“Gateway to Success”
At the base of the waterfall, many young carp were gathering. one muttered, “Looks like we can go no further.” and the others echoed him: “no way up this waterfall.” “I guess we’ll have to turn back.”
While they were admitting defeat, one young carp shouted, “I’ll climb to the top!” loud laughter arose. “ha ha, what …?” “come on, give me a break!” “are you crazy?” “poor guy.” “well, boys, we should go.”
The carp held back his voice, whispering, “I will climb it.” “are you still on about that?”
cried the others. “Okay then, try hard for nothing.” one by one, they swam away from the base of the waterfall.
But the young carp was a serious fellow. he stared intently at the waterfall, and boldly threw himself into it. but again and again, he was knocked down before he even got started.
Many years passed by. the carp who went down the stream had grown up and started families. their lives were peaceful but boring.
Then one of them said to his neighbors, “hey, do you remember that waterfall?” “oh yes, now that you mention it. there was a fool …” “I wonder what he’s doing now.” “say, why don’t we go and see?” “it’ll be a good way to kill time.” so, for the first time in years, they swam upstream. as they expected, the other carp was nowhere to be seen.
“Just as I thought. No way he would be here.” “he must have run away to hide.” “such a huge waterfall, nobody could make it.” “I thought he might … for a second.” “he wasted his time.”
Meanwhile, from the clouds above, someone was watching them. “you were the ones who wasted your time,” the fine young dragon whispered.
Suddenly, dark clouds appeared and thunder rumbled. the astonished carp looked up at the sky to see a golden dragon shining as he rose into the Heavens.
*Translator’s note: the three kanji that make up the title are pronounced “toh”, “ryū”, “mon”, and the literal meaning is “climb to the dragon gate”.
「登龍門」
その滝壺には多くの若い鯉たちが集まっていた。一匹の鯉が呟いた。「ここで行き止まりだなぁ」すると他の鯉たちも「これ以上登るのは無理だ」「引き返すしかないなぁ」諦めムードが漂う中、突然一匹の鯉が叫んだ。
「僕は登るぞ！」高笑いが上がる。「ワハハハ、なんだこいつ」「まったく冗談よせよ」「頭おかしいんじゃないの」「気の毒な奴だぜ」「さあ！まともな奴は降りるぞ〜！」
その鯉は押し殺した声で呟いた。「…必ず登ってみせる」「まだ、言ってやがるぜ」「まあせいぜい頑張るんだな」そう言い残すと一匹、また一匹と他の鯉は滝壺から去って行った。
取り残された鯉は本気だった。じっと滝を見つめ果敢に滝へとジャンプした。しかし一瞬にして叩き落される。そして、またジャンプ…
あれから随分時が流れていた。下流に降りた鯉たちも立派な大人になり、ほとんどが結婚し家族もいた。鯉たちは平和に暮らしていた。でも退屈な毎日だった。
一匹の鯉が思い出したように言った。「あの滝のこと覚えてるか」「そう言えば馬鹿な奴がいたな」「どうなったかのかなぁ、あいつ」「どうだ、みんな！行ってみるか」「そうだなぁ〜暇つぶしにはちょうどいい」そう言って、鯉たちは久しぶりに上流へと登って行った案の定、あの鯉の姿はなかった。
「やっぱりなぁ！いるわけないよなぁ」「こっそり、どっかに逃げたんだな」「こんな滝、登れるわけないだろう」「ほんのチョッピリ期待してたのに」「あいつは時間を無駄にしたな」
そんな鯉たちの姿を雲の中から見降ろす者がいた。「時間を無駄にしたのは君たちだ」一匹の立派な若い龍はそう呟いた。
突然、黒雲が沸き起こり、雷が轟いた。ビックリした鯉たちは上空を見上げた。そこには天へと昇る光輝く金色の龍がいた。