ある日の暮れ方のことである。一人の下人が、羅生門の下で雨やみを待っていた。広い門の下には、この男のほかに誰もいない。ただ、所々丹塗の剥げた、大きな円柱に、キリギリスが一匹とまっているだけである。
It was around dusk one day. A servant was waiting for the rain to stop under Rashōmon. Under the wide gate, there was no one else besides this man. Only a single cricket sat on a large pillar where the red lacquer had peeled off in places.
羅生門の周辺はその頃、地震や辻風や火事や飢饉などの災難が続き、人々の生活は荒廃の極みであった。仏像や仏具を打ち砕いて薪にしてしまうほどであり、門の修理などは誰も省みる者がなかった。その荒れ果てた様子ゆえに、狐狸が棲み、盗人が棲むようになり、ついには引き取り手のない死人をこの門へ持って来て棄てて行くという習慣さえできたのである。
In those days around Rashōmon, disasters such as earthquakes, whirlwinds, fires, and famines continued, and people's lives were at the height of desolation. It was to the extent that people smashed Buddhist statues and altar fittings to use as firewood, and no one looked back to repair the gate. Because of its dilapidated state, foxes and thieves came to live there, and eventually, a custom even developed where people brought unclaimed corpses to this gate and abandoned them.
下人は何日か前に主人から暇を出され、行き場を失っていた。雨は少しもやむ気配がない。下人は、ただぼんやりと、雨の音を聞きながら、これからどうやって生きていくべきかを考えていた。手段を選んでいるいとまはない。選ばないとすれば、盗人になるよりほかに道はなかった。しかし、その決心がつかずに思い悩んでいたのである。
The servant had been let go by his master a few days ago and had nowhere to go. There was no sign that the rain would stop at all. The servant was just vacantly listening to the sound of the rain, thinking about how he should live from now on. There was no time to choose one's means. If he did not choose, there was no other way but to become a thief. However, he was agonizing because he could not make that decision.
夜を明かす場所を求めて門の上へ登った下人は、そこにいくつかの死骸が転がっているのを見た。そして、その死骸の中から、長い髪を抜いている老婆の姿を目の当たりにした。下人は老婆の姿に激しい憎悪を抱き、悪を憎む心から、刀に手をかけて老婆に詰め寄った。老婆の行いは、下人にとって許すべからざる悪にほかならなかったのである。
Having climbed up the gate in search of a place to spend the night, the servant saw several corpses lying there. And from among those corpses, he witnessed an old woman plucking long hair. The servant felt a strong hatred toward the old woman's appearance, and from a heart that despised evil, he put his hand on his sword and approached her. The old woman's actions were nothing but an unforgivable evil to the servant.
しかし、老婆から「生きるために仕方なくやっている」という弁明を聞いたとき、下人の心に変化が生じた。生きるための悪という理屈を聞いて、下人の心から冷酷な勇気が湧き上がってきたのである。下人はかつての迷いを捨て、「では、己が剥ぎ取っても恨むまいな。己もそうしなければ、飢え死にをする体なのだ」と言い放つや否や、老婆の着物を剥ぎ取った。
However, when he heard the old woman's excuse that she was "doing it because it can't be helped in order to live," a change occurred in the servant's heart. Hearing the logic of evil for the sake of survival, a cold courage welled up from within his heart. The servant cast away his former hesitation, and no sooner had he shouted, "Then, you won't resent me if I strip you, will you? For I too am someone who would starve to death if I did not do so," than he stripped the old woman of her clothes.
下人はその着物を抱え、急な梯子を夜の底へと駆け下りていった。その後、下人の行方を知る者は誰もいない。
Clutching the clothes, the servant ran down the steep ladder into the depths of the night. After that, no one knows the whereabouts of the servant.