仔牛近道

　電気は来ているが、お風呂もガスも根太の工事も済んでいない奈良田の家に、えいやっと越してきたこの春先。未だに冷蔵庫なしで何とかなってしまっている我が家です。そんな我が家の食卓を支えていたのは、二軒隣のMさんに他なりません。




　葉ワサビ、行者ニンニク、三つ葉ぜり、ウルイ、ウド、オオバラ、ウコギ、コシアブラ、フキ…ご飯を炊いて味噌汁を作ったら、Mさんの庭に行けばたいてい何かおかずができてしまいます。Mさんも、「明日はオオバラの芽を取るからね！」と予告してくれるので、大きな脚立を持ち出して芽を取るMさんの足元で、（ま）は落ちてくる芽をザルで受け取るお手伝い。やれこれはもう食べ頃だ、それこっちは根っこごと持って行って庭に植え付けよ、と日々、知恵と食材を頂いてきました。これに加えて、ちょっと歩けばワラビ、ヨモギ、ユキノシタ、フキノトウ、ニラ等々、食べられるものばかりだから、春はいいなぁ。

　食べ放題の春を過ぎると、今度は蜂で大忙し。蜂の習性を見事に利用した「分蜂」裁きに、ただただ見とれるばかりです。私も今は見学ばかりですが、何千というミツバチの群れが、「分蜂」と呼ばれる蜂の引っ越し（分家？）に向けてブンブンすごい音を立てながら、巣箱の前で黒い塊になって飛び交い、そして女王蜂の周りに集まってだんごになる様子は何度見ても神秘的です。それらを集めるタイミング、誘導する手さばき、おっちゃんは蟲師なのか？と唖然とします。

　他にもMさんのマンノウガンっぷりは尽きることがなく、きのこも作れば三味線も弾く。歌も歌えば、歴史も語る。（ま）用のお菓子やジュースもいつも用意してくれていて、3歳児までお手の物です。「山で生きるには何でもできないと」とその通りです。ある日、私が乗っている車のスタットレスタイヤをササっと交換してくれたMさんを手伝いながら、「・・・Mさんには苦手なことないんですか？」と私。「うーん、そうさねぇ・・」としばらく考えて、結局に答えは返ってきませんでしたした。それから一緒におやつを食べて、広告の裏に我が家のメンバー全員の名前と年齢を書いておいて、と頼まれたので、漢字と読み仮名とついでに簡単な似顔絵をそれぞれ書いて渡しました。それを眺めながら、Mさんがぼそり。

「わたしは、絵は苦手だなぁ。」

あ、あの質問、まだ考えてたんだ！うーん、でも絵を描けなくても山で生きていけますよね。やっぱり、Mさんはマンノウガンですね、と再確認をしたのでした。

お風呂の工事が進まず、学校帰りの子どもたちと近所の温泉へ駆け上がる私たちと、毎日職場でシャワーを浴びて帰る（ゆ）を見かねたのか、

「うちの風呂を使えし。」

と救いの一言。毎日温泉も楽しいのだけれど、閉まる時間と定休日がなかなか大変だったので、なんとも染み渡るありがたい一言でした。というわけで、我が家の胃袋を支えつつ、更にはお風呂事情を支えつつ、私たちの奈良田生活が流れ出したのも、Mさんのおかげです。まだまだ、教わることが盛りだくさん。今後、どう恩返しをしていけるか、じっくり考えていきたいと思います。

（わ）
　



He is versatile　#2
　

We can use electricity, but not the shower room or gas. There are a few rooms where joists under the floor need replacement. This is how our new house is for now. Ever since we have moved into this incomplete house this spring, M-san has been a person who supports us in many ways.

Especially his advice and the plants of his garden have been a GREAT help to our stomachs! After preparing rice and miso soup for dinner, I just go to his garden to find something good for side dishes such as Wasabi leaves, Alpine leeks, Japanese parsley, Plantain lilies, Udo, Oobara, Aralia, Koshiabura, Giant butterbur etc.... He also announces in advance, for example, "I'm going to cut Oobara tomorrow, so come and assist me!" In that case, he climbs up on a high ladder, cuts the spring buds of Oobara and drops them, then Makasa and I are supposed to collect them in baskets. Furthermore, everyday he tells me the perfect timings for each spring wild grass. He sometimes gives us his grasses with roots so that we could grow them in our garden. Added to these grasses provided by M-san, we could easily find many other yummy plants during our walk including Bracken, Mugwort, Saxifrage, buds of giant butterburs, garlic chive, etc...Well, what a wonderful and yummy season it is!

We had been busy eating spring grasses, and then the BEE season has started as well. Understanding how bees leave an old nest and build a new one, he controls their activities, and later he will collect a lot of precious honey. When bees know the right timing for leaving an old nest, thousands of them fly around their nest. The sound of buzzing is amazing, and furthermore, the air looks black due to a large swarm of bees. Luckily, I've had opportunities to watch swarmers a few times till now, and whenever I see them, it's always mysterious and impressive to me. M-san, who controls thousands of bees, looks like a bee-master to me. It's just amazing.

Well, there are many other aspects for calling M-san one of "the versatile"- not only for spring plants and bees, but also mushroom making, Shamisen-playing, singing, talking about histories and so on. He is even good at interacting with 3-year-old Makasa, entertaining her with snacks and juice. Yes, the versatile MANNOGAN who is capable doing various things to survive in this mountain area, must be exactly like how he is...! One day, he changed the snow tires of my car to normal tires so easily. Assisting him, I was full of admiration and asked "isn't there anything that you are not good at?" He said "Let me see.....hum, well...." but the answer didn't come after all. After that when we were having an afternoon snack together, he asked me to write down the names and age of each one of my family members so that he could remember. I wrote as I was asked, and added illustrations of everyone's face beside each name. Looking at the paper, M-san said,

"...Oh, drawing is something that I'm not good at."

Ops, He still remembered what I had asked before! Well, even without drawing well, he could survive in mountain area. Yes, he is still a MANNOGAN indeed...I nodded to myself.

By the way, our bathroom still needs a lot of time to be ready, so we go up to the nearest hot spring every evening. Seeing me with kids running to the hot spring after school before it closes, and knowing that Yuki takes only a shower at his work place before leaving for home, one day M-san offered us,

"Why don't you use my bathroom?"

That offer was totally unexpected but a great one! Though we loved taking a bath at the hot spring every day, considering early closing time and regular holidays, borrowing his bathroom is totally appreciated. So, M-san has been supporting our stomachs, and then bathing...Thanks to his wonderful contributions, our new life in Narada has started flowing smoothly. I know that there are still many more things we are going to learn from him, and I' d like to keep thinking of how we could re-pay him for his generosity from now on.

Wakana