II NAOSUKE
伊井 直弼
* Ii Naosuke, Kamon-no-kami, 1815-1860, one of the ablest of the statesmen, was Tairo or Chief Minister to the Shogun Iesada and his successor Iemochi.
＊伊井直弼、掃部頭（かもんのかみ）１８１５年〜１８６０年、幕府重鎮として能力第一主義者で
徳川幕府大老として徳川家定、家茂に仕えました。
He insisted on signing the treaties with the U.S.A. in 1858 and afterwards with England and France, and dealt severely with the anti- foreign party who opposed this policy, and as result he was assassinated in 1860 by samurai of the Mito clan, whose head, lord Nariaki,he had offended.
１８５８年に日米修好条約に調印、後にイギリス、フランスとも条約調印。
他方、国内の開国反対派を容赦なく弾圧して行き、１８６０年に江戸城桜田門にて水戸藩脱藩藩士などにより暗殺されました。
Ii Kamon-no-kami Naosuke, lord of Hikone, belonged to the main Sekishu school of Tea, but eventually made a school of his own.
伊井直弼、掃部頭（かもんのかみ）は彦根藩主で茶道を石州流にて修めました。のちにその元を離れ自分流の茶道を作り上げます。
What he considered especially important was its disregard of social distinctions.
彼が一番大切にしたのは階級差別を持ち込まない茶の湯です。
He used to say in explaning it: "No man is really worthy of either か honour or contempt , but in the world as it is there are grades in society which are necessary for order and must be strictly preserved.
彼の言葉は、「人は名声や卑賤で区別してはならないが、一般社会ではその安定の為、出自や階級が厳格に保たなければならない。」
It is only in the Tea-room that no notice is taken of rank or birth.
「しかし、茶室において人は等しく平等である。」
This is a most attractive feature of it, that the order of precedence is merely according to the degree of skill or the order of arrival.
「この文化の極めて魅力的な特徴で、茶人の修行の過程が一番に優先されて身分はあまり関係ない。」
When Rikyu gave a Cha-no-yu party and the tradesman Zeniya Sono was the principal guest, the daimyo Kimura Hitachi-no-suke happened to come and ask to be allowed to take part.
「利休居士が商人銭屋宗納を正客で茶事を催した折、大名の木村常陸介は自ら末席に付いたと聞く。」
He was given the lowest seat and the ceremony proceeded thus.
「茶の湯の空間ではそれが正しいとされたのです。」
The reason I find Cha-no-yu so interesting is just because it is so out of the ordinary.
「すなわち、茶の湯とは世俗の外に在ることがとても重要なのです。」
It is a world of its own and the only one where you may find a wardman occupying the highest place and a Daimyo the lowest."
「茶の湯を修め、その空間を占有し守っている事とは、たとえ大名だとしてもその空間では初心者なのです。」
Naosuke entertained all sorts of people quite regardless of their means or position and a certain plasterer named Rihachi was not seldom his guest.
直弼は左官の利八と言う茶を修めている職人も度々茶事に参加させていたそうです。
Naturally he practised the simplest style and heartily disliked any other.
周囲の反感をよそに、彼は寂びの茶の湯を目差し精進していました。
Once when he was invited to Cha-no-yu by Tayasu Chunagon Yoshiyori, he remarked to one of his household officers when he came back that evidently Tayasu did not understand the real meaning of Tea judging by what he saw and heard there, for it was what you called 'Seken-cha' or 'Society Tea' a type that was not only boring to him personally but, he considered, was responsible for getting the Way into disrequte generally.
ある時、田安中納言慶頼の茶事に出向きました。後になって世話をした一人の家人を平気で叱りつけた慶頼公の話を聞き、茶の湯が何かを分かってはいないと周囲に漏らしたそうです。
「世間茶」にはうんざりだった様ですが、悪評にも気にすること無く自身の茶の湯の稽古に勤しんでいたそうです。
Naosuke made a verse which he considered expressed the Four Principles of Tea.
直弼は四名の茶人の為に詩を残しています。
By the river bank
川の土手に立ち
See the weeping willow stand,
枝垂柳を眺める
All its pliant boughs
立派に立ち並ぶ大枝の柳たち
Quivering in the slightest breeze
なめらかなそよ風にかすかに揺れるその垂れ
Mirror'd in the placid depths.
我心を映す鏡なり