The Reality Behind What We See - The Poet, Yoshimasu Gozo, in Kyoto
冒頭、映画は東日本大震災の津波の映像（国土交通省協力）で始まる。この映画のクライマックスで誕生する吉増剛造の新作「惑星に水の木が立つ」は、詩人の長い苦闘を経て完成した。吉増は2011年の東日本大震災以降、詩が書けずにいた。「人間のいのちの始まりに羊水があり、産湯があり、終わりに唇をしめら す末期の水がある（吉増談）」人間にとって命の源でもある「水」は古今東西、詩人にとって重要な題材となってきた。しかし大津波の爪痕を直に見た詩人は、すべてをはぎ取っていく「水」の衝撃に自らの言葉を失う。吉増は、詩を書く代わりに昭和の哲人・吉本隆明の詩を米粒大の文字で写経のように毎日書き写し始める。その不思議で魅力的な現場をカメラは捉える。本人が「怪物くん」と呼ぶ４年がかりで書かれた「詩の傍らで」は、 700枚近くに達した大作である。そこでは日本の代表的歌人・与謝野晶子（1878〜1942）の肉声が響き渡り、サヌカイトが鳴り、ついにはアクション・ペインティングの創始者ジャクソン・ポロック（米・ 1912〜1956）のようにインクを紙面にたたきつける異様な光景が広がって行く。書くという原稿を逸脱して一枚の紙に時間が堆積しオブジェのような状態を呈するのだ。それは長い時間の「手習い書」となり、新作への胎動へとつながった。あるとき、「京都には琵琶湖（日本一広い湖）と同じ水量の地下水がある」と知った詩人は京都の水脈に新たな詩の創作の活路を求める。詩人の触手は巨大な水のゆりかごをぶらさげている京都の水に届きはじめる。そこで吉増の前に現れたのがノーベル文学賞を受賞した川端康成の幻影だった。京都に逗留し創作活動に励んだ川端康成、その幻を見る才能に詩人は共振し、自らの詩の創作の糸口を手探りで見つけていく。ついに詩人の触覚が触れたのは東洋の大精霊である水の神、龍だった。吉増は水の運命の声を聴き、筆をとる。この映画で描かれる吉増剛造の物語は、創作の絶望の淵に立った詩人が「新たな生命を得ていく」道筋を示してくれる。その背景を川端康成のノーベル文学賞受賞の理由となった傑作「古都」のように京都の四季の風景、禅寺、枯山水が艶やかに彩っていく。
The film opens with footage of the tsunami from the Great East Japan Earthquake (courtesy of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism). The new work by Gozo Yoshimasu, 'A Water Tree Stands on the Planet,' born at the climax of this film, was completed after the poet's long struggle. Yoshimasu had been unable to write poetry since the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. 'At the beginning of human life, there is amniotic fluid and bathwater; at the end, there is the water of the dying that moistens the lips,' says Yoshimasu. 'Water,' the source of life for humanity, has been an important theme for poets throughout history. However, the poet who directly witnessed the scars of the great tsunami lost his words to the impact of water that strips everything away. Instead of writing poetry, Yoshimasu began daily copying the poems of the Showa-era philosopher Takaaki Yoshimoto in rice-grain-sized characters, like a sutra transcription. The camera captures this strange and fascinating scene. 'Beside the Poem,' written over four years and which he calls 'Monster-kun,' is a massive work of nearly 700 pages. Within it, the actual voice of the representative Japanese poet Akiko Yosano (1878–1942) resounds, sanukite stones ring, and finally, an eerie scene unfolds as he flings ink onto paper like Jackson Pollock (USA, 1912–1956), the founder of action painting. Deviating from the act of writing, time accumulates on a single sheet of paper, creating an object-like state. This becomes a 'practice writing book' over a long period, leading to the gestation of a new work. One day, learning that Kyoto has as much groundwater as Lake Biwa (Japan's largest lake), the poet seeks a new path for poetic creation in Kyoto's water veins. The poet's tentacles begin to reach the water of Kyoto, which holds a giant cradle of water. Then, before Yoshimasu appears the phantom of Yasunari Kawabata, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Resonating with the talent of seeing phantoms in Kawabata, who stayed in Kyoto and devoted himself to creative work, the poet gropes for the thread of his own poetic creation. What the poet's senses finally touch is the great Eastern spirit, the water god, the dragon. Yoshimasu hears the voice of water's destiny and takes up his brush. The story of Gozo Yoshimasu depicted in this film shows the path of a poet, standing at the abyss of creative despair, 'gaining new life.' The backdrop, like Kawabata's masterpiece 'The Old Capital' which earned him the Nobel Prize, is vividly colored by Kyoto's four seasons, Zen temples, and karesansui (dry landscape gardens).
Source: cinematokyo.com · Tokyo mini-theater & independent cinema showtimes.