百合子

自分がこの世に生をうけたのは1946年の11月のこと。

その日、野菜畑で働いていた父は、時期外れの百合の花が咲いているのを目にした。その日の夕方、自分はこの世での第一声をあげた。父は昼間見た百合の花を思いだし、白百合のごとく純真な心を持った人間として育つようにとの願いを込めて、百合子と名づけたとのこと。

物心ついたころ聞かされたこの話しを、いわば自分自身への教訓として、常に心に秘めて生きてきた。

Lily Child

I was born in November of 1946.

On that day my father was working in a vegetable garden. And he noticed some unseasonal Easter lilies in full bloom at the edge of the garden. In that evening, I was born, so I was told. My father remembered about the Easter lilies which he saw earlier in the day. With his prayerful wish that I will grow up to be a person with a purity of heart as a white lily, he named me Yuriko, which means a lily child. My father told me this story when I was old enough to understand.

I have kept this in mind as a precept that I wish to live up to.