The Road to Goka in the Manga Hyougemono and Revenge of the Sith 漫画へうげものとスターウォーズ:シスの復讐で描かれる業火への道

日本在住この二十年 (2022年6月現在)のあまり、日本語だけではなく、日本の文化と宗教観に対する理解をさらに深まるように尽力してきた(いや、今もそれが進行中)。そして、その「日本フィルタ」を通してスターウォーズ(以降SW)を改めてみると、新たな視点からその物語を垣間見えるようになった。

I have spent nearly two decades of my life in Japan (as of June 2022), and during that time I have worked hard (or rather still working) to deepen my knowledge of not only the Japanese language, but also the culture and religious perspective of the country. This "Japan filter" has provided me with new insight and perspective into repeat viewings of the Star Wars (SW) saga.

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Source: Lucasfilm

SWの第一話~6話までの主人公であるアナキンスカイウォーカーがダースベイダーに生まれ変わるシーンに対して新たな解釈のヒントを与えた日本語の単語がある:「業火」。この単語は元々仏教の用語であり、辞書で載っている意味はこうである:「悪業(あくごう)が身を滅ぼすのを火にたとえていう語。また、罪人を焼き苦しめる地獄の火。」この言葉を成り立つ漢字を分解しますと「業」と「火」となり、その二つの字が描くイメージからその意味を何とか察することもできる。

There is one Japanese word that has added a new layer of interpretation to the scene in which Anakin Skywalker, the protagonist of the SW saga, becomes Darth Vader: 業火 (goka). The word "goka" comes from Buddhism, and the meaning listed in the dictionary goes something like this: "Analogy that likens the evil deeds one commits to a fire that envelopes them. Also the fires of hell that inflict suffering upon the wicked." The two characters that make up this word, 業 and 火, convey the ideas of "deeds" and "fire", making it easy to surmise what the meaning of the word is. 


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辞書に載っている意味は確かに分かりやすくて、その言葉が表す苦しみを簡単に想像できる一方、本来は仏教においてより深淵な意味合いが織り込まれている。 まず、仏教の教えでは、すべての生き物は煩悩(ぼんのう)に満ちている限り、悪業を重ねざるを得ない。自分が悪業の結果すごく苦しむことを、火に焼かれ苦しむことがまさに「業火」ということなのだ。煩悩といえば、その一つは力に対する欲望であるともいえよう。

The dictionary definition is pretty straight forward, making it easy to conjure up the images of suffering it conveys. However, the original meaning in its Buddhist context is actually deeper. Buddhism states that people are doomed to pile up iniquities so long as they remain consumed by worldly passions and carnal desires. In this sense, we can classify a lust for power as one of these so-called passions and desires.

 

f:id:akiruno_life:20170812023410j:image Source: Anime Hyougemono

「業火」という単語を始めて出逢ったのは「へうげもの」という漫画の中であった。漫画の主人公である古田織部茶の湯の師匠であった千利休が、昔の親友であったヘチカンを訪れたシーンの中で「業火」の単語が出てくる。そのシーンで描かれる会話は下記の通り:。

The first time I came across the word "goka" was in the manga Hyougemono. The scene in which it is used depicts Sen no Rikyuu, the tea master of the story's protagonist Furuta Oribe, paying a visit to an old friend Hechikan. Here is the conversation exchanged between the two. 

 

千利休:「何をなさっておるのです?」

Sen no Rikyu: What have you been doing as of late?
ヘチカン:「ワシももう永くない。書物やら道具やら、少しづつ処分しておるのよ。どうだい?おまえさんも身の回りを片づけたら。風雅は身と共に終わるべしってな」

Hechikan: I don't have much longer. Little by little, I've been getting rid of my writings and tea vessels. You should do the same. The fate of these refined trappings will be the same as mine. 
千利休:「・・・あまり、感心しませんな」

Sen no Rikyu: I pictured you doing something much grander.
ヘチカン:「業が深いの。関白(豊臣秀吉)さんよりよっぽど」

Hechikan: You've seen to have accomplished quite a lot. Even more than the Kanpaku (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) himself.
千利休:「左様にございます。さりとて、私の業の働きゆえ、世が侘び色に染まるなら、今生きている者たちが誠の美を見出すなら、争いなど消え失せ、心静かに暮らしを営めましょう」

Sen no Rikyu: Indeed I have. I've been working to spread the philosophy of wabi (sober refinement, beauty in simplicity). In doing that, I hope to help people living now discover true beauty. That discovery will purge this land of conflict, enabling all to live in peace."
ヘチカン:「はあ、二十年の歳月は人を変えるものよのお。おまえさんは天下国家にまで口を出す仁じゃなかった。過ぎたるはなお及ばざるが如し。それはおまえさんにも言えるのと違うのかえ? 己のことは見えがたいものよ」

Hechikan: Humph, 20 years can really change a man. I never thought of you as one to espouse such an ambitious vision for unifying the country under a singular mandate. Too much of a good thing can be bad, you know. But do you really see that? You've lost sight of yourself.
千利休:「・・・・」

Sen no Rikyuu: (Silence)
ヘチカン:「もう生きて会うこともないから言っておくぞ。人の欲の達成には限りがあるのじゃ」

Hechikan: I say this to you because this is probably the last time we'll meet in this life. There is a limit to what a man's ambition can achieve.
千利休:「私では、皆に侘びを伝えられぬと申されますか?」

Sen no Rikyu: Are you saying that it's impossible for me to spread the wabi philosophy?
ヘチカン:「・・・限りを知らねば禍を招きかねん。今の利休居士は、業火にもまれとるよ」

Hechikan: The inability to recognize your limits ultimately courts disaster. Rikyu, there's a goka all around you. I see it.

 

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漫画で初めてこのシーンを読んだとき「業火」に織り込められている意味合いを完全に理解していなかったものの、上記で記述した通りその漢字からなんとかその意味を察することが出来た。そしてこのシーンを読み終えた瞬間に「利休の身は恐ろしい炎に包まれている」という絵が思い浮かんだ。その後に手元の国語辞書でこの単語の意味を調べて、それを確認することによってこのシーンが与える衝撃が一層に大きくなった。

The first time I read this scene I did not fully understand the meaning of the word goka. However, just as I wrote above, I was able to partially infer what it meant from the two kanji that make up the word. At that instant, an image of Rikyu enveloped in flames flashed through my mind. The impact of this scene grew even larger when I later looked up and checked the meaning of this word in the Japanese/Japanese dictionary I had.

 

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さて、このシーンでヘチカンが言う利休の「業」は一体どういう業なのだろうか?へうげものの概要をまとめるウィキペディアの記事は利休についてこう書かれている:「日本を己の数奇に基づく「わび」の理想国家へと作り変えたいという「業」から秀吉を見込み、信長殺しを持ちかけ暗躍、実行する。豊臣政権の樹立後は筆頭茶頭となり、その天才的な創意を振るうも秀吉との摩擦が多くなる。世に二つの花があっては煩雑であるという信念から帝を毒殺することを秀吉にそそのかすなど、美の理想の追求のためにはどのような行動も厭わない。

一時は己の中で温故知新を果たし穏やかな心を得るが、宗二(利休の弟子)の斬首への憎悪と絶望をきっかけに更なる業に己を染めていく。織部を巻き込まぬため絶縁を申し渡し、自らが作った豊臣政権を滅ぼすため再び暗躍するが、家康に光秀の最期を教えられ、自らの過ちを知って死に臨む。介錯を務めた織部に志を託し切腹した。」

So what exactly are the deeds of Rikyu that Hechikan is referring to in this particular scene?  The Wikipedia overview (in Japanese) of the Hyougemono series contains this passage within its description of Rikyu:

"Rikyu believes that Hideyoshi (Toyotomi) is the man through which he can achieve his vision of transforming Japan into the ideal nation-state he seeks to create; one founded upon his very own wabi-infused vision of refined taste. To achieve this end, he works behind the scenes to set in motion a plot to assasinate Oda Nobunaga (at the hand of Akechi Mitsuhide). Rikyu is named the head tea master after Hideyoshi Toyotomi assumes power, but his creative genius proves to be a regular source of friction between himself and Hideyoshi.  Believing that the world is not large enough for 'two flowers (two objects of beauty)', he tries to convince Hideyoshi to covertly poison and eliminate the Emperor. In short, he is willing to use any means necessary in pursuit of what he believes to be the ideal form of beauty.

Rikyu finds solace for a short time, drawing upon the lessons of the past as he works to break new ground in his pursuit of tea. However, the execution of his student Soji unleashes a well of hate and despair, leading him to further tarnish his soul with evil deeds. He severs his ties with Furuta Oribe, who refuses Rikyu's entreaties to join forces with him, and then works to plot the destruction of the Toyotomi government he created. It is only when Tokugawa Ieyasu tells him the final words of Akechi Mitsuhide that Rikyu realizes the error of his ways as he faces his own execution. He leaves Oribe with his vision for a country rooted in beauty, and accepts decapitation at his hand after committing seppuku."

 

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フォースの暗黒面に潜む危険性についてルークを諭したときヨーダはこう伝えた:「一度闇の道を進み始めたら、闇が一生お前の運命を征服し食い尽くすじゃろう。」漫画へうげもので描かれる利休はヨーダが諭したの如く、一度悪業に手を染めたらその軌道からなかなか脱することができなかった。自分から見て地上の地獄である日本の乱世を終わらせるために自分が美の理想と見る侘びを礎に新な国の体制を築くために茶の湯を広めようとした。善意に基づいた志でもあったが、「地獄への道は善意で敷かれている」という諺の如く、その善意を果たすためにどのような行動も厭わず、そのあげく自分のことを見失ってしまい、成し遂げた「業」が生み出した「火」に滅ぼされた。

When Yoda admonishes Luke about the inherent dangers of the Dark Side of the Force, he says "Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will."  This is exactly what we see happen with Rikyu in the manga Hyougemono. Once he taints himself with the stain of evil, he becomes unable to break away from the dark path it sends him down. He viewed the incessant conflict among warlords in Japan as a form of hell on earth, and sought to end it through tea ceremony evangelism in an effort to create a new national order rooted in the wabi he viewed as the ideal form of beauty. Yet, just as the saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" goes, his desire to achieve a benevolent end led him to use whatever means necessary to achieve it. In the end, he lost all sight of himself, and became consumed by the fire (火) sparked by his own evil deeds (業). 

 

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この経由で「業火」という単語を知るようになった以降、毎回この単語を見るとまず思い浮かぶのは漫画へうげもので描かれる欲望に支配される利休とその欲望が招いた「滅び」の展開だ。そして、この連想は「シスの復讐」でアナキンとオビワンの対決の末に溶岩の川の岸で炎に包まれるアナキンのシーンに新な解釈を与えられた。炎に包まれて焼き苦しめていくアナキンの姿を見た瞬間に、頭に浮かんだのはこの「業火」という言葉でした。そのシーンはまさにこの言葉の意味合いを見事に表現している。しかも、「シースの復讐」ではそのシーンで流れる曲のタイトルは英語で「Immolation」となっているけど、その邦訳のタイトルは「業火」である。おそらく、翻訳の段階でその仏教的な意味合いを意識したであろう。お見事な邦訳である。「業火」でアナキンがジェダイ撲滅に加担したことの罪を始め、そして自分の息子であるルークの慈悲と愛に救われて光に戻るときまでダースベイダーとして積み重ねていく罪をその溶岩の川の岸で焼き苦しい報いとして受けました。では、その悲惨な運命に駆り立てたのは一体何であったでしょう?ただ自分が愛するものを死から救いたかった善意でした。しかし、ヘチカンが利休に言ったように、アナキンの場合は愛が「過ぎたるはなお及ばざるが如し」ものとなり、そして自分を突き動かす愛は力への渇望に生まれ変わって、その結果自分の善意がダースベイダーという地獄への道を敷いてしまいました。

As a result of learning the word goka in this fashion, every time I see this word my mind races to the image of Rikyu driven by ambition, and the ultimate demise to which it led him in the manga Hyougemono. This line of thought added a new interpretation to the final battle between Obi Wan and Anakin in Revenge of Sith, in which Anakin is left consumed by flames on the banks of a lava river. Upon watching the film again and seeing Anakin writhing in pain, enveloped by flames, the word goka flashed through my mind. This scene truly and perfectly conveys the inherent meaning of the word. The title of the piece playing at this scene in Revenge of the Sith is "Immolation" in English, but the Japanese title is Goka (業火). I can't help but think the translator had the Buddhist connotations of this word in mind when the made the translation. It's perfect. Surrounded by his own goka on the banks of that lava river, Anakin suffers the pain of all the transgressions he commits as Darth Vader, from his part in the destruction of the Jedi Order until he is finally redeemed by the compassion and love of his son Luke. But what was it that compelled him onward to this tragic fate? His own good intentions, in short the desire to save the ones he loved. Yet, just as Hechikan said to Rikyu, "too much of a good thing can be bad." In Anakin's case, the love that drove him gave way to a lust for power. In the end, his own original good intentions proved to be the cobblestones that paved the way to the hell he came to know as Darth Vader.

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