名人伝
中島敦
The Expert
名人伝
中島敦 · Japanese
Determined to become the greatest archer alive, Ji Chang trains until he can see a louse as a wheel and shoot without missing, then surpasses his own…
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Pagera Editor's Note
Determined to become the greatest archer alive, Ji Chang trains until he can see a louse as a wheel and shoot without missing, then surpasses his own master and climbs to a mountain hermit who shoots nothing at all. He returns after nine years having learned the archery of no-arrow, and in old age he looks at a bow and cannot remember what it is called or what it is for. Nakajima retells a Daoist parable with a cold clarity that turns mastery into a question.
Author
中島敦
Nakajima Atsushi (1909-1942) was a Japanese novelist who reworked Chinese classical sources into spare modern fiction. The Moon over the Mountain and The Expert appeared in the last year of his life. He died of asthma at thirty-three, months after his first work was published.
The Expert
名人伝
中島敦 · Japanese
Determined to become the greatest archer alive, Ji Chang trains until he can see a louse as a wheel and shoot without missing, then surpasses his own…
First paragraph preview
Original (Japanese)
名人傳 中島敦 趙の邯鄲の都に住む紀昌といふ男が、天下第一の弓の名人にならうと志を立てた。己の師と頼むべき人物を物色するに、當今弓矢をとつては、名手・飛衞に及ぶ者があらうとは思はれぬ。百歩を隔てて柳葉を射るに百發百中するといふ達人ださうである。紀昌は遙々飛衞をたづねて其の門に入つた。 飛衞は新入の門人に、先づ瞬きせざることを學べと命じた。紀昌は家に歸り、妻の機織臺の下に潛り込んで、其處に仰向けにひつくり返つた。眼とすれすれに機躡が忙しく上下往來するのをじつと瞬かずに見詰めてゐようといふ工夫である。理由を知らない妻は大に驚いた。第一、妙な姿勢を妙な角度から良人に覗かれては困るといふ。厭がる妻を紀昌は叱りつけて、無理に機を織り續けさせた。來る日も來る日も彼はこの可笑しな恰好で、瞬きせざる修練を重ねる。二年の後には、遽だしく往返する牽挺が睫毛を掠めても、絶えて瞬くことがなくなつた。彼は漸く機の下から匍出す。最早、鋭利な錐の先を以て瞼を突かれても、まばたきをせぬ迄になつてゐた。不意に火の粉が目に飛入らうとも、目の前に突然灰神樂が立たうとも、彼は決して目をパチつかせない。彼の瞼は最早それを閉ぢる
English translation (Pagera AI)
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Pagera Editor's Note
Determined to become the greatest archer alive, Ji Chang trains until he can see a louse as a wheel and shoot without missing, then surpasses his own master and climbs to a mountain hermit who shoots nothing at all. He returns after nine years having learned the archery of no-arrow, and in old age he looks at a bow and cannot remember what it is called or what it is for. Nakajima retells a Daoist parable with a cold clarity that turns mastery into a question.
Author
中島敦
Nakajima Atsushi (1909-1942) was a Japanese novelist who reworked Chinese classical sources into spare modern fiction. The Moon over the Mountain and The Expert appeared in the last year of his life. He died of asthma at thirty-three, months after his first work was published.
名人伝
中島敦
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