／20　古民家で、京都人として生きる

　あこがれの京都暮らしが進むにつれ、ドナルド・キーンさんには、いろいろな人との出会いがあった。衣笠に滞在したのは1953年8月末からのひと月ほどで、その後は市南東部の今熊野に移った。そこには飛驒から移築された古民家があり、静寂な空間が広がっていた。自伝で当時の様子を見てみよう。

A few weeks after my arrival in Kyoto I had a telephone call from my old friend Otis Cary, now teaching at Doshisha University. He said he knew of a house where I would probably like to live. We went there on his motorcycle, all the way from Kinugasayama to Imakumano at the other end of the city. He led me into the garden and asked how I liked the view.

Of all the places I had ever seen in the world this pleased me most. In the foreground were a rustic gate, a tiny pond with stepping stones, an old cherry tree, moss and bamboo grass, a persimmon tree, a maple with little trees under it. Some five meters before the house was a sudden drop into a deep valley. I could hear the sound of a stream at the bottom.…