【文明の危機〜タゴールの放つ警鐘は今なお、、、】”Crisis in Civilization” — Tagore’s Warning Still Rings Out

  昨日（6月16日付）の新聞に、アメリカ（トランプ大統領）とイランとの停戦合意の文字が躍っていた。同じ面に、サッカー日本代表がオランダと2−２のドローで初戦を終え、日経平均株価が七万円に迫る最高値を更新した、とあった。

　インドの詩聖タゴールは死の直前にエッセーを残している。その名も『文明の危機』。

"Crisis in Civilization"(English)  

   遅まきながら拝読し、いささか驚いた。日本の軍国主義を批判した彼が「日出（いず）る国」に期待を寄せていたようなのだ。長いエッセーなので、エッセンスを抽出するように再構成を試みた。彼の詩集『ギタンジャリ』にならって散文形式にまとめた。東洋人の目から見る西洋文明の危機ーー８０年を経た現在もそれは変わっていない気がする。

　In yesterday’s newspaper, dated June 16, the words “ceasefire agreement between the United States — President Trump — and Iran” leapt from the page. On the same page, I also saw that Japan’s national football team had opened its campaign with a 2–2 draw against the Netherlands, and that the Nikkei average had reached a new record high, closing in on 70,000.

　Shortly before his death, India’s poet-sage Rabindranath Tagore left behind an essay. Its title was "Crisis in Civilization." Belatedly, I read it — and found myself somewhat surprised. Tagore, who had criticized Japan’s militarism, nevertheless seems to have placed a certain hope in the “Land of the Rising Sun.”

　The essay is long, so I attempted to reconstruct it by drawing out its essence. Following the spirit of his poetry collection Gitanjali, I shaped it into a prose-poem form. The crisis of Western civilization as seen through Eastern eyes — even more than eighty years later, I feel that crisis has not truly changed.