[转帖] [2011.11.18] THE BEST TIME: JAPAN, 784-1185AD 历史上最好的时间地点2

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http://www.ecocn.org/thread-60951-1-1.html
THE BEST TIME: JAPAN, 784-1185AD
最好的时间：日本，公元784-1185年


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The Heian era woos Robert Guest with its devotion to high art, love poetry and casual sex ...
对于罗伯特·盖斯特来说平安时代的吸引力在于其专注于高雅艺术，爱情诗歌以及随意性爱....

From INTELLIGENT LIFE magazine, November/December 2011

The world of 1,000 years ago was a miserable place: dirty, war-scorched and mostly illiterate. But not in Japan. The Heian era (784-1185) was one of peace. The brutal samurai who beheaded peasants to test their blades were yet to come. Japan was ruled by aristocrats who cared nothing for the art of war but were devoted to poetry, music, calligraphy and romantic love. One Victorian historian described the culture as “foully licentious”. To me, it sounds rather fun.

1000年以前的世界是一个悲惨的地方：肮脏，战乱，大多数人目不识丁。但是在日本有所不同。平安时代（784-1185年）是一个和平的地方。那些砍下农民头颅来试刀的野蛮武士还没有出现。日本由贵族所统治。这些贵族对于战事毫不感兴趣，却把全部心思投入在诗歌，音乐，书法和情爱上。一位维多利亚时代的历史学家曾描述该文化“肮脏淫乱”。在我来说，这样的描述听上去简直妙极了。

A typical day for the nobles in Heian Kyo (now Kyoto) might involve sitting beneath the plum blossoms and composing poems about how sad it was that something so beautiful should wither so quickly—a reminder of the transience of life. Then everyone would get drunk or wander off for a tryst in a secluded temple.

平安京（今天的京都）的贵族典型的一天可能包括坐在梅花树下，感慨如此美物却瞬息凋零，提醒了人们生命无常，这是多么的悲伤啊。感慨完毕大家会一起酩酊大醉，或是外出寻一处幽静古寺与爱人私会。

Women and men alike were expected to be promiscuous. The only shame was to be insensitive. A doltish love letter would prompt your lover to ditch you. An eloquent one, written with a skilful brush and delivered with a flower that echoed its central metaphor, would win her heart. She would then hold out a hand from behind her screen and pull back her voluminous sleeve an inch or so, indicating that it was time to make love.

不论男女，在性爱上放浪不羁都是理所当然的。不解风情才是唯一的罪过。一封愚钝直白的情信会让你的情人弃你而去。而如果写得意味深长，再加上精湛的书法和与文中的中心比喻切合的一朵鲜花作陪衬，将能夺取芳心。然后她会从屏风之后伸出纤纤玉手，微卷其长袖一两分，暗示是共赴巫山之时了。

It was an era of great joy and great art, from Murasaki Shikibu’s “Tale of Genji” (illustrated above in a 12th-century drawing) to Sei Shonagon’s “Pillow Book”. Life was not so great for the peasants who did all the work, but I’m presumptuously assuming that I’d be a hanger-on at court. I’d soon get used to the Heian ideal of feminine beauty, which demanded blackened teeth, plucked eyebrows, big hair and pale faces. And best of all, the tea ceremony—that most tedious of pastimes—would not be invented for another 500 years.  

这也是享乐和艺术的全盛时期，从紫式部的《源氏物语》（带上12世纪的绘画插图），到清少納言的《枕草子》名作纷呈。当然对于当时承担了所有劳苦的农民来说生活就没那么美好了，不过我自作主张假设我会是一个高门大院里的闲人。我会很快习惯平安时代的女性美标准，包括涂黑牙齿，拔除眉毛，以及涂白脸颊。最妙的是，世界上最无聊的休闲活动－茶道，还要再过500年才会发明出来。

Robert Guest is the business editor of The Economist. His new book, "Borderless Economics", will be published in December.
罗伯特·盖斯特是《经济学人》的商业版编辑。他的新书，《无边经济》将于12月出版。