手のひらの京

by Risa Wataya

なんて小さな都だろう。私はここが好きだけど、いつか旅立つときが来る‒‒
おっとりした長女・綾香
恋愛に生きる次女・羽依
自ら人生を切り拓く三女・凜
生まれ育った土地、家族への尽きせぬ思い。かけがえのない日常に宿るしあわせ。
京都の春夏秋冬があざやかに息づく綿矢版『細雪』。

Genres: Japan

220 pages

First published September 30, 2016

About the author

Risa Wataya (綿矢りさ, born February 1, 1984) is a female Japanese novelist from Kyoto.

Wataya graduated from Murasakino High School in Kyoto.
Her first novella, Install, written when she was 17, was awarded the 38th Bungei Prize. She graduated from Waseda University in Tokyo. Her thesis focused on the structure of Osamu Dazai's Hashire merosu (走れ、メロス Run, Melos!). Wataya rose to fame in 2003 upon receiving the Akutagawa Prize for her short novel Keritai Senaka ("The Back You Want to Kick"), while at Waseda University. The prize was shared between Wataya and Hitomi Kanehara, another young, female author. At the age of 19, Wataya became the youngest author—and the third student—ever to receive this greatly prestigious award, the first two student winners having been Shintarō Ishihara and Keiichiro Hirano. Wataya's works have been translated into German, Italian, French, and Korean. In 2004, her novel Install was adapted into a film starring Aya Ueto. In 2012, her novel Kawaisou da ne? ("Isn't it a pity?") won the Kenzaburo Oe Prize, meaning that the novel will be translated into English and other languages.

Reviews

[G.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title of Wataya Risa’s novel means “palm-of-the-hand capital,” capital (miyako) written with a character that is usually pronounced kyō, as in Kyoto, the author’s hometown. So the title might also be translated as “Palm-of-the-hand Kyoto,” recalling Yasunari Kawabata’s Palm-of-the-Hand Stories, a collection of 140 very short stories written between the 1920s and his death in 1972.

The cover endorsement of Wataya’s novel does not mention Kawabata, however, but rather Jun'ichirō Tanizaki’s Sasameyuki (1943-48), translated by Edward G. Seidensticker as The Makioka Sisters (1957): “Kyoto’s spring, summer, autumn, and winter are vividly described [lit. “breathe vividly”] in Wataya’s version of Sasameyuki.” Certainly there are similarities between the two works: both focus on a family of sisters, each of whom faces a turning point during the course of the novel. Both contain loving descriptions of kimono (rather opaque to me, I’m afraid), places, and seasonal observances; and most of the conversation between the characters is conducted in non-standard Japanese: Osaka Japanese in Tanizaki, Kyoto Japanese in Wataya. Doubtless other readers will see further resemblances; or argue that the two works are very different.

The three sisters in Wataya’s novel are the eldest Ayaka, who works as a librarian and wants to have children—but needs to get married first; the middle sister Ui, who has just begun her first job, at a travel company; and the youngest, Rin, a graduate student in chemistry, who longs to leave Kyoto and live, for a while at least, in Tokyo.

The novel begins in early summer and moves through the seasons to encompass a year in the lives of the sisters and their parents. Each section (there are no chapter divisions) focuses on one of the sisters. The sisters are all different, but one might also see them—as a friend who knows Wataya well does—as self-portraits of the author at various stages of her life.

Wataya’s compass is small, but her insights are no less profound for that. As she demonstrated in her earlier 蹴りたい背中 Keritai senaka (I Want to Kick You in the Back), she is a particularly acute observer of group dynamics—people’s jockeying for position, their competitive posturing—and the description of the barbecue party Ui and her workmates hold one weekend is a horribly believable dramatization of this sort of group skirmishing. Ui sizes up her colleague Maehara and thinks: “In Japan now, all peaceful with no wars, for some reason there were people who went on doing battle.” (p. 37) There’s also a bitterly observed description of “the traditional Kyoto art of spitefulness (ikezu)” (pp. 82-86). Still, this isn’t a gloomy book, and by the end the sisters’ paths at least are looking brighter.

This would be a hard novel to translate, I think. The first sentence is: Kyōto no sora wa dōmo yawarakai, lit. “the sky in Kyoto is soft,” but I’m leaving out of my translation the word dōmo, which can mean anything from somehow through such to very. And there’s the Kyoto Japanese. But it’d be fun, especially if you know Kyoto well—or want to know the city better. I hope someone out there is interested.

[BaiLing · Rating 3 out of 5]

這是個「京都人」奧澤家的故事：剛退休的父親和自動聲明跟著從家庭主婦職務去職的母親，是「標準京都人」—出生、結婚、工作，一輩子都沒離開過京都；在圖書館工作的31歲大女兒綾香，暗自因屆婚齡卻苦無對象而著急；深諳美女魅力收放自如的二女兒羽衣，力抗女性同事的言語霸凌，對兩性關係有著強勢而獨到的處理能力；研究所高材生的三女兒凜，懷抱著探究「外面」世界的想法，請託老師找尋東京企業的工作，成為奧澤家中唯一想要離開京都、家庭的人。

故事的重點是個性分明、際遇迥異的三姊妹，三人最終大致都完成了各取所需的人生目標。京都特有景物和食物的描繪，讓曾造訪幾次過的記憶一下就鮮活起來，營造了身歷其境的氛圍。

聯想到同樣描寫一家四姊妹際遇的巨著《細雪》，只是京都和大阪大不相同，綿矢莉莎也無法和谷崎潤一郎相提並論。不是那種翻開幾頁便會迫不急待看下去的小說，緩慢卻不枯燥的筆調，輕輕搔刮著在京都小巷弄裡隨意躑躅的心情。

就是很「京都」。

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

作者由谷崎润一郎《细雪》有感而发的作品，不同性格的三姐妹，和家人在京都、与京都的故事。

这几年愈发习惯读图书馆台版的日本小说，开本拿着舒服和翻译也读着亲切（虽然被做编辑的家里人评价说此类译文更为了迎合读者诉求而非契合日文文风）。

京都是我难得多次游览的城市，京都的景色总会勾起不少美好的回忆，也一定程度上代入了作者想要表达的内容和氛围。也让作为读者的我，除了能够回味自己去过的地方以外，也得以窥见更不为人知只属于本地人的细节，比如祗园祭走不动的热闹，和大文字烧在山下聆听低沉的念经默诵。

三姐妹的塑造很成功，不一样的性格却有紧密联系的感情，也因为各自的性格而迎来生命中不同的挑战。也是一种 Coming out of Age 作品。其中二姐羽依的尖锐性格以及在人群中的思考和处事方式，将女性的独立、坚韧和温情都表现得淋漓尽致。小妹凛的自立与自主也可圈可点。相较之下大姐凌香的设定有些太传统，但也足以让人共情。

作者在细节上相比是下了不少功夫。为了能更好地描述故乡，京都特有的小食和菜肴仔细读有不少翔实的描写，对于特别的元素比如和服更是倾注了不少感情。