成人の日に　谷川俊太郎 For Coming-of-Age Day

【成人の日に　谷川俊太郎】

人間とは常に人間になりつつある存在だ
かつて教えられたその言葉がしこりのように胸の奥に残っている

成人とは人に成ること

もしそうなら
私たちはみな日々成人の日を生きている
完全な人間はどこにもいない

人間とは何かを知りつくしている者もいない

だからみな問いかけるのだ

人間とはいったい何かを
そしてみな答えているのだ

その問いに
毎日のささやかな行動で

人は人を傷つける

人は人を慰める

人は人を怖れ

人は人を求める

子どもとおとなの区別がどこにあるのか

子どもは生まれ出たそのときから小さなおとな

おとなは一生大きな子ども

どんな美しい記念の晴れ着も

どんな華やかなお祝いの花束も

それだけではきみをおとなにはしてくれない

他人のうちに自分と同じ美しさをみとめ

自分のうちに他人と同じ醜さをみとめ

でき上がったどんな権威にもしばられず
流れ動く多数の意見にまどわされず
とらわれぬ子どもの魂で

いまあるものを組み直しつくりかえる

それこそがおとなの始まり

永遠に終わらないおとなへの出発点

人間が人間になりつづけるための
苦しみと喜びの方法論だ

For Coming-of-Age Day Shuntaro Tanikawa

A person is always in the process of becoming a human being.
Once one has heard these words, one feels a lingering discomfort deep inside.

Being an adult means being in the process of becoming an adult.

If that's so,
we live every day as if we were coming of age;
there are no people who are already complete human beings.

There is no end to knowing what it is to be a human.

Therefore it is a question we must all continue to ask.

What exactly is human.
And everyone has the answer.

Everyone answer the question in modest behavior daily.

People hurt people.

People comfort people.

People fear people.

People seek people.

What is the distinction between children and adults.

The children are the smaller adults from the point of birth.

The adults are life's big children.

What beautiful memorial Sunday clothes.

What a gorgeous congratulatory bouquet.

It's just not you will be an adult of you.

Found a same beauty inside of others.

Found a same ugliness inside yourself.

You are not tied to any authority that has finished.
You are not misled by the opinion of many moving flow.
With inside of the soul of the child that not captivity.

You must adapt rebuild that is now.

That is the beginning of the adult.

A starting point for adults that does not end forever.

The human has been to continuing to be human.
It is a methodology of joy and suffering.