七草粥の由来と言えば、お正月のご馳走で疲れた胃腸を休ませるために、野菜を摂るようにするのだ、という説が出回っていますが、本来は、「須弥山の南にいるある鳥は八千年もの長生きをする。この鳥は春の初め毎に七種類の草を食べて、それでそんなにも長生きなのだ」という七草草紙にある神話のようなお話が謂れだという話も聞きます。確かに、多くの人たちがまだ貧しかった時代にお正月とはいえ飽食なんて考えられないから、この俗説にはあまり説得力が感じられません。

この記事のカテゴリを「その他」だけでなくて、「湧書会」も選んでいるのは、このことを前回のお稽古のときに習ったからです。良い先生に出逢うというのは、本当にありがたいことです。彼女に師事していなければ、私はずっとこの薄っぺらな俗説だけを信じ込んでいたと思います。

また、この話は、親孝行の勧めを説いたものだそうです。

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In Japan, we have had a custom of eating rice porridge with seven kinds of spring herbs on January 7.　And the most widely believed theory about its origin is that it is to ease your fatigued stomach from the New Year’s feasting by taking in vegetables.

However, in an old fairy-tale book about 600 years ago has a story that goes:

a bird living somewhere south of Mount Meru enjoys 8,000 years of longevity.　It collects and eats seven kinds of grasses in early spring every year, which enables it to live for so long.

And there is another theory that a real origin of the custom stems from the above story.　To be sure, it is unlikely that people got food satiation even from the New Year’s meals in old times when most people were still very poor.　The popular theory people now often talk about doesn’t sound quite persuasive.

The reason I chose “Yushokai” as well as “Others” as categories for this article is I learned this story about a bird with a long life in the last practice session I attended.   It is such a blessing to have a good teacher.　Without her teachings I would continue believing only the superficial myth just as many people do nowadays.

Additionally, the story’s moral is to encourage people to be filial to their parents.

The first photo shows a packet of seven spring herbs I got at a nearby supermarket.

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