Living Sculpture

In the Willow's Shadow - News from Flower City
柳の陰で花街新聞
(10/01/27) Living Sculpture

Again and again, here in this Flower City, I encounter ikebana.

Characters for ikebana spell "living" and "flower," but I often wonder how to properly interpret this art. As discussed in this week's lesson, "living" has many shades of meaning in English. Likewise, "flower" or "blossom" seems to have many shades of meaning in Japanese.

I wonder if "living sculpture" could be a translation that echoes strongly in European culture.

When I think of "living sculpture," the image of Pygmalion of Cyprus comes to mind. He is remembered as the artist who fell in love with the statue he carved. He was pitied by the goddess of love and she brought the statue to life as a living woman. The Pygmalion story is related to stories of Adonis (Greek) and Osiris (Egyptian), gods of life, death, and vegetation from the Mediterranean region.

Ultimately, the living sculpture dies.

The question is:

How does it live?

この花街で何回に生け花会っています。

生の文字は英語でlivingと言えるですね。花の文字は英語でflowerと言える。そうだけど生け花と言う芸術はどうやって訳しましょうか？今週の練習でも英語のlivingと言う言葉で喋っていると色々の意味が入っているですね。花も日本語で色々の意味が入っているかな。

多分英語でliving sculpture (生きている彫刻）と訳せばEuropean文化で響き渡る事が出来るだと思います。

Living sculptureと思えばキプロスのPygmalionと思い出します。Pygmalionの話で彼は自分の彫刻作品と愛してしまいました。愛の神が哀れみました。次に彫刻女が本物の女の子に成りました。Pygmalionの話は地中海のAdonisやOsirisの話と似ています。Adonis はギリシヤの神。Osirisは エジプトの神。両方は死ぬ物と生きる物と植物の神です。

やっぱり生きている物が死にますね。

質問は：

何の生き方でいました？

(For more Kinse English News go to http://inthewillowsshadow.blogspot.com/
or flavoraware.com)