I saw a huge dragon in the blue sky!!!

これから私の不思議な体験をお話します。それは、私が小学5年生の快晴の秋の日に起こった出来事です。私は友達と野球を楽しんでいました。私は疲れたので休憩しようとして空を見上げました。すると天空に巨大な龍が悠々と真っ青な空の上を北から南に渡っているのです。驚いて皆に空を見上げたまま「龍だ！！！」と叫びました。皆も驚いたまま固まっていました。龍の鱗の一枚一枚が動いていてそれの動く音が聞こえる様でした。鱗の間が金色や赤色の光を放っていました。

あまりに巨大な姿に恐れて、実家が近いので全力で走って入り「お父さん、お母さん龍だ　龍だ！早く来て！」と叫びました。すると家の中から両親と二人の兄弟と　偶然に訪ねてきていた。知人の有名な木彫仏師が急いで出て来て一緒に空を見上げました。皆も驚きの声をあげました。

I will now tell you about my strange experience. It happened on a clear autumn day when I was in the fifth grade. I was enjoying playing baseball with my friends. I was tired, so I looked up to take a break. Then, in the sky, a huge dragon was leisurely crossing from north to south across the deep blue sky. I was surprised and shouted to everyone, looking up at the sky, "It's a dragon!!!" Everyone was frozen in shock. Each of the dragon's scales was moving, and it seemed like we could hear the sound of them moving. Between the scales, gold and red lights were emitting.

I was so frightened by its huge appearance that I ran into my parents' house, which was nearby, as fast as I could, and shouted, "Dad, Mom, it's a dragon! It's a dragon! Come quickly!" Then, my parents, two siblings, and a famous woodcarver I knew who happened to be visiting, came out of the house in a hurry, and we all looked up at the sky. Everyone cried out in surprise.

その仏師が「これは位山の竜神さんが御岳に渡っている最中だね。こんなお姿が見られて有難いことだね」と言いました。やがてその龍は消えてしまいました。それ以来、目には見えない大きな力とか大きな存在・神様と言うべきか　something great の存在を信じます。

The sculptor said, "This is the dragon god of Mt. Kuraiyama crossing over to Mt. Ontake. We are grateful to be able to see such a sight." Then the dragon disappeared. Since then, I have believed in the existence of something great, an invisible power or perhaps a god.

その龍の大きさはとにかく巨大でした。細い紐や飛行機の姿ではないです。両手を横に垂らした状態で、肩幅のまま両手を上に真っ直ぐ上げます。その幅がその龍の横幅の大きさです。その長さは山国の青空を北から南の空を横切る大きさでした。

The dragon was simply gigantic. It was not a thin string or an airplane. Its width was as if you were to hang your arms down to your sides and then raise them straight up, shoulder-width apart. That was the width of the dragon. Its length was long enough to cross the blue sky of the mountainous country from north to south.

私はその龍が彼の顔や爪を私に見せてくれなかったことは幸いだったと思います。もしあの龍の顔を子供の時に見ていたら怖さに震えたまま気が狂っていたと思います。

I was lucky that the dragon never showed me his face or claws. If I had seen the dragon's face as a child, I think I would have been so scared that I would have gone mad.