父母が搗く 餅つきの音 今も脳裏に

　何事も、子供のとき身に付けた「コツ」は生涯に亘り忘れないものです。写真は正に「昔取った杵柄」を絵で表したようなもので、ニュージーランドのスペンス一家が一年間に亘り高崎に滞在中、我が家でいっしょに搗いた餅つきの様子です。

　私は幼児の頃、年の暮れに両親が搗く餅つきの音で目が覚め、珍しそうに、そばに行って胸の高さほどある臼に摑まって見た記憶が今でも脳裏に焼き付いてます。

　その後、小学生になってから私も搗きましたが、地響きがするような大きな音で搗けました。それは父の搗き方を見よう見まねで自然と得た要領です。杵を持ち上げるときは右手を伸ばし、杵が上に持ち上がったのち、搗く直前に右手を左手のそばに滑らせて移動する方法です。これで疲れずに餅がよく搗けました。

　餅つきに限らず、芸術などの分野においても小学生時代に身に付ければ、生涯の生き方を左右するほど能力が発揮できるのではないでしょうか。こう考えると、小学校時代こそ、人生にとって本当に大切な教育の期間と思います。

Dear my friends abroad

　After all, we have a “knack” when getting at childhood, we will not forget it for the rest of life. The photo is like a picturesque figure that "I've had experienced to do that". This photo shows Spence family from New Zealand pounding rice cakes at my yard during their one-year stay at Takasaki-city in Japan.

　When I was a little boy, I still have vivid memories of waking up to the sound of my parents pounding rice cakes at the end of the year, and curiously going to the side and holding the mortar that was about the height of my chest.

　After that, when I became a schoolboy, I also pounded, but it was pounded with a loud sound that made the ground resonate. It's a real knack that I naturally got by watching and imitating my father's pounding method. In detail, when lifting the big pestle, extend my right hand, and after the pestle is lifted up, slide the right hand next to the left hand just before pounding. With this, I was able to pound the mochi that means rice cake well without getting tired.

　Not only in making rice cake, but also in fields such as art, if child acquires it in elementary school age, he or she will be able to demonstrate their abilities to the extent that they can influence for the rest of life. Considering this, I think that elementary school is a really important period of education for life.

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