Youth

Nobuhiro Doi

President of Gashinen Co., Ltd., Secretary General of Numazu Mita-kai, 1984 Politics

Ano Zenjo (childhood name: Imawakamaru) was the half-brother of Minamoto no Yoritomo, and Yoshitsune was his younger brother. After the Heiji Rebellion, he was forced to enter the priesthood at Daigo-ji Temple, but when Yoritomo raised an army, he escaped the temple and joined him.

He married Awa no Tsubone, the younger sister of Hojo Masako, and was granted the Ano Estate in Suruga Province (Suruga no Kuni Ano-sho) for his contributions in assisting Yoritomo. This area spans from the western part of present-day Numazu City to Fuji City. He took the surname Ano and built a residence there. Daizen-ji Temple, which still stands today, was established there to offer prayers for his ancestors. It is also said that Yoshitsune stopped by when fleeing to Oshu.

At Zenjo's grave in Daizen-ji Temple, only his head is buried. He was exiled to Hitachi Province on suspicion of rebelling against the Shogunate and was beheaded in Shimotsuke Province. There is a legend of the "Head-Hanging Pine," which says that his head alone flew overnight to Daizen-ji Temple, where his son Tokimoto was, and caught on a pine branch. Tokimoto himself was later defeated by the Hojo family after a rebellion, and the clan was destroyed.

The Negata Highway at the foot of Mount Ashitaka, which Daizen-ji Temple faces, was a major highway until the Tokaido was developed. Nearby is Kokokuji Castle, the starting point for Hojo Soun (though he never actually used the name Hojo), who opened the Sengoku period.

Masanori Odani

Professor, Faculty of Letters, Hosei University, 1996 Letters

Having passed the age of 40 (no delusions) and reached 50 (knowing one's destiny), I am now a full-fledged middle-aged man. Recently, when I introduced myself as a researcher of youth slang, a senior colleague told me, "Young people these days use strange words. As a scholar, you should tell them strictly to use correct Japanese." This disappointed me. I thought, "You were young once too."

The world operates on "supply and demand," and language is no exception. The reason new words are born among young people is surely because there is a demand for them. To feel disgust simply because something is different from oneself, rather than calmly analyzing that demand, is evidence of losing the spirit and curiosity to create new things.

According to the Analects, age 60 is called "er shun" (obedient ear), a stage where one can listen to the opinions of others without feeling resistance. I hope to become a 60-year-old who can listen to youth slang and calmly analyze the motivation for its use while remembering that I also had such a youthful time.

Kaori Hosono

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Letters, Keio University

Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women" (1868) is a semi-autobiographical work based on the author's girlhood spent with her sisters in New England. The original title, Little Women, comes from the term used by Louisa's father, Amos Bronson, a progressive educator, to refer to his daughters as individuals equal to himself. When it was first introduced to Japan in 1906 through an abridged translation by Shuho Kitada, it was titled "Sho-fujin" (Little Women), faithful to the original. The title "Wakakusa Monogatari" (The Tale of Young Grass) was used in Tsuyoko Yada's 1934 translation, and the prevailing theory is that it was the idea of Nobuko Yoshiya, who supervised the film version released in Japan around the same time. Since then, this Japanese title, which succinctly expresses the freshness of a work depicting a girl's growth, has become established. The word "Wakakusa," which was unrelated to the original title, eventually became a magical word that, by itself, is etched in the hearts of some readers and immediately evokes a longing for the world of Alcott's work. I am one of those who had this longing for "Wakakusa" planted in me during my girlhood.

Kazuo Kishi

Eternal youth and immortality are the dreams of humanity. In recent years, papers stating that old mice have been rejuvenated have appeared in top-tier journals, and the momentum of rejuvenation research is tremendous. The keyword is a phenomenon called SASP, where aged cells do not die but remain in the tissue and cause persistent inflammation; one theory identifies this as the cause of aging. Technology aiming for rejuvenation by removing cells in the SASP state is already being handled by many venture companies, mainly in the US, and large amounts of capital are being invested, so it is not entirely far-fetched. Many researchers at this Juku are also involved. However, there are still no reports of immortal mice, and it remains in the "dream" stage. To make aged skin look rejuvenated, there are methods to tighten the sagging of the dermis and underlying fibrous tissue, such as wrinkles, and methods to improve epidermal characteristics, such as spots and dullness. Various treatments using surgery and medical devices are already being performed for these. Since it is difficult to judge which method is safe and superior based only on internet information, one should consult a reliable plastic surgeon or dermatologist.

不老不死は人類の夢である。近年、年老いたマウスが若返ったという論文が一流誌に登場し、若返り研究の勢いが凄まじい。キーワードはSASPと呼ばれる老化した細胞が死なないで組織に残り、持続的な炎症を引き起こす現象で、これを老化の原因とする説である。SASP状態の細胞を取り除くことで若返りを目指す技術は、米国を中心にすでに多くのベンチャー企業で扱われ、多額の資金がつぎ込まれているので、あながち荒唐無稽な話ではない。本塾でも多くの研究者が携わっている。ただ、未だに不老不死のマウスができたという報告はなく、まだまだ“夢”の状態である。老化した皮膚を若返ったように見せるためには、たるみ、皺など真皮とその下の線維組織のゆるみを引き締める方法と、しみ、くすみなど表皮の特徴を改善する方法があり、これらは、すでに手術や医療機器で様々な治療が行われている。どの方法が安全で優れているかは、ネットの情報だけでは判断が難しいので、信頼できる形成外科医や皮膚科医に相談するべきである。