芥川龙之介在楼外楼

拥有160年历史的西湖楼外楼，已经成为西湖景观与西湖历史文化中的一个重要组成部分。它在见证了西湖百年沧桑的同时，还与中国近代无数名士结了缘分，其中最值得一提的，是日本著名文学家芥川龙之介与楼外楼之间的一段历史因缘。

1921年3月至7日，时年29岁的芥川龙之介，作为日本国大阪每日新闻社的海外特派员旅行中国各地。他是位极负盛名的小说家，被大阪每日新闻社称为“现代文坛第一人”。1921年5月1日，芥川龙之介由大阪每日新闻社上海支局记者田村孜郎陪同，从上海乘火车来杭州。芥川龙之介的这次西湖之行，对西湖留下了多重印象，他在致友人的信函中赞叹“西湖小巧玲珑，美不胜收”，“西湖美景几似明朝古画”。同时他也在游记中指出西湖之美过于精巧“纤细”，“并没有想象中的那样漂亮”。当时西湖的周边四处林立着洋人建造的洋楼、别墅，他从这种现象中解读到西方殖民主义的入侵为中国带来的灾难，指出西湖“已经被岸边随处修建的那些恶俗无比的红灰两色的砖瓦建筑植下了足以令其垂死的病根。”“这种双色的砖瓦建筑，就像巨大的臭虫在江南各处的名胜古迹中蔓延，将所有的景致破坏得惨不忍睹。”“而且西湖的恶俗化，更有一种愈演愈烈之势。”他在《江南游记》中用六个章节的篇幅记述了在西湖的浏览，其中整整一章写的是在楼外楼享用午餐时的情形。看来他在楼外楼用餐这一段时光，是他最为舒心的一刻。他著文说：“在乘画舫相继游览了广化寺、俞楼、苏小小墓、秋瑾墓、岳王庙后，回到孤山东岸。在那里的槐树与梧桐树荫下，有家打着‘楼外楼’旗帜的餐馆。我们在船老大的推荐下，在这家店前的槐树下吃了顿中式午餐。”接着，他在文中作了更加详细的描述：

我们的桌子，摆放在枝叶繁茂的槐树下。脚下不远处便是波光粼粼的西湖。湖水不停地荡漾着，在岸边的石缝中荡出轻柔的声响。水边有三个穿着蓝色衣服的中国人，一个在冲洗一只拔光了毛的鸡，一个在洗着旧棉衣，一个则在稍远处的柳荫下悠然垂钓。忽然，他将钓竿高高举起，线端一条鲫鱼在空中活蹦乱跳。这番情景在春光中让人颇感闲适之趣。在他们的对面，西湖缥缈地舒展着身姿。在这一瞬间，我彻底忘记了红砖洋楼，忘记了美国佬，在眼前平和的景色中找到了小说般的感觉：晚春时节的石碣村，柳荫处日影婆娑，阮小二一直坐在柳树下专心垂钓；阮小五将鸡冲洗好了之后，走进家中去取厨刀。“鬓边插朵石榴花”“胸前刺着青郁郁的一个豹子”的那个可爱的阮小七，仍然在洗旧棉衣。

芥川由岸边洋溢着“闲适之趣”的场景，进而联想到“晚春时节的石碣村”，这段内容当取自《水浒传》《吴学究说三阮撞筹 公孙胜应七星聚义》一回。芥川龙之介自幼喜读《水浒传》，学生时代甚至背诵过一百单八将的姓名。所以他在楼外楼前的“闲适”风情，情不自禁地便与《水浒传》里“篱外高悬沽酒旆，柳荫闲缆钓鱼船”的石碣村联想在一起。

正当芥川和田村二人品味老酒时，“一艘画舫横在岸边，停在了槐树树荫下”。走下船的一个普通家庭的五口人坐到了邻桌。除了男主人、孩子和一个女仆之外，“其余两个女子一定是姐妹。二人都穿着一样的桃红和蓝色相间的斜纹哔叽质地的衣服”。芥川在游记中写道：

我一边用筷子，一边不时地朝他们望去。他们在我们旁边的桌前坐下，正等候着饭菜。姐妹两人一边悄声说着什么，一边不住向我们流盼。确切地说，是因为田村君在摆弄着相机，要给我拍一张吃饭时的照片。正是这个才吸引了他们的目光，所以并不值得洋洋自得。

正说着，他们的菜就上来了。浓荫低垂的槐树下，这一个时尚的中国家庭有说有笑的吃着饭，从一旁观瞧，只觉得妙趣横生。我点上了一只雪茄烟，乐此不疲地看着他们。断桥、孤山、雷峰塔……，此等美谈就交给苏峰氏去讲吧。对我来说，比起明媚的山水来，对人的观察不知要愉悦多少倍。

芥川所说的“苏峰氏”，指的是著名政论家德富苏峰，此人曾以记者身份于1906年和1917年两次访华，在他所著的《七十八日游记》和《中国漫游记》中，对西湖景观赞赏有加。

芥川龙之介在楼外楼品尝的菜肴，游记中只提到有“生姜清煮的鲤鱼”，但可以断言的是，芥川龙之介一定品尝了东坡肉，因为5月4日他由杭州返回上海当天，在寄给友人的明信片中，他用一首相同的俳句传达出西湖印象。这首俳句为“燕や食ひのこしたる东坡肉”，此句译成中文便是“盘中犹剩东坡肉，春燕呢喃闹堂前”。

在笔者赴东京大学作研究员期间，曾对日本近代文学馆收藏的“芥川龙之介文库”进行调查。在芥川藏书中，有《西湖楹联》全四册、《西湖佳话古今遗迹》全六册、《西湖风景画》等多部旅行期间购入的西湖相关书籍。此外，遗物中有一本在中国期间拍摄的收有71张照片的影集，其中令笔者倍感兴奋的，便是其中摄于楼外楼的两张照片：一张竖幅的楼外楼门前全景照和一张横幅的芥川用餐时中景照，可称为一对兄弟照，摄影者无疑就是田村孜郎。前者较全面地展示了当年楼外楼的门前路畔之状，后者则捕捉到了一个富于情趣的戏剧性场景。这两张照片都印证了当时楼外楼在店门前用竹木搭建了高高的顶棚，顶棚下增设餐桌，芥川龙之介便临湖坐在了中间的一张桌前。20年代楼外楼曾在店外设座，还有诸多资料可以佐证，1925年该店由单层二楼翻建成三层洋楼时，《大浙江报》刊出的新楼开业广告中，就以“向遇夏季在湖边树下添设座位后因树中常有微虫扑下，与卫生殊多妨碍”来说明翻建的理由。不过这样的翻修没想到令徐志摩倍感“伤心”，他在1926年发表的《丑西湖》中写道：“原来楼外楼那一楼一底的旧房子斜斜的对着湖心亭，几张揩抹得发白光的旧桌子，一两个上年纪的老堂倌”令他“每回到西湖往往会偷闲独自跑去领略这点子古色古香”。而面对翻造后刺眼的洋式三层店面和换上西式长袍的堂倌，他却感“什么闲情逸趣都没有了”。芥川影集中的照片，正是令徐志摩和俞平伯等早年间的常客难以忘怀的20年代初楼外楼的翻修之前的店外之景。

亲眼见到这本影集时，笔者所译的《中国游记》已被中华书局排入出版计划，而这幅富于戏剧性的横幅照片，恰好能和我所翻译的游记内容相映成趣。所以笔者当即决定向日本近代文学馆正式申请，在支付了总额不菲的使用费之后，我将这张横幅中景照和数张芥川在中国的留影收入到我的译本中。后来《中国游记》出版，使笔者意想不到的是接到了杭州资深记者吴流生先生的电话。经吴流生先生告知，收入《中国游记》的照片是迄今发现的最早的楼外楼图影，实在是一件令人欣喜之事。明年恰逢楼外楼160年店庆，在楼外楼为店庆隆重推出的大型纪念画册中，芥川的两张珍贵照片将会展现于读者面前。芥川的这段记述连同数十年来尘封在影集中的两枚照片，帮助我们真切地拾起了一幅被湮没的旧影。

2007年9月15日，是芥川龙之介逝世80周年纪念日，国际芥川龙之介学会第二次学术研讨会在宁波大学召开。在海内外50多名专家学者参加的这次会议上，芥川龙之介的中国之行成为一个重要的研讨议题。会议结束后，全体代表又来到杭州，沿着芥川当年的足迹游览西湖。9月17日晚，楼外楼隆重举办了“喜庆86年前的历史照片回娘家”的欢迎仪式，盛情宴请了全体中外学者，并向学者们赠送了《西湖全书・楼外楼》和《楼外楼珍藏名家书画选集》。楼外楼菜馆董事长沈关忠先生说：“芥川龙之介摄于楼外楼的照片，使具有160年历史的楼外楼保有照片的记录从1957年前推到了1921年，整整前移了36年。这是一个非常珍贵和真实的历史记录，是楼外楼160周年店庆一份难得的厚礼。”

(作者为北京外国语大学、北京日本学研究中心副教授)

The Lakeside Restaurant and the Japanese Writer

By Qin Gang

The 160-year-old Louwailou Restaurant is an integral part of the picturesque West Lake. It has not only witnessed the ups and downs of the West Lake over the past 160 years across three centuries, but also seen numerous Chinese and international celebrities visit the restaurant. Akutagawa Ryonosuke (1892-1927), a prominent Japanese writer, is one of the international celebrities who are fondly remembered for their connections with the restaurant.

From March to July 1921, the 29-year-old writer traveled through China as a journalist for Osaka-based Mainichi Simbun. On May 2, 1921, the writer arrived in Hangzhou. Impressed by the beauty of the West Lake, he poeticized the lake in letters to his friends. But in his travel essays, he commented that the lake was overly delicate and it was not as beautiful as imagined. Seeing the western-styled villas around the lake, he knew they were the ugly consequences of the imperial colonization. He hated the worsening vulgarization of the lake and the city. He wrote about his sightseeing around the lake in six chapters in the travelogue. One of the chapters was about his lunch at the Louwailou Restaurant.

After a boat tour on the lake and visiting quite a few sites of historical and cultural interests, Akutagawa came to the restaurant at the recommendation of the oarsman. Akutagawa and his Japanese journalist friend sat down to a table on the bank in the shade of pagoda trees outside the front door of the restaurant. The writer later wrote about a restaurant chef rinsing a chicken with its feathers all plucked, a man washing a padded coat in the lake and a man fishing. He wrote about the wavelets splashing languidly and softly against the stones of the bank. He wrote about a family of five arriving on a pleasure boat and sitting down at the next table for lunch. The two daughters of the family were attracted to the two Japanese and the camera.

Akutagawa had steamed fish and Dongpo Pork, among other delicious local dishes, for lunch. In a postcard to a friend dated May 5, the day he traveled back from Hangzhou to Shanghai, Akutagawa wrote a haiku and mentioned Dongpo Pork in the two-line poem.

When I was working as a guest researcher at Tokyo University, I conducted a research on Akutagawa's private library. In his book collection were the four-volume "Couplets of West Lake", the six-volume "West Lake Anecdotes and Historical and Modern Sites", and "Landscape Paintings of the West Lake". The writer must have bought these books on his tour to Hangzhou. In his private library was a photo album which contained 71 photos taken during his visit to China. Two of the photos were taken at the Louwailou Restaurant. One photograph shows a vertical panoramic view of the front of the restaurant; the other displays a horizontal view of Akutagawa having lunch by the lake. No doubt the photographs were taken by Akutagawa's Japanese journalist friend.

The two photographs show what the restaurant looked like back then. The first one features the road in front of the restaurant; the second records a dramatic scene: a shed of bamboo and wood stands tall in front of the restaurant by the lake bank; it must have been set up by the restaurant; inside the shed are tables; Akutagawa is sitting at a waterside table. Other historical evidences also testify to the shed service adopted by the restaurant. In 1925, the restaurant ran an advertisement in a local newspaper, explaining why it was going to expand the two-storied building into a three-story affair. The advertisement reads in part that "insects were a problem in summer when they molested diners at tables under the trees in front of the restaurant".

When I saw the two photographs, my translation of Akutagawa's travelogue entitled "My Notes of Travels across China" had already been included in the publishing plan by Zhonghua Publishing House for that year. The photographs could serve as a graphic illustration for the text in the book. So I immediately applied to the Japan Museum of Modern Literature for using the two pictures and some other pictures of the writer in my book. I received the approval after paying a handsome fee. After the book was published I received a telephone call from Wu Liu, a senior journalist in Hangzhou. Much to my surprise and delight, he told me that the two photographs of the Louwailou restaurant were the oldest existing pictures of the restaurant. The year 2008 would see the 160th anniversary of the restaurant. A memorial album to be printed by the restaurant will have the two pictures I discovered in Japan. Akutagawa's account of his lunch at the restaurant and the two pictures will help Chinese readers look into a lost past.

September 15, 2007 was the 80th anniversary of the death of Akutagawa Ryonosuke.The International Akutagawa Ryonosuke Association held its second seminar on the campus of Ningbo University. More than 50 experts and scholars from home and overseas attended the seminar and focused on Akutagawa's 1921 Chinese trip. After the seminar, all the participants came to Hangzhou and toured the West Lake exactly as Akutagawa Ryonosuke had done 86 years before. On the evening of September 17, a ceremony was held at Louwailou to welcome the photographs home. The restaurant entertained all the experts and scholars. Louwailou president Shen Guanzhong said at the meeting that "the two photographs pushed the photographic history of Louwailou back by 36 years. Before the two were known, the earliest photograph available was dated 1957. The precious record will be a rare gift for the 160th anniversary of the restaurant."

(Translated by David)