(541) Twenty months in Japan / Nanamagari [読解]
Twenty months in Japan (Published in 1901 by H. G. Hawkins)
Biography
Henry Gabriel Hawkins was born on October 5, 1866, in Choctaw County Alabama. In 1892 he became an English instructor in the Japanese Government Middle School at Matsuyama(松山尋常中学校), after which he wrote a booklet titled "Twenty Months in Japan."
Walking to the castle
･･････ You can see that the mountain originally had two peaks. We walk over this terrace, whose best service at present is to supply the ground for the keeper's little farm. There is a corner building where were kept the paraphernalia of worship. (9 天神櫓 Tenjin-yagura turret) Two more gates, and then the inner-most yard appears, surrounded by the central building, or castle proper. (8 三の門 Third gate ➜ 10 筋金門 Sujigane-mon gate ➜ inner-most yard)
The principal hall upon the ground floor (Cellar のことかな？) is where the occupants were to go and kill themselves in case of defeat, coming down by means of a rude elevator (明治時代は米蔵から一階への階段はついていなかったか？) from the halls above. You may ascend to those halls by a stairway in another part of the structure; (Entrance Hallのことかな？) and from the height reached you may look at the surrounding city, the sea, islands, fields, distant villages, and mountains. There is the road to the sea, with seven abrupt turns (七曲りNanamagari) made it, so that the number of the enemy coming could be very well judged from the way they filled these parts of the road.
The principal hall upon the ground floor (Cellar のことかな？) is where the occupants were to go and kill themselves in case of defeat, coming down by means of a rude elevator (明治時代は米蔵から一階への階段はついていなかったか？) from the halls above. You may ascend to those halls by a stairway in another part of the structure; (Entrance Hallのことかな？) and from the height reached you may look at the surrounding city, the sea, islands, fields, distant villages, and mountains. There is the road to the sea, with seven abrupt turns (七曲りNanamagari) made it, so that the number of the enemy coming could be very well judged from the way they filled these parts of the road.
http://haisentn.blog41.fc2.com/blog-entry-59.html
昭和７年鉄道補入「松山北部」(1:25,000地形図)
現在
Kato Yashiakira, (嘉明 Yoshiakira) who had been general under Hideyoshi, the Napoleon of Japan, founded the castle about three hundred years ago. It was rebuilt forty-nine years ago, (1854年にrebuiltだから49年プラスで1903, Hawkinsは1892に在松山なので、ちょっと合わない？) and of the original wooden portion only the first great gateway remains. (筒井門 Tsusui-mon gateのことかな？)
There is nothing fine in the structure; but considering the great quantities of granite1) used, the cost must have been a million dollars. It is not in service at all at present. Though a regiment2) of soldiers located here now have modernized barracks at the mountain base, the deserted condition of the castle, and the sight of piles of sharp swords and spears begging for purchasers as one passes in front of the numerous second-hand shops, make us believe that the world is going toward the fulfillment of Isaiah's words; "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."3)
1) granite: 花崗岩、御影石
2) regiment: 連隊、 a millitary unit consisting usually of a number of battalions
3) Isaiah 2:4 New Living Translation:
The Lord will meditate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore.
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