いつか太陽の船（読みもの）
Someday, a Sun Ship
カテゴリー: Japanese Children's Books、おすすめ！日本の子どもの本、読みもの／chapter books and novels
『いつか 太陽の船』（Itsuka taiyo no fune）
6 年前に気仙沼で東日本大震災に遭遇し、北海道根室に来た一家の様子を、小学6 年生の海翔（かいと）の視点から描いた作品。
父親は、根室で漁船を作って地元の青年にも技術を伝えている。海翔は、弟の輝（ひかる）と児童が13 人しかいない小学校に通っている。学校では、サンマの絵を描いてカレンダーを作り祭りで売ることになるが、海翔はサンマの目がこわくて見られない。ある日、母が行方不明になり、父と海翔は、祖母がいる仙台へ母を探しに行く。祖母の家にいた母は、あんまりがんばりすぎて、くたびれて懐かしいものに会いたくなったという。
3 人は、根室に帰る前に、気仙沼に立ち寄り、父親は造船の工場を再建することを誓う。気仙沼も根室もふるさとだと感じる海翔は、根室に帰ってサンマ漁を見学し、サンマの絵を描こうとする。海翔は、やせたカモメがサンマを飲み込む様子、朝日がのぼるなかサンマが水揚げされる様子、朝日のなかに船や震災で別れた犬の幻を見ることで、サンマの絵を描くことができるようになる。
作品には、父の工場に見学に来るベトナム研修生も登場し、「ふるさと」とはなにかを考えさせる。作品の随所に登場するカモメは、海翔の生と死への思いを象徴するように描かれている。墨汁を使った骨太の挿絵が、人びとがたくましく生きる様子をいきいきと表現している。（土居）
| 出版社 | 新日本出版社 |
|---|---|
| 初版年 | 2019年 |
| ISBN | 9784406063371 |
| ページ数 | 176頁 |
| サイズ | 20×14 |
| 対象年齢 | 11歳から |
| キーワード | 東日本大震災 家族 |
Someday, a Sun Ship
This story is about a family who moved to Nemuro in Hokkaido following the great earthquake and tsunami that hit their hometown of Kesennuma, Miyagi prefecture, six years earlier in 2011, narrated from the perspective of eleven-year-old Kaito. Kaito’s father is a boat builder, and he shows the local youths the techniques he uses. Kaito and his six-year-old brother Hikaru attend the local elementary school, which has only 13 pupils. At school they have to draw a picture of a mackerel pike, and their drawings will be made into a calendar to sell at the festival. However, Kaito is terrified of the fish’s eyes and can’t bear to look at it. One day, his mother disappears, and Kaito and his father go to his grandmother’s house in Sendai in search of her. When they find her there, she tells them she has been trying so hard to keep her life going that she is worn out. She had come to see Granny out of a need to reconnect with people she holds dear.
Before returning to Nemuro, the three of them go to Kesennuma and his father vows to rebuild his boat-building workshop. However, Kaito feels that Nemuro is home too, and he studies mackerel pike so that he can draw them. He sees thin seagulls swallowing the fish, the catch being brought in as the sun comes up, and visions of boats and Spanner, the dog they lost in the disaster. Finally he is able to draw a picture of a fish.
A Vietnamese trainee whose father used to work in Nemuro comes to see Kaito’s father’s workshop, prompting us to consider what family means. Kaito’s thoughts about life and death are symbolically portrayed through the seagulls that appear throughout the book. The bold illustrations in India ink provide a lively portrayal of people going energetically about their lives. (Doi)
- Muranaka, Rie | Illus. Koshida, Mika
- Shin Nihon Shuppansha
- 2019
- 176 pages
- 20×14
- ISBN 9784406063371
- Ages 11 +
Tohoku 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami, Family