北西の季節風に逆らって

どこまでが事実に基づいているかは別として、吉村昭さんの小説やその妻・津村節子さんの小説に登場する佐渡の物語は、どちらも厳しい現実の中で生きる人間の姿を描き、重苦しい雰囲気に包まれています。今どき、暗い内容の小説は流行らないかもしれませんが、それでも両者の作品は強烈な印象を残します。ここ宿根木を舞台に描かれた吉村氏の小説を読んだ後に訪れたとき、目の前に広がる海は「破船」の印象そのままでした。厳しくも美しい歴史を刻んできた風景と、冬に閉ざされる佐渡の厳しさは、そこに暮らす人々にも大きな影響を与えているように感じます。そんな佐渡の魅力に惹かれ、新潟にいる私も、北西の季節風に逆らってよく通っていた時期がありました。

Regardless of the extent to which they are based on fact, the stories of Sado Island in Akira Yoshimura’s novels and those of his wife, Setsuko Tsumura, both depict people living in a harsh reality and are filled with a heavy atmosphere. Novels with dark content may not be popular nowadays, but both works still leave a strong impression. When I visited the area after reading Yoshimura’s novel, which is set here in Shukunegi, the sea spread out before my eyes was just as it was in “The Breaking Ship. I feel that the harsh yet beautiful history of the landscape and the harshness of Sado, which is closed off by winter, have a great impact on the people who live there. Attracted by such charms of Sado, there was a time when I often went there against the northwest monsoon, even though I was in Niigata.

EOS-1DsMarkⅡ 220mm 1/400秒　f:10

©️photo by Nakamura Osamu