unsheathe

ユニークな清掃活動を行っているグループについての話題です。

‘Samurai’ performers try to clean up Tokyo

“Who the heck did this?!” People walking in a busy shopping district in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, turned their heads to look in the direction of the loud voice.

Casually dressed in felt hats and kimono, the members of a samurai performance group, Jidaigumi Basara, drew fire tongs from their waists as if they were unsheathing swords. They then gracefully picked up trash on a street and put it into a bamboo basket held by another member while performing a sword fight.

After watching their performance and hearing their closing line, “We punish anyone who has no morals,” people passing nearby applauded, with some saying things like, “You guys are doing great.”

The performance group consists of six members in their 20s and 30s. In April, they started picking up trash on streets in areas around Shibuya Station, Shibuya Public Hall and Shibuya Center-Gai street for about two hours every Sunday afternoon.

The group was started by actor Ikki Goto, who used to be a street performer in traffic-free zones in the Harajuku and Shibuya districts, both in Shibuya Ward, in the 1980s and 1990s.

The performances have become a social phenomenon these days, but traffic-free zones in the areas were abolished as residents there filed complaints about noise and trash tossed away on streets.

以下省略

http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0003303934

今回取り上げる表現はunsheatheです。まずsheatheの項目を『ライトハウス英和辞典』（第5版　研究社）で調べてみますと、他動詞で「1（文語）さやに納める　2（普通は受身で）（外側を保護するもので）おおう、被覆する（in, with）」という意味が見つかりました。LDOCEには “to put a knife or sword into a sheath” と定義されております。これに否定のunが付いて反対の意味を表し、さやを払う、…の覆いを取り払うという意味になります。記事内では “as if they were unsheathing swords” とすることで、剣をさやから抜く動きを演じていることが伺えます。

過去に名詞形のsheathが取り上げられておりました。（aqua）
inflammation of a tendon and its sheath - 田邉祐司ゼミ 常時英心：言葉の森から