古事記のなかで、全国を遠征して各地域の豪族を平らげたヤマトタケルが、大和にむけての帰路、尾張国を去った頃、海辺の道をたどっていくと徐々に足が折れてしまって、やがてその姿が鳥になっていって、多くの人びとがその鳥の行く手を追ったけれど、やがて大空高く、見失ってしまうという有名な一節がある。
　そのテーマ性と表現において、古事記の文学としての中核を構成している。
　日本列島では古来から「渡り」をする鳥たちの「風物詩」がひとびとの心象を深くえぐっていたことがわかるし、現代人であるわれわれもまた、その心象世界にふかくとらわれているのだと思う。
　そんな心理があって、加齢とともに鳥たちの様子に愛情を感じてしまってきている。
　北海道の地では、空知平野が樺戸山系と出会う湿地に「宮島沼」があって、日本列島とシベリアとを往来する渡り鳥たちの楽園として知られている。
　クルマ社会という移動手段の発展した現代に生きる人間習慣として、この宮島沼への往来が楽しい。
　上の写真は宮島沼の近く周辺の畑地に蝟集していた「マガン」たちの群。そして下の写真は到達した宮島沼から北方に位置する樺戸の山々の春の雪景色と、この時期の宮島沼の七色の水面。
　わたしの幼年期、母はその実家が空知平野の中央にある三笠にあって、末っ子であるわたしだけを連れて、夫婦ケンカの「停戦期間」を過ごすことが多かった（笑）。かわいい末っ子を人質に取られて父親が悲鳴をあげて詫びてくることが日常的風景だったのだろう。
　その母の実家滞在時、よく西北方に位置する「連山」としてこの樺戸山系を見ていた記憶残像がある。
　たぶん山並みというのものの形象を、人類というのは克明に記憶する動物種のように思える。地球動物種の中で稀有なグレートジャーニーという「五大陸制覇」を成し遂げたDNA内部で、そういう能力が発達したのではないか、そしてそういう能力に秀でた個体が、人類集団の指導層として導いていたのではないか。
　その心意伝承として、渡り鳥たちへの畏敬の念、感傷の感覚が人間には積層しているように思える。
　とにかく宮島沼と鳥たちの様子にどんどん気持ちがのめり込んできてしまっている。幸いに、カミさんもそういう心理に同調してきてくれている。シアワセ。

English version

[Northern spring Migratory birds visit Miyajima swamp and flounder]
A famous passage in the Kojiki that respects migratory birds as a human psychological tradition of this archipelago society. It is a major part of the Japanese mental image connected with eternity. …

　In the Kojiki, when Yamatotakeru, after having conquered the powerful tribes of each region in his expedition across the country, left Owari Province on his way back to Yamato, his legs gradually broke as he followed the road by the sea, and eventually his figure became a bird, and many people followed his path, but eventually lost sight of him high in the sky. There is a famous passage in which the bird is lost in the sky.
　In its thematics and expression, it constitutes the core of the Kojiki as literature.
　It is clear that since ancient times, the “genre” of migratory birds has deeply affected people’s mental images of the Japanese archipelago, and we, as modern people, are also deeply caught up in this world of mental images.
　Because of this, as we age, we feel more and more affection for the birds.
　In Hokkaido, Miyajima Marsh, a wetland where the Sorachi Plain meets the Sakhalin Mountains, is known as a paradise for migratory birds that come and go between the Japanese archipelago and Siberia.
　As a human habit in today’s developed car-oriented society, it is a pleasure to visit the Miyajima Swamp.
　The photo above shows a flock of geese gathered in a field near Miyajima Swamp. The picture below shows the spring snowy landscape of the Kabado mountains to the north of Miyajima-swamp and the seven-coloured surface of Miyajima-swamp at this time of the year.
　During my childhood, my mother’s family home was in Mikasa, in the middle of the Sorachi Plain, and she often took only me, her youngest child, with her for “truce periods” in their fights (laughs). It must have been a daily scene for the father to scream and apologise for taking his cute youngest child hostage.
　When I was staying at my mother’s house, I often saw the Kabado mountain range as a “mountain range” located in the north-west.
　Humans seem to be an animal species that remembers the shapes of mountain ranges very well. This ability may have developed in the DNA that enabled them to conquer the five continents on their Great Journey, which is rare among the animal species of the earth, and individuals who excelled in this ability may have led the human group as its leaders.
　It seems that humans have a layered sense of awe and sentimentality towards migratory birds as part of their psychic tradition.
　In any case, I am becoming more and more absorbed in the Miyajima Swamp and the birds. Fortunately, my wife is getting in tune with this kind of psychology. She is very happy.
　

Posted on 4月 7th, 2025 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 日本社会・文化研究 | No Comments »

　きのうは夕刻から朋友が訪ねてくれて、わが家で会食。かれは持病があって会食などの翌朝には相当の苦悶が訪れるので、自粛を続けているということですが、あえて来てくれた。
　手料理でおもてなしさせてもらったけれど、いちばん喜んでくれたのはシメの蕎麦のつゆ。これは楽しく作っておいたヤツで、ベースの出汁をしっかり取って、大量の本格カツオ節で仕上げてみた。すっかり気に入ってくれて、どんどんおかわりが続くのでカミさんはわんこそば給仕状態（笑）。その上、帰りにはこのつゆをフリーザーパック２枚重ねで持ち帰ってくれた。
　お酒はリクエスト通り、日本酒。それも「大吟醸」ではないものを、ということで北海道の定番の「国稀」を中心に、新規購入の「法螺吹き」〜富良野の方の酒元〜などを味わってもらいました。酒好きは、こういうネーミングにもそそられるものなので、案の定破顔一笑しておりました。
　ということで久しぶりの楽しい夕餉だったのですが、おかげさまで本日は久しぶりに二日酔い。
　朋友と語らっての深酒だったので、人生70年以上ちかくの話題のあれこれで、タイムマシンという「乗り物」に酔っていたとも言えますね（笑）。初めて聞く出生時期の話題、祖父との逸話という話題も交えて話が尽きない。かれはボクシングが好きなんだけれど、同時代のわたしとか多くの友人たちは「プロレス」がわかりやすいエンタメスポーツだったところ、なんとかれの故郷ではプロレス中継の日テレ系列の電波が届いていなかった（！）とのことでした。
　そういう人生の機微・機縁というようなものまで存分に語り合うことが出来た。深くオモシロい。
　語るまでもなく、わたしの「人生まとめ企画」電子出版を祝ってくれたのでありますが、こういうこともまた「一里塚」。棺桶の蓋が閉じられて布をかぶせられるまで、存分に試行錯誤を重ねて、お互いに一病息災で頑張っていきたいと思っておりました。ブログ記述が遅れまして失礼。
　写真画像は「伝・額田王」の石像表現。しみじみとつたわってくるものにうたれます。

English version

[Close friend for the first time in a long time – hangover (laughs)]
A strange life in which I fell in love with boxing because I couldn’t watch professional wrestling on TV (laughs). The subtleties of life and honest talk exploded. He has crossed a milestone and will continue to do so. …

　Yesterday evening, a friend of mine visited me and we had dinner at my house. He has a chronic illness that causes him considerable anguish the morning after a dinner party, so he has been refraining from such events, but he dared to come.
　I entertained him with home-cooked food, but what he enjoyed most was the soba noodles I made for the end of the meal. I had prepared it with a base soup stock and a lot of bonito flakes. They liked it so much that they kept having more and more orders, so Kami was like a wanko soba waiter (laughs). She even brought home two freezer packets of the sauce on her way home.
　The sake was Japanese sake, as requested. We asked for something that wasn’t a “daiginjo”, so they tasted mainly “Kuniumare”, a standard sake from Hokkaido, and a newly purchased “Hourabuki” – a sake brewer from Furano. Sake lovers are intrigued by such names, so as expected, they were all smiling.
　So it was a pleasant dinner after a long time, but thanks to that, I was hungover today for the first time in a long time.
　I could say that I was drunk on a time machine, a ‘vehicle’, because I talked with my friends and drank deeply, and we talked about topics that had been discussed for more than 70 years of my life (laughs). (Laughs). We talked endlessly about topics such as the time of his birth, which I had never heard of before, and anecdotes about his grandfather. He liked boxing, but in his hometown there was no signal from the Nittele network for pro-wrestling broadcasts (!), whereas I and many of my friends at the same time found “pro-wrestling” an easy-to-understand entertainment sport. He told me that he could not receive the Nittele signal for pro-wrestling broadcasts in his hometown.
　We were able to talk about such subtleties of life and fate to the fullest. I am deeply grateful.
　Needless to say, they celebrated the electronic publication of my “life summary project”, which is also a “milestone”. Until the coffin lid is closed and the cloth is put over the coffin, I would like to keep on trying and trying to keep on trying and trying to keep on trying until we both get well. Sorry for the delay in writing this blog.
　The photo image is a representation of a stone statue of “Den Nukata Ou”. I am deeply moved by what is being conveyed to me.

Posted on 4月 5th, 2025 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: おとこの料理＆食 | No Comments »

　このたび、個人的に執筆した『作家と住空間』という本を幻冬舎から発刊しました。
　内容は、私が個人的に訪れた著名人ゆかりの建物について写真を交えながら思ったことを綴る…というもの。
【販売ページ】・Amazon（kindle）　　https://amzn.asia/d/eUiv9yO

・楽天kobohttps://books.rakuten.co.jp/rk/c07ba1e356c83914b07c787c35554e1a/?l-id=search-c-item-29
【価格】　1320円(税込)
【本の概要】
　彼らは確かにそこにいたーー作家たちの精神が息づく住まい、そのたたずまい
　全国の様々な住空間の取材をライフワークとする著者による、作家ゆかりの住まいにまつわるエッセイ集。
芥川龍之介が恋文を綴った九十九里の草庵、多くの弟子たちが集った夏目漱石山房から、今は記念館として生まれ変わった司馬遼太郎邸、民俗学の父・敬愛する柳田國男、さらには織田信長安土城〜手塚治虫ら漫画家たちが若き日を過ごした「トキワ荘」まで。
　作家たちの日々の哀歓、創造の苦悩や喜び、生死のドラマを目撃し包み込んでいた住空間を探訪。今なおそこに宿る彼らの精神の息吹を生き生きと伝える。現場写真多数収載。

　わたしは2023年9月を以てReplan誌発行の（株）札促社の事業から退任。1988年の創刊以来35年間にわたって住宅取材・誌面作成という事業を行ってきた人間です。
　厳しい気候条件のなかで知恵と工夫で「よりよく生きたい」という北海道人の強い願望をいっしょに考え、それを豊かな写真表現で「つたえたい」と念願していました。昭和戦後期に生を受けた人間として、ビジュアル・リッチコンテンツの地域オリジナルメディア創出を考え、わかりやすく「いごこち」まで表現したいと思っていました。
　しかし個人情報に関わる「施主の人間性」という部分にだけはアンタッチャブル。当然ですが、しかし住まいは人の生き方に深く関わっているという強い実感があり、そういうテーマ領域への強い意欲が湧き上がっていました。
　個人情報の壁があるならそれを超えて「生き様」までもいわば公共情報として公開されている「作家」という存在に気付かされたのです。作家はその表す文章・表現を通して多くの人と対話している存在。その過ごしていた「住空間」は公開されているものも多い。先日も書きましたが、世界の中でも特異的に作家の空間まで公開される文化があると、日本文学研究者ドナルド・キーン氏も語っている。
　そうした狙いから、自分の生きてきたテーマ領域のNEXTとして「作家と住空間」の探訪を続けてきました。残されている住空間と作家との深い関係性を「掘り下げて見たい」というテーマ。作家というのは、生きることがそのまま読者とのコミュニケーションだったのだと思います。
　サンプルページを覗いていただけるだけでも嬉しいので、是非よろしくお願いします！

English version

[Life Summary Project e-book ‘The Writer and the Residential Space’ now on sale].
An exploration of the life work housing and the lives of the human ‘writers’ who lived there. The truth about housing conveyed through easy-to-understand visuals. …

　I have just published a book I have personally written, ‘Writers and Living Spaces’, published by Gentosha.
　The content of the book is about my personal visits to buildings associated with famous people, and my thoughts on them, with photographs…
Sales page.
Amazon (kindle)
https://amzn.asia/d/eUiv9yO
Rakuten Kobo
https://books.rakuten.co.jp/rk/c07ba1e356c83914b07c787c35554e1a/?l-id=search-c-item-29
Price] 1,320 yen (tax included)
Book Overview
　They were certainly there – The homes where the spirit of the writers lives on, and the way they look.
　A collection of essays by the author, who has made it his life’s work to interview various living spaces across Japan, on dwellings associated with writers.
From the hermitage in Kujukuri where Ryunosuke Akutagawa wrote his love letters and Soseki Natsume’s house where many of his students gathered, to Ryotaro Shiba’s house, now reborn as a memorial museum, Kunio Yanagida, the father of folklore and beloved author, and from the Azuchi Castle of Nobunaga Oda to Tokiwaso, where manga artists like Osamu Tezuka spent their younger days.
　Explore the living spaces that witnessed and encompassed the daily sorrows and joys of the artists, the anguish and joy of creation, and the drama of life and death. Vividly conveys the breath of their spirit that still resides there. Includes many on-site photographs.

　I will retire from the business of Replan magazine in September 2023, after 35 years of covering housing and producing the magazine since its inception in 1988.
　I have longed to share the strong desire of the people of Hokkaido to ‘live better’ with wisdom and ingenuity in the harsh climate conditions, and to ‘convey’ this desire through rich photographic expression. As someone who was born in the late Showa period, I wanted to create original local media with rich visual content and express the ‘comfort’ in an easy-to-understand way.
　However, I was untouchable only in the area of ‘the client’s humanity’, which is related to personal information. Naturally, however, there was a strong feeling that housing is deeply related to people’s way of life, and a strong desire to enter such a thematic area.
　If there is a barrier of personal information, I was made aware of the existence of ‘writers’, whose ‘way of life’ is also published as public information, so to speak. Writers interact with many people through the texts and expressions they express. Many of the ‘living spaces’ in which they spent their time are open to the public. As I wrote the other day, Donald Keene, a scholar of Japanese literature, has said that there is a culture in the world that is unique in that even the space of the writer is open to the public.
　With this aim in mind, I have continued my exploration of ‘writers and living spaces’ as the NEXT thematic area in which I have lived. The theme of the project is to ‘delve into and look at’ the deep relationship between the remaining living spaces and writers. I believe that for writers, living was directly a form of communication with readers.
　We would be happy if you could just take a peek at our sample pages!

Posted on 4月 3rd, 2025 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 日本社会・文化研究 | No Comments »

　昨日夕刻札幌に帰還しました。関東でも感じていたのだけれど、とにかく寒かった（笑）。
　山中湖というのはこの三島由紀夫文学館訪問のためにはじめて訪れた。上の写真でも庭の彫像の右手側にはうっすらと雪がかぶっていた。こういう端境期になるべく軽装で動きやすい服装で行動したいわたしのような人間には、天候への対応というのがいちばん難しい。だいたいがトランクなどは持たずリュックひとつで歩き回り、レンタカーを操って神出鬼没したいタイプには、寒暖差20度以上という気候条件は面倒で厳しすぎる。
　しかたなく下着の上に本来は高温時対応の半袖Tシャツを、寒さ対策の「重ね着」としてしのいでいた。まぁクルマ移動なので寒さに肌身で遭遇するのは短時間だったことが不幸中の幸い。
　さて三島由紀夫文学館に来て、やはりその場の空間性がさまざまなことに気付けることを再認識させられた。
　庭に置かれた彫像と向き合い続けていた三島由紀夫という作家の内面性探究の、切り口を感じたときのう書いた。現実にそのようなシチュエーションを体感してみると、そうか、こういう視認行為を毎日この人は繰り返していたのだという実感が、即座に「体がわかって」くるものなのだ。
　で、そういった体験を踏まえてたぶん現地でしか入手できない「文学館図録」を購入していたのだけれど、そのページを宿で開いて見始めて、さっそく驚きの発見があった。
　ドナルド・キーンという名前は知っていたけれど、かれが寄稿した短文に接して静かな驚きを感じた。
　〜ドナルド・キーンは、アメリカ合衆国出身の日本文学・日本学者、文芸評論家。コロンビア大学名誉教授。 日本文化研究の第一人者であり、日本文学の世界的権威とされる。〜
　そこにはこのような作家の記念館という「建築文化」はきわめて日本的な光景なのだという記述。え、あれ、という驚き。こういう視点はまったくはじめて気付かされた。たしかに海外にも作家の家が観光資源になっている事例はあるけれど、その作家の書いたすべてを蒐集して保存し、さらに研究を加えてそれに多くの人が強く惹かれている、というのは日本の独自文化だというのです。わたしはこういう視点・意見を初めて知らされて深く驚かされた次第。そしてそこからさまざまな想念が沸き上がっていく、その大きな起点を与えられた気がしていた。
　「作家と住空間」という電子出版作品を創作した人間としては、思わぬ視点をいただいた。これは深掘りするに値する視点。

English version

‘Is the culture of writers’ memorials unique to Japan?’
From Donald Keene, a scholar of Japanese literature, comes a theory that the architectural culture of writers’ memorials is uniquely Japanese. As someone who explores ‘writers and living spaces’, I was deeply moved. …

　I returned to Sapporo yesterday evening. I felt the same in the Kanto region, but it was cold anyway (laughs).
　I visited Lake Yamanakako for the first time for this visit to the Yukio Mishima Literature Museum. In the photo above, there was a light dusting of snow on the right hand side of the statues in the garden. For someone like me, who likes to wear light and comfortable clothes during these off-season periods, the most difficult thing is to cope with the weather. For the type of person who usually walks around with a rucksack and not a boot, and who likes to go off the beaten track in a rented car, a temperature difference of more than 20 degrees Celsius is too much of a hassle and too severe.
　I had no choice but to wear a short-sleeved T-shirt over my underwear, which was originally designed for high temperatures, as a ‘layer’ to protect against the cold. It was fortunate that we only had to encounter the cold for a short time as we were travelling by car.
　Coming to the Yukio Mishima Literature Museum, I was reminded that the spatiality of a place can make you aware of various things.
　I wrote yesterday that I sensed the opening of the writer Yukio Mishima’s exploration of his inner nature, as he kept confronting a statue placed in his garden. When you actually experience such a situation, you immediately ‘understand your body’ and realise that he was repeating this kind of act of recognition every day.
　Based on this experience, I had purchased a copy of the Museum of Literature catalogue, which is probably only available locally, and when I opened the catalogue at the inn and started looking at the pages, I was immediately surprised by what I discovered.
　I knew the name Donald Keene, but I was quietly surprised when I came across a short article he had contributed.
　〜Donald Keene is an American-born scholar of Japanese literature and Japanese studies, and a literary critic. He is Professor Emeritus at Columbia University. He is a leading scholar of Japanese culture and is regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on Japanese literature. ~.
　The description there is that the ‘architectural culture’ of these writers’ memorials is a very Japanese spectacle. What a surprise! This was the first time I had noticed this point of view. It is true that there are examples overseas where writers’ houses have become tourism resources, but the fact that everything the writer wrote is collected, preserved and studied, and that many people are strongly attracted to it, is a uniquely Japanese culture. I was deeply surprised to learn of this viewpoint and opinion for the first time. I felt that I had been given a great starting point from which various thoughts and ideas would arise.
　As the creator of the e-publication ‘The Writer and the Living Space’, I was given an unexpected perspective. This is a perspective that deserves to be explored in depth.

Posted on 4月 1st, 2025 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 住宅マーケティング | No Comments »

　人間には寿命がある。どんなに深い交流をしてきた人間同士も、黄泉を境するときは必ず訪れる。そういう事前の報告・告白を受ける、その人間の体力の状況をつぶさに直接その人から耳にすることが増えてきた。
　ちょっと不思議な静けさの時間。
　だんだんそういった時間・出会いが増える。やがてこいつと、不可逆な別離がやってくると深く知らされる機会。これは避けがたい。自分自身すらそういった状況と正対せざるを得ない時間も幾度か経験している。逃れがたい諸行無常。
　そういう人間同士の時間・体験が積層してくると、みなさんはどう感じられるだろうか。
　わたしの場合は、ある「諦念」に似た心理が沸き起こり、覚悟というようなものを自覚するようになる。そしてやがて、今現在の状況に立ち返って、今この時間への深い愛着の心理に満たされるようになる。一期一会。
　そんな気分が積層するようになってくると、昔人でありながら交友しうる、作家たちの文章であったり表現であったりとの「対話」の意味合いが深く感じられるようになる。その人物・作家とのディープな「対話」。
　表現者というのは、その人間の深い部分を自ら表側にえぐり出してくれている。病気や死というものは誰にでも普遍的にやってくるけれど、それについてまでかれら表現者とは対話できる。「わたしはこう生きたよ」というコミュニケーション。ある意味、知友たちと同一の心理での「つきあい」が可能なのだと思う。
　人それぞれの命との対話に実質が伝わってきて、むしろだんだん心はシンプルになれる。
　結局人間は、その最期の瞬間まで「どう生きるか」をコミュニケートし続けるのだと。自分同様に同世代の友人知己も、このことからは逃れられない。そしてそれまでの時間の過ごし方、すなわち「その人間の生き方、死に様」に正面から向き合うようになってくる。それが「交友」ということなのだろう。
　自分自身も含め友人知己たちと、いくつかそのような対話時間を持つようになってきた。
　昔人の武士たちの生き方事跡を見ると、そういう黄泉を境する「水杯」についての描写にも接する。
　だんだんとそういう「リアリティ」が理解できるようになって来て、ふしぎと静かさの感情が優先するようになって来た。悲観はもちろんあるのだけれど、むしろいまこの時間の味わいが深まるとも思っている。「わかった、お互いしっかり見届けような」というような内心の対話。

English version

[The quiet shock of an acquaintance’s confession of a ‘medical condition’
It is an inevitability of life to border Hades with people who lived in the same time and under the same circumstances. Time to face such inevitability. The dialogue ‘So, how do you live? …

　Human beings have a life span. No matter how deeply people have interacted with each other, there will always come a time when they will cross the Hades. I receive such advance reports and confessions, and increasingly hear directly from the person in question about the state of his or her physical fitness.
　It is a time of a slightly mysterious silence.
　Gradually, such times and encounters increase. An opportunity to be deeply informed that, in time, an irreversible separation from this person is coming. This is inevitable. Even I myself have had to face such situations on several occasions. It is an inescapable impermanence.
　How do you feel when these human times and experiences are layered on top of each other?
　In my case, a kind of ‘resignation’ arises in my mind, and I become aware of a kind of preparedness. Eventually, I return to the present moment and am filled with a deep attachment to the present time. One lifetime.
　As such a feeling of ‘dialogue’ with the writings and expressions of writers, with whom you can be friends with in the past, becomes more and more deeply felt. A deep ‘dialogue’ with that person or writer.
　The expressive person is the one who reveals the deepest part of the human being to the public. Illness and death come to everyone universally, but even these can be discussed in dialogue with them. Communication that says: ‘This is how I lived. In a sense, I think it is possible to have the same psychological ‘relationship’ with them as with friends you know.
　The substance of the dialogue with each person’s life is conveyed, and the mind can gradually become simpler and simpler.
　In the end, human beings continue to communicate ‘how to live’ until the last moment of their lives. Like myself, friends and acquaintances of the same generation cannot escape this. And they come to face squarely the way they spent their time up to that point, that is, ‘how that person lived and died’. This is what ‘companionship’ means.
　I have come to have several such conversations with friends and acquaintances, including myself.
　When I look at the traces of the way of life of the warriors of old, I also come into contact with descriptions of the ‘water cup’ that borders the Hades.
　Gradually, I have come to understand such ‘reality’ and feelings of mystery and tranquillity have taken precedence. Of course there is pessimism, but I also think that it deepens the flavour of the present moment. An inner dialogue like, ‘Okay, let’s see each other through.’

Posted on 3月 30th, 2025 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 日本社会・文化研究 | No Comments »