killing time, but rather has a positive value of being in a state of tranquility, and is almost synonymous with the Chinese character 幽 （yū）. The expression “elegant flowers” 閑花 refers to beautiful flowers that quietly bloom away from the hustle and bustle, just like “graceful flowers” 幽 花. However, the use of 閑 （kan） produces expressions related to poetry or the act of writing poetry, which is an element not found in 幽 （yū）. I have demonstrated that the source of this observation is in the “calm and serene” 閑適, which originated with Bai Juyi. The “calm and serene” 閑適 is one of the four categories （satire, tranquility, sentimentality, and other） of self-selected poetry anthologies planned by Bai during his relegation to Jiangzhou 江州. This is poetry that expresses the emotions that can be enjoyed in a free environment, including in a private situation away from official duties and in a life of retirement （in Bai’s work “Genkyū ni atauru no sho” 元九に与ふるの書）. Tomohisa MATSUURA explains that the most important thing in Bai’s poetry is the Chinese character teki 適, and kan 閑 is the precondition for that. As a contrasting example, he argues that Tao’s poetry is focused on kan 閑 （“Tao Yuanming and Bai Juyi Theory: Lyricism and Explanation”）. Turning to Sōseki’s poems, kan 閑 is found in 38 examples, but teki 適 in only 2, so Sōseki clearly had the same interest in kan 閑 as Tao did. It is nothing less than a desire to live in seclusion, and Sōseki also thought that this state of life would stimulate his poetic spirit and deepen his poetic thoughts. It can be said that the relationship between kan 閑, including “elegant flowers” 閑花, and poetry is a reflection of that. The expression “flower” is basically a season word of “spring”, but “