Celebrity File Japan by Lint


英文		重要語句
■ When you think of nuns, you hardly ever think that calling goes hand in hand with uninhibited sexual adventures. Think again. A 77-year-old Buddhist nun has proven there might be more going on in the minds of nuns than thoughts of prayer. Jakucho Setouchi has shocked the religious and literary worlds with a new best-selling reworked interpretation of one of the most famous books in Japanese literature, The Tale of Genji.		nun　尼僧 calling　職業 go hand in hand with ...　 …と密接な関係がある uninhibited　制約されない prayer　祈り interpretation　翻訳
■■ What Setouchi has done is updated the archaic Japanese vocabulary to "modernize" the text. In modernizing it she has also, for want of a better word, fleshed out the sex scenes to the various romantic liaisons found throughout this lengthy novel. The Tale of Genji is set in one of the more liberated times in Japanese history. Of course, in adapting such a work she has been in much demand on the lecture and interview circuit since the 1999 release of her version of the great work. She also took one of the famous scenes in The Tale of Genji and turned it into a Noh play called Yume no Ukihashi (Floating Bridge of Dreams).		archaic　昔の modernize　…を現代語に訳す for want of a better word　ほかに適当な言葉がないので flesh out ...　 …を具体化する liaison　（男女間の）密通 lengthy　ひじょうに長い liberated　解放された adapt　…を翻案する turn ... into ～　…を～に言い換える
■■■ Setouchi is not just a rewriter; she also writes her own novels. In 1992, she won the famous Junichiro Tanizaki Award for Hana ni Toe (Ask the Flowers). She also won the Noma Literature Prize for Basho (Place)―an autobiographical novel about growing up in Tokushima. The famous nun keeps close ties to her home prefecture and has added her name to the Tokushima Prefecture Literature Calligraphy and Art Museum. This museum will help promote artists and authors associated with the prefecture.		autobiographical　自伝的な keep close ties to ...　 …との密接なつながりを保つ
■■■■ Setouchi is obviously a woman who knows how to express herself and her religious beliefs push her on to help others. It's no surprise that many of her writings feature strong female characters. Even though Setouchi at times focuses on her writing career, she is first and foremost a nun. She has lived at Jakuan Temple, a temple established by herself, in Kyoto Prefecture since 1985.		push ... on to do　…を～するよう駆り立てる at times　時々 first and foremost　何よりもまず
■■■■■ This devout religious woman though was not always thus. Her university life was fairly typical as a Japanese literature student at Tokyo's Women's University. After university she became a successful novelist writing mainly on those themes of family ties from that special feminine point of view. Then suddenly in 1973, quite out of the blue, she decided to shave her head, take Buddhist vows and become a nun at Chuson Temple in Iwate Prefecture. In 1987, she moved on and was elected chief priest of Tendai Temple in Iwate Prefecture.		devout　信心深い thus　こんなふうに out of the blue　突然；思いがけなく take Buddhist vows　出家する chief priest　住職
■■■■■■ Maybe this was just a sign as this lively old woman does do things differently. After the U.S. decided to invade Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban, she went on a hunger strike. It grabbed headlines for just a short time. She also went on a hunger strike back in 1991 to protest the Gulf War. Many Japanese people were impressed with her actions and, of course, they are still quite interested in attending her sermons in which she preaches this pro-peace point of view.		invade　…を侵略する overthrow　…を屈服させる grab headlines　ニュースになる protest　…に抗議する impress　…に感銘を与える sermon　説法 preach　…を説く pro-　…支持の

－written by Brian Maitland

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