Business: English Skills
ビジネスチャンスを活かす英語力UPのために
皆さまこんにちは！
３月号のB頁を担当させていただきます、橋爪です。
今月はブラジルの「ラストサムライ」とも言われる日経ブラジル人刀鍛冶についてのきじを一部選抜し、解説したいと思います。
(1) From the outside, the modest home of 61-year-old Edson Suemitsu looks little different from others in this middle-class neighborhood of Curitiba, a sleepy city in southern Brazil.
But enter the gates and you’ll find a lush garden, overarched by a large, red Japanese torii. In the garage, more often than not, Suemitsu can be found hunched over a grindstone or workbench, working on one of the hundreds of swords he has made over the years.
Suemitsu is by no means the last person to make a living producing katana, a type of curved sword used by samurai in feudal and ancient Japan. Yet, as a life-long resident of Brazil, a country better known for beaches and soccer, he may be the most improbable.
The sturdy gray-haired Suemitsu said he first became interested in producing katana when his Japanese-born grandfather would forge blades as a tool to defend against venomous snakes at their frontier farm.
(2) Upon moving to Curitiba in the late 1960s, he learned the art of making katana, largely, he says, by trial and error.
Eventually, his work gained widespread acceptance. Suemitsu has made around 1,000 swords over 42 years, ranging in price from 6,000 reals (about ¥15,000) to about 20,000 reals. He said his clients come from as far away as Egypt.
As the country’s only full-time katana forger, local press has dubbed him “Brazil’s last samurai.” Suemitsu is amused by the title, but finds it a little misleading as many Japanese descendants in Brazil have samurai ancestry.
Among the secrets to making katana, Suemitsu says, are intangible qualities, such as faith. He also says Japanese heritage is essential.
“First you have to be Japanese, think like a Japanese person, have a Japanese spirit. If I, as someone with Japanese blood, tried to dance samba, it wouldn’t work,” he said, referring to the popular Afro-Brazilian dance. “It would be weird.”
Suemitsu forges the blade, made of Austrian steel, over an open flame. He spends days sharpening the swords by hand over a wet stone.
Working long days and weekends, he can make three a month.
Suemitsu says he never plans to retire. While he would love a successor, he concedes his trade may die with him.
“I don’t know if I’ll have successors because the work is very complex,” he says. “It can’t be for the money, it has to be for the heart.”
By Reuters “Brazil’s ‘last samurai’ seeks to keep tradition alive in South America”. The Japan Times, February 20, 2020
<Vocabulary>
Middle-class neighborhood中流階級の近所; lush青々とした; overarchedアーチ形におおう；improbable本当らしくない; forge鉄を鍛える; frontier farm辺境にある農場; dubbed 付けられた; misleading誤解させる; intangible触れることができない; successor 後継者; concedes事実を認める
<解説>
(1) From the outside, the modest home of 61-year-old Edson Suemitsu looks little different from others in this middle-class neighborhood of Curitiba, a sleepy city in southern Brazil.
外から見ると、６１歳の末光さんのささやかな家は、ブラジル南部の静かな街であるクリチバの中流階級の住宅とちょっと変わっています。
この文は英語でよく使う言葉が二つ含まれています。sleepyは「眠たい」と言う意味ですが、村や町などの静かな風景を表すときによく使います。Middle-classは中流階級の物を表す言葉で、家庭や教育や職業などを描く時に使います。
(2) Upon moving to Curitiba in the late 1960s, he learned the art of making katana, largely, he says, by trial and error.
１９６０年代にクリチバに引っ越した際、末光さんは試行錯誤をしながら刀の作り方を習ったと言います。
Trial and error は「試行錯誤」と言う意味です。成功にたどり着くまで間違いや失敗などを繰り返すことです。
いかがでしょうか？今回は英語の報道記事でよく使われるフレーズや単語を含む記事をピックアップしました。海外でこのように日本の文化が広がっているのって素晴らしいですね！
