Hafiz (English spelling) Shams al-Din Muammad āfi

Persian poet. Hafez means "the memorizer of the Quran." Born in Shiraz, a city in southern Iran, he loved his hometown and never left it throughout his life. He lost his father at a young age, but he studied quite a bit. His life can be divided into three periods based on his relationship with his guardians. His youth until 1353, when he served King Abu Ishaq of the Inju family, the ruler of Shiraz; his adulthood until 1384, when he served King Shah Shuja of the Muzaffarid dynasty; and his mature years and later years. These historical backgrounds are well reflected in his works. Although he lived in turbulent times, he never lost his peace of mind and poetic imagination, but the bloody tragedy of the change of ruler that he witnessed in his youth had a great impact on him, and distrust of the present world and fatalism became one of the basic themes of his works. He is regarded as the greatest lyric poet in the history of Persian literature, and is also known by the nicknames "the translator of mysteries" and "the mysterious tongue."

He advocated freedom and indulgence, disregarded the external constraints of religion, and as a mystical poet, transcended the mundane world, fiercely criticized hypocritical attitudes, and endeavored to compose poetry by viewing all worldly events symbolically. The most authoritative surviving work, the "Poetry of Hafiz," contains 495 lyric poems and some epic poems. The greatest feature of his work is that he composed all of his poems using symbolic techniques, and Eastern and Western scholars have greatly divided their interpretations of the true meaning of his poems. Eastern scholars interpret them from a mystical standpoint, while Western scholars view them from a realistic standpoint. Thus, the wine and beautiful women that often appear in Hafiz's poetry can be interpreted as "mystical love," "God," or real wine and beautiful women. His poetry collection has been used as "Hafiz divination" since the Middle Ages, and to this day it is the most widely recited in the Persian-speaking cultural sphere. It had a great influence on poets in India, Turkey and other countries, but it is well known that Goethe's "West-East Poems" was born out of his strong impression of "Hafez's Poems."

[Tsuneo Kuroyanagi]

"Hafiz Poems, translated by Tsuneo Kuroyanagi (1976, Heibonsha, Toyo Bunko)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

ペルシアの詩人。ハーフィズは「コーランの暗記者」を意味する。イラン南部の都市シーラーズに生まれ、こよなく郷里を愛し、生涯そこから離れなかった。幼くして父を失うが、かなりの学問を修めた。保護者との関係で生涯は三期に分けられる。シーラーズの支配者インジュー家のアブー・イスハーク王に仕えた1353年までの青年期、ムザッファル朝のシャー・シュジャー王に仕えた1384年までの壮年期、そして円熟期と晩年である。これらの時代的背景は作品によく現れている。乱世に生きながら心の平静と詩的想像力をけっして失うことはなかったが、青年時代に目撃した支配者交替の流血惨事は彼に大きな影響を与え、現世への不信と運命論が作品の基調の一つになった。ペルシア文学史上、叙情詩の最高詩人と評され、「神秘の翻訳者」「不可思議な舌」の異名でも知られる。

　彼は自由奔放を旨とし、宗教の外面的束縛を無視し、神秘主義詩人として俗世を超越し、偽善的態度を激しく非難し、現世のできごとすべてを象徴的にみて作詩に努めた。現存のもっとも権威ある『ハーフィズ詩集』は495の叙情詩と若干の叙事詩を収める。彼の作品の最大の特色はすべてを象徴的手法によって作詩したことで、詩の真意をめぐって東西の学者で解釈が大きく分かれている。東洋の学者は神秘主義の立場から解釈するのに対し、西洋の学者は現実の見地から眺めている。そこでハーフィズの詩によく現れる酒や美女は、「神秘主義的な愛」「神」、現実の酒、美女とも解釈される。彼の詩集は中世以来「ハーフィズ占い」としても用いられ、今日に至るまでペルシア語文化圏でもっとも広く愛誦(あいしょう)されている。インド、トルコ、その他の国の詩人にも大きな影響を及ぼしたが、とくにゲーテの『西東詩集』が『ハーフィズ詩集』の強烈な感銘から生まれたことは名高い。

［黒柳恒男］

『黒柳恒男訳『ハーフィズ詩集』（1976・平凡社・東洋文庫）』

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