My grandfather was born in a small village in mountain area and spent his boyhood there. In those days, most people would stay in their home village to spend their whole life.
As for my grandfather, one day he decided to leave his village.
He told me how he felt when making the decision. He described his feeling by a phrase “Staying in such a small place, rachiga-Akanai = 埒があかない.
As it sounded very impressive to me, I still remember the phrase clearly.
埒 means ‘corral’ or ‘enclosure’ so 埒が開かないliterally means ‘closed corral’ that is a situation which can’t be broken through.
Thus my grandfather left his village and broke through into a broad world, Tokyo and Osaka.
私の母方の祖父は山深い小さな村で生まれ育ちました。当時、大抵の人はその村で一生を終えることが多かったが彼はある日、こんな狭い場所にいても埒があかないと外の広い世界に出る決心をしたと私に話してくれました。
「埒があかない」という言葉は印象的で今でもよく憶えています。
埒とは馬を閉じ込める囲いのことで「埒があかない」は狭い閉鎖された場所に閉じ込められた状態です。祖父は狭い村を離れて広い世界に飛び出したのです。
私は埒を突破した祖父の心意気と決断を誇りに思っています。
飛び出せ、世界へ、いざ進発のせよ！