書道教室に通っていた高校生の頃、小筆で仮名文字を書くようになりました。
最初は、暑中お見舞い申し上げます、といったあいさつ文から。
そして短冊に、古池や 蛙飛びこむ 水の音、といった俳句。
次第に、変体仮名の一覧を見ながら、和歌を書くように。
書道の昇段試験では、古今和歌集高野切や和漢朗詠集の中から課題が出ることも多く、
和歌や変体仮名交じりの文献に触れる機会が増えました。
音の勉強をしていた時、和歌を詠む「披講」と出会います。年初、今でも毎年宮中で行われている「歌会始め」。選ばれた和歌を、節をつけて歌い、披露する作法。私が1年ほど学んだ星と森披講学習会では、読師という進行役に従い、和歌が書かれた懐紙を、まず講師が読み上げ、発声が一人、初句を歌い上げ、続いて講頌が皆で第二句から合唱します。一度参加させていただいた歌会では、テーマに沿って、まずお茶席があり、庭園に出て和歌を作り、短冊に書き、講評があり、選ばれた和歌を懐紙に書いて、みんなで披講する。そして直会でお食事という流れでした。
歌会には、茶道・華道・書道・書画・表具・着物・和食と日本文化の粋が詰まっています。書をやっていると、和歌を筆で書くことはあっても、お手本としてしかみておらず、短歌も作ったことがなく、歌い方があることも知りませんでした。自分が作り書いた和歌を、みんなに歌ってもらえることはとても嬉しく、参加した人とも近しい気持ちになれる貴重な体験でした。
When I was a high school student attending calligraphy classes, I began writing kana characters with a small brush.
At first, I started with greetings such as "Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu" (I wish you a happy new year).
Then, I started writing haiku on tanzaku strips, such as "Old pond, frogs jumping in, sound of water.
Gradually, I began to write waka poems while looking at a list of variant kana characters.
In the calligraphy promotion examinations, there were many assignments from the Kokin Wakashu Koyakiri and the Wakan Roei Shu,
I had more opportunities to come in contact with waka poems and documents with variant kana.
I met "Hikou" a waka poem recitation.
At the beginning of the year, "Utakai-hajime" is still held every year at the court. In this ceremony, selected waka poems are sung with verses and presented to the audience.
In the Hoshi to Mori Hikou Study Group, where I studied for about a year, the instructor reads from a piece of kaishi paper with a waka poem written on it, followed by the first verse sung by one vocalist, and then all the members of the group sing the second verse and so on.
At the poetry party I once attended, there is a tea ceremony, and then the participants go out to the garden to compose waka poems, write them on tanzaku strips of paper, receive comments, write the selected waka poems on kaishi (Japanese paper), and present them to the participants. Then, we had a dinner with Japanese cuisine.
As a calligrapher, I have written waka poems with a brush but only as a model, and I had never composed tanka or waka poems and did not know that there was a way to sing them.
The Utakai is a fusion of all aspects of Japanese culture: tea ceremony, flower arrangement, calligraphy, painting, tableware, kimono, and Japanese food.
It was a precious experience for me to have everyone sing the waka I created and wrote, and to feel close to the participants.
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