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其子どもは、諸衛の佐になる。昇殿せしに、殿上のまじはりを人きらふに及ばず。
Tadamori's sons were made captains in the Guards, and were admitted to the Courtiers' Hall. Nobody now thought of refusing to keep company with them.
其比忠盛、備前国より都へのぼりたりけるに、鳥羽院、「明石浦はいかに」と御尋ねありければ、
有明の月も明石のうら風に
浪ばかりこそ寄るとみえしか
と申したりければ、御感ありけり。此歌は、金葉集にぞ入れられける。
About this time Tadamori came up to the capital from Bizen, and the Retired Emperor Toba asked him what the Bay of Akashi had been like. Tadamori answered with a poem:
"So bright was Akashi beneath the morning moon
that in the shore-wind only the waves, it seemed, came in by night."
The name Akashi means "bright", and the Emperor was delighted with the poem. It was afterwards included in the Kin'yōshū, the Anthology of Golden Leaves.
忠盛又仙洞に最愛の女房をもつて、かよはれけるが、ある時、其女房の局に、つまに月出したる扇を忘れて出でられたりければ、かたへの女房たち、「是はいづくよりの月影ぞや、出所おぼつかなし」なんど、わらひあはれければ、彼女房、
雲井よりただもりきたる月なれば
おぼろけにてはいはじとぞ思ふ
とよみたりければ、いとどあさからずぞ思はれける。薩摩守忠度の母是なり。似るを友とかやの風情に、忠盛もすいたりければ、彼女房も優なりけり。
Tadamori also had a lady at the Retired Emperor's palace whom he loved dearly and often went to visit. One day he left behind in her room a fan whose edge was painted with a rising moon. The other ladies laughed at her. "Where does this moonlight come from?" they said. "It is hard to tell where it rose." But she answered with a poem:
"It is a moon that came stealing down, just so, from above the clouds;
and I do not mean to tell you lightly whence it shone."
In the words "stealing down, just so" — tada mori — she had hidden her lover's name. After this Tadamori loved her more deeply than ever. She was the mother of Tadanori, Governor of Satsuma. Like, they say, draws to like: Tadamori was a man of taste, and the lady was no less refined.
かくて忠盛、刑部卿になつて、仁平三年正月十五日、歳五十八にてうせにき。清盛嫡男たるによつて、其跡をつぐ。
Tadamori rose to be Minister of Justice, and died on the fifteenth day of the First Month in the third year of Nimpyō, at the age of fifty-eight. Kiyomori, as his eldest son, became head of the house.
保元元年七月に、宇治の左府代を乱り給ひし時、安芸守とて御方にて勲功ありしかば、播磨守にうつつて、同三年大宰大弐になる。次に平治元年十二月、信頼卿が謀叛の時、御方にて賊徒をうちたひらげ、「勲功一つにあらず、恩賞是重かるべし」とて、次の年正三位に叙せられ、うちつづき宰相、衛府督、検非違使別当、中納言、大納言に経あがつて、剰へ丞相の位にいたり、左右を経ずして内大臣より太政大臣従一位にあがる。大将にあらねども、兵仗を給はつて随身を召し具す。牛車輦車の宣旨を蒙つて、乗りながら宮中を出入す。偏に執政の臣のごとし。
In the Seventh Month of the first year of Hōgen, when the Minister of the Left from Uji threw the realm into disorder, Kiyomori, then Governor of Aki, fought on the Emperor's side and did good service. He was moved to the governorship of Harima, and in the third year of the same era became Deputy Governor-General of Kyushu. Then, in the Twelfth Month of the first year of Heiji, when Lord Nobuyori rebelled, Kiyomori again took the Emperor's side and crushed the rebels. "He has served us not once but many times," it was said, "and his reward must be great." In the following year he was given the Senior Third Rank, and after that he rose without a pause — Imperial Adviser, Captain of the Palace Guards, Chief of the Police Commissioners, Middle Counsellor, Great Counsellor — until at last he became a Minister of State. He was never Minister of the Left or of the Right, but went straight from Minister of the Centre to Prime Minister, with the First Rank. Though he was no General of the Guards, he was granted an armed escort; and by special decree he was allowed to ride in his ox-carriage, or his hand-drawn carriage, right into the Palace grounds. In short, he was in all things like a Regent.
「太政大臣は、一人に師範として、四海に儀けいせり。国を治め道を論じ、陰陽をやはらげをさむ。其人にあらずは則ちかけよ」といへり。されば即闕の官とも名付けたり。其人ならではけがすべき官ならねども、一天四海を掌の内ににぎられしうへは、子細に及ばず。
Now the Prime Minister, as the old writings say, "is tutor to the One Man and a pattern to all within the Four Seas. He governs the land and discourses upon the Way; he keeps the Yin and the Yang in harmony. If there be no fit man, let the office stand empty." That is why it is called "the office that may be left vacant". It was not a post that anyone but the worthiest of men could fill without dishonouring it. But Kiyomori held the whole Empire in the hollow of his hand, and there was no more to be said.
平家かやうに繁昌せられけるも、熊野権現の御利生とぞきこえし。其故は、古清盛公、いまだ安芸守たりし時、伊勢の海より船にて熊野へまゐられけるに、大きなる鱸の、船に躍り入りたりけるを、先達申しけるは、「是は権現の御利生なり。いそぎ参るべし」と申しければ、清盛宣ひけるは、「昔周の武王の船にこそ、白魚は躍り入りたりけるなれ。是吉事なり」とて、さばかり十戒をたもち、精進潔斎の道なれども、調味して、家子侍共に食はせられけり。
It was commonly said that the Heike owed all this prosperity to the favour of the God of Kumano. The story is as follows. Long ago, when Kiyomori was still Governor of Aki, he was sailing from the Sea of Ise on a pilgrimage to Kumano, when a great sea-bass leapt into his boat. "This is a sign of the God's favour," said the guide who led the pilgrims. "You must eat it at once." "Long ago," said Kiyomori, "a white fish leapt into the boat of King Wu of Chou, and it was a happy omen. So is this." And although he was then keeping the Ten Precepts and purifying himself by strict fasting, as pilgrims must, he had the fish cooked and gave it to his household and his retainers to eat.
其故にや、吉事のみうちつづいて、太政大臣まできはめ給へり。子孫の官途も、竜の雲に昇るよりは、猶すみやかなり。九代の先蹤をこえ給ふこそ目出たけれ。
Whether for this reason or not, one piece of good fortune followed another, until he rose to be Prime Minister. His sons and grandsons, too, climbed in rank faster than a dragon mounts into the clouds. That he should so far outdo the nine generations of his forefathers was a marvellous thing indeed.
忠盛の歌「有明の月も明石のうら風に…」は、「明石」に「明かし(明るい)」をかけています。英訳では、歌のあとに「アカシという名は『明るい』という意味で」と添えて、掛詞の面白さが伝わるようにしました。
女房の歌「雲井よりただもりきたる月なれば」は、「ただ漏り来たる」に「忠盛」の名を詠みこんでいます。これも英文の中で、恋人の名が隠されていると説明しました。
「いそぎ参るべし」の「参る」は「召し上がる」の意と取りました。「偏に執政の臣のごとし」の「執政の臣」は、摂政・関白にあたるものとして Regent と訳しています。