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内容記述 |
The area of Lake Chuzenji began to be visited by foreign visitors, especially by diplomats in the late 1890's. Embassies of several European countries set up summer residences there; the French Embassy did so in 1909. Since that time, a Japanese traditional house, formerly owned by Shuzo Aoki, diplomat and Minister of Foreign Affairs, which still stands near the shore, has been the residence of visiting French diplomats and their families. Paul Claudel, who was Ambassador to Japan from 1921 to 1927, loved this wooden house and enjoyed the view of the lake side surrounded by the mountains. He even wrote to his friend in France, "l'on est entierement melange a la foret, au ciel, a la nature" or "one is totally blended with the forest, with the sky, with all nature". It was in this residence that Paul Claudel, escaping from the public life of an ambassador, wrote many literary works, such as Le Soulier de Satin, and he was greatly moved by the natural beauty of the Chuzenji area, including the azaleas in May, the trees aflame with red and yellow leaves in October and the crystallized cascade of Urami Falls in the cold winters. His stay in the residence provided him with an opportunity to relax and to be literarily productive. He realized the importance of the villa to his private life as an artist, so that when he acquired a chateau in Brangues, near the River Rhone in France in May of 1927, just three months after his leaving Japan, he perhaps fondly remembered Chuzenji and Japan. |
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