さてこの房総のむらでもいちばん魂を揺さぶられる江戸文化の精緻の町家店舗。「本・瓦版」の店・葛飾堂のご紹介であります。わたしどもの主領域・出版は江戸の浮世絵文化の大興隆、大衆文化大革命を見ずには語ることができないと思う。出版に主要な人生時間を費やしてきた人間として、町家建築としてこういう業態の店舗を参観できる機会に恵まれて心躍る思いがした。
出版、それも木版印刷の歴史について、京都の先達「竹笹堂」さんのHPから要旨引用。
〜戦国の世を家康が統一し泰平が訪れ文化の中心が町民に移行した江戸時代。初頭に京都で商業的な出版が行われ本を取り扱う「本屋」が誕生した。瞬く間に市中に数多くの本屋が並び、続いて大阪に本屋が登場して上方で出版文化が育まれていった。寛永（1624-1645年）には江戸でも本屋が開業。のちに美人画の名手喜多川歌麿や、役者絵の奇才東洲斎写楽などの錦絵を出版して一大版元となる蔦屋重三郎も吉原に書店を構えた。〜
〜伝統木版画技法の確立　大量印刷物を限られた時間と費用で生産するため無駄をそぎ落とし、表現方法をシンプルにすることで浮世絵木版画独特の構図の妙や色彩表現が生まれた。制作工程を分化させ、下絵を描く「絵師」、版を彫る「彫師」、色を摺る「摺師」、それぞれ専門職として作業する三者分業制印刷が確立した。一般に知られる葛飾北斎や喜多川歌麿は絵師で大手版元のお抱えや独立して活動した。素材や色彩、表現全てが独自性に富んだ日本の木版多色カラー印刷は、当時世界最高峰の技法。のちにゴッホをはじめとする多くの芸術家たちに影響を与え世界中を驚愕させた。【豆知識】世界に日本の高度な木版印刷技術が知られたのは、印刷に失敗した木版画を陶器や磁器などの他の輸出品の緩衝材として海を渡ったからだという。〜


いやはや、紙くずとして梱包材に浮世絵を使ったというさりげない事実から江戸期社会の大衆芸術の浸透ぶりに驚かされる。宗教芸術や貴族層の趣味生活に奉仕させられる存在であったヨーロッパ芸術に対して、無造作に紙くずとして利用された木版印刷ニッポン芸術が、まさに文明的驚愕をもたらせたことは日本人として誇らしい。けっして豊かではない都市住民の生活の中で、それでも多色印刷の絵画が各家庭に飾られて、夕餉の一家団欒に話題を提供していたのだろう。その絵画のテーマに則して旅の話題であったり、有名歌舞伎スターのゴシップであったり（笑）、大いに平和な家庭のいっときを彩っていた。もちろん識字率の高さから活字本で学習・情報収集にも余念がなかっただろうけれど、多色印刷のわかりやすさは、ひとのこころに強烈なインパクトを与え続けた。わたし自身はテレビという映像文化に染まった最初期世代だけれど、この江戸期の浮世絵文化にはじめて触れた人びとも、どうも似たような文化革命体験世代だったのではないだろうか。この空気感が愛おしい。

English version⬇

Ukiyo-e Civilization that Astonished the World -1 Edo Period, Boso Townhouse-10
Europeans were horrified by the culture shock of Ukiyo-e paintings being used as packaging cushioning material (laugh). Nippon, a society leading the popularization of art. …

The most soul-stirring store in the village of Boso is a machiya store that is an exquisite example of Edo culture. I would like to introduce Katsushikado, a “book and tile edition” store. Our main area of business, publishing, cannot be described without referring to the great rise of Ukiyo-e culture in Edo, the great revolution in popular culture. As someone who has spent a major part of my life in publishing, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to visit this type of store, built as a machiya (traditional townhouse).
The following is a brief history of publishing, especially woodblock printing, from the website of Takezasa-do, one of Kyoto’s forerunners in this field.
〜The Edo period (1603-1868) was a time of peace and prosperity as Ieyasu united the warring states, and the center of culture shifted to the townspeople. In the beginning of the Edo period, commercial publishing took place in Kyoto, and “bookstores” that dealt in books were born. In no time, numerous bookstores lined the streets of the city, followed by the appearance of bookstores in Osaka, which fostered a publishing culture in the Kamigata region. During the Kan’ei period (1624-1645), bookstores also opened in Edo. Tsutaya Shigesaburo, who later became a major publisher of nishiki-e prints by artists such as Kitagawa Utamaro, a master of beautiful women paintings, and Toshusai Sharaku, a prodigy of actor pictures, also had a bookstore in Yoshiwara. 〜The first woodblock print shop in Yoshiwara was established by Tsutaya Shigsaburo.
〜Establishment of Traditional Woodblock Printing Techniques In order to produce large quantities of prints in a limited amount of time and at a limited cost, the ukiyo-e woodblock printing method was simplified to eliminate waste and create the unique composition and color expression unique to ukiyo-e woodblock prints. The production process was differentiated, and a three-person division of labor system was established, with the “painter” drawing the preliminary sketches, the “engraver” engraving the plates, and the “printer” printing the colors, each working as a specialist. Katsushika Hokusai and Kitagawa Utamaro, both well-known artists, were either employed by major publishers or worked independently. Japanese woodblock multicolor printing, with its unique materials, colors, and expressions, was the world’s most advanced technique at the time. The technique later influenced many artists, including Van Gogh, and astonished the world. Trivia: Japan’s advanced woodblock printing technology became known to the world when woodblock prints that failed to print were shipped across the sea as buffer material for other exports such as ceramics and porcelain. ~.

The casual fact that ukiyo-e prints were used as packing materials for paper scraps is surprising in its permeation of popular art in the Edo period society. In contrast to European art, which had been a form of religious art or an object of service to the aristocracy’s lifestyle, Japanese woodblock-printed art, which was used carelessly as paper scraps, was a civilized wonder, and as a Japanese, I am proud to say that it brought about a sense of wonder. In the not-so-affluent lives of city dwellers, polychromatic paintings were still displayed in each household and provided a topic of conversation for the family dinner table. The paintings were often about travel or gossip about famous Kabuki stars, depending on the theme of the painting (laugh), and they added a lot of color to the peaceful family life. Of course, the high literacy rate in Japan meant that people probably had to learn and gather information from printed books, but the ease of understanding provided by multicolor printing had a powerful impact on people’s hearts. I myself am of the first generation to be imbued with the visual culture of television, but I suspect that the people who first came into contact with the Ukiyo-e culture of the Edo period were of a similar generation that experienced a cultural revolution. I love this atmosphere.

Posted on 1月 17th, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 日本社会・文化研究, 歴史探訪 | No Comments »

家は希望する人がいて成立する。住宅雑誌・メディアって建築要素把握と生活の関連にスポットを当てる役割。住宅の意味はそこでシアワセな暮らしが営めるかどうか、が最大ポイント。もちろん作り手の紹介は大きい要素ではあるけれど、家を希望する人にとって本当の最大助言者は、すでに建てたひとの実感だろうと思います。それを第３者的な視線で「取材」して表現していくことがメディア最大の役割。シアワセな「だんらん」生活が実現しているのかどうか、取材センサー機能を働かせて、これから建てる人に伝える役割が社会機能の中核。
そんな意識を持つと連綿と繋がってきている昔人の暮らしから現代と通底する普遍的な価値観が自然に浮かび上がってくる。ちょっと（笑）以前の時代の人間生活・民俗の歴史とか、古民家群から発掘できてくる。生活の「だんらん」には実に多様な要素、シアワセのカタチがあると思わされる。そんなことがら・ものごとを深掘りしてみたいということで、いまは江戸期房総の商家群をピックアップ中。
本日はひとを蕩けさせる甘味の世界・町家の「お菓子屋」さんであります。甘いものは実はその甘味料・砂糖の歴史からして実は新しい部類の人間体験だと気付かされる。


財団法人・農畜産業振興機構のHPに甘味の歴史が詳述されている。以下要旨抜粋。
〜砂糖がもたらされる以前の庶民の甘味料は、ヨーロッパでは蜂蜜であり日本では飴であった。飴はもち米などのデンプンを麦芽（麦もやし）で糖化して作られる我が国古来の甘味料。『日本書紀』において初代の天皇とされる神武天皇の即位前紀に「飴（たがね）」が記されているほか『延喜式』には平安時代の都に「糖（あめ）」の店があったとされる。
江戸時代の初めまでは餡といえばもっぱら味噌味や塩味だった。長崎に来航する唐船・オランダ船により砂糖が大量輸入されるようになると、金平糖などの南蛮菓子のほか従来の飴に加え新たに砂糖を用いた飴が作られるようになる。嘉永6年（1853）の『近世風俗志』の「饅頭」の項では「昔は菜饅頭・砂糖饅頭の二制あり。何時よりか菜饅頭は廃れ今は砂糖饅頭のみなり。今の饅頭、表は小麦粉を皮とし、中に小豆餡を納る。小豆は皮を去り砂糖を加ふ。砂糖に白黒の二品あり。昔は諸国ともに菜饅頭廃しその後は塩饅頭と云ひて小豆餡に塩を加へたり。近世は鄙といへども皆専ら砂糖饅頭なり。文化以来やうやうかくのごとくなり」とある。〜
いずれにせよ、家庭で甘味の菓子を作ることは珍しく、このような商家・町家店舗で専業的に作られて購入されていたのが実態だっただろう。砂糖の普及に伴って徐々に家庭でも正月の餅つきで「あん餅」がつきあげられるように変化していった。昭和中期までのわたしの生家でも賑やかに多量のあん餅を作っていた。その餅つきの製造場所は深く記憶に残っている。前日までの材料仕込みから家族総出での餡作り、餅つき、手ごね作業の隅々まで、深く記憶に残り続けている。年越しを飾るメインイベントとして、甘味は日本人にとって「だんらん」の豊かさを実感できる大きな機会だったことだろう。

English version⬇

Ethnographic History of Sweetmeats and Sweets -1 Edo Period, Boso Machiya-8
It was in the merchant and townhouse houses of the Edo period that “sweet foods” were first offered to the common people in their homes. The merchants and merchant houses of the Edo period were the first to offer sweet foods to the common people, enriching the Japanese home life.

A house is established when there are people who wish to live in it. Housing magazines and media are responsible for highlighting the relationship between the understanding of architectural elements and living. The most important point of a house is whether or not it is possible to live a happy life there. Of course, the introduction of the builder is a major factor, but I believe that the greatest advisor for people who want to buy a house is the experience of those who have already built one. The greatest role of the media is to “report” and express this from a third-party perspective. The core of the social function of the media is to use its sensor function of reporting on whether or not a “happy home” life has been realized, and to tell people who are going to build their own homes about it.
With such an awareness, universal values that are common to the present day naturally emerge from the lives of the ancients, which have been connected to the present day. The history of human life and folklore of an earlier era can be unearthed from the old houses. The “communal living” of daily life has a variety of elements and forms of happiness. In order to delve deeper into such things, I am now picking up a group of merchant houses in Boso during the Edo period.
Today, we are going to visit a sweets shop in a machiya, a world of sweetness that can make you fall in love with sweets. I realize that sweet food is actually a new kind of human experience, given the history of its sweetener, sugar.

The website of the Organization for Promotion of Agriculture and Livestock Industry details the history of sweetness. The following is an excerpt.
〜Before the introduction of sugar, the sweetener for the common people was honey in Europe and candy in Japan. Ame is an ancient Japanese sweetener made by saccharifying glutinous rice and other starches with malt (barley sprouts). In the “Nihon Shoki (Chronicles of Japan),” “tajane” is mentioned in the pre-century of Emperor Jinmu, the first emperor of Japan, and in the “Engishiki (Engi Shiki),” it is said that there was a “sugar” store in the capital during the Heian period.
Until the beginning of the Edo period (1603-1867), red bean paste was usually miso or salt-flavored. When sugar was imported in large quantities by Chinese and Dutch ships that arrived in Nagasaki, new candies made with sugar began to be produced in addition to traditional candies, such as kompeito (kompeito) and other Nanban confections. In the section on “Manju” in the “Kaei 6 (1853)” (Kasei Fuzoku Shi), it is written, “In the past, there were two types of buns: na-manju and sugar-manju. From some time ago, the greens buns were abolished, and now only sugar buns are available. Nowadays, the front of the bun has a flour crust and the inside is filled with azuki bean paste. The azuki beans are removed from the skin and sugar is added. There are two kinds of sugar, black and white. In the old days, many countries abolished the “naeba-manju” and later it was called “shio-manju” (salt buns). In modern times, all the local people have been making sugar buns. It has been like this since the Bunka era. ~…~…~…~…~…
In any case, it was rare to make sweet confections at home, and the reality was that they were made and purchased exclusively at merchant houses and townhouse stores like this one. With the spread of sugar, the home cook gradually began to make “anmochi” at the New Year’s rice-cake pounding. Until the mid-Showa period, my family was making large quantities of anmochi in a lively atmosphere. The place where the rice cakes were made remains deeply in my memory. From the preparation of ingredients up to the day before, to the family’s concerted efforts to make red bean paste, to the pounding of the rice cake, to every detail of the hand-kneading process, all remain in my deepest memories. As the main event that decorates the New Year’s Eve, sweetness must have been a great opportunity for Japanese people to experience the richness of “Danran” (gather together).

Posted on 1月 15th, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 日本社会・文化研究, 歴史探訪 | No Comments »

商家の町家群展示、千葉県の「房総のむら」で出会った「小間物屋」。町家建築はその時代の「消費動向」を把握できる。日本女性の美感探究のオリジナル性というのは有史以前から連綿と続いていたでしょう。一見奇妙な形態を見せる縄文土偶の一部にはそういう「髪結い」が反映されていたのかも知れない。きのう江戸期の髪結いの文化について見て改めて気付かされた。どうして日本列島社会ではこういうふうに髪結いが発展して、きわめてオリジナル性の高い髪結い習慣に発展したのか。考えて見ると日本人のナゾ。女性のファッション感覚が作り上げてきた歴史の重要なパーツだけれど、あまり考察してみたことはなかった。言ってみれば「美感の歴史」だけれど、美術作品の流れみたいなものは跡づけることができても、こういう感覚の歴史、あるいは流行の歴史というものは跡づけにくいのかも知れない。決定的なのはむしろこういう日常的な部分だろう。
個人的には娘の成人式での髪結いを思い出す。美容師さんがいろいろに髪型を考えてくれて「もっとこの辺を盛り上げましょうか」「いいね、それ」みたいなやり取りがあって、大いに盛り上がった記憶がある。やはり日本女性のDNAに触れる部分で奥深い審美眼が刺激されているように感じた。彼女たちの目の光のキラキラ感には思い出す度に微笑させられる（笑）。

こういう文化の結晶として櫛やかんざしの類は日本の工芸分野で独特の位置を占めていった。江戸期の職人図でも座っての手先作業ぶりが描かれている。手先に注意が集中する特殊な手工芸の世界。背景としての髪の色が日本民族の場合、黒が基調色になるので、赤と白がポイントカラーとして選択されてきたのだと思う。用途としては髪のデザイン造形をまとめ上げて美感を強調する役割。やはり黒い長髪で風土条件にも反応した質感というのがこの髪結い伝統の基板を形成してきたと思う。
この条件を活かしていくヘアデザインを長時間、およそ37,000年考え続けてきて、オリジナルの髪結い習慣に結晶してきたように思う。その後、明治に至って西洋文化を完全に受容したとき、和服に対して活動機能性に優れた洋服にファッションの背景条件が大変化した。このことで和の髪結い習慣は主流からは外れた。
しかしこのような手工芸の感覚世界は、その後の産業興隆の基盤になっていったと思う。日本独特のものづくり要素としてディテールへのこだわりがあるけれど、その文化風土は日本女性の黒髪が大いに関係していたという大胆な推論も可能に思う（笑）。

English version⬇

Oshare hair comb and hairpin, Edo period, Boso-machiya-6]
Japanese women have black hair. The hair quality nurtured by the climatic conditions also created a unique sense of beauty. The props and workmanship that suited the hair created the foundation for the manufacturing industry that followed.

Exhibition of a group of merchant townhouses, “komono-ya” (booth shop) encountered in the “Boso no Mura” in Chiba Prefecture. The originality of Japanese women’s search for aesthetics has probably been continuous since prehistoric times. Machiya architecture allows us to grasp the “consumption trends” of its time. Some of the seemingly strange forms of Jomon clay figurines may have reflected such “hairdressing. Yesterday, I was reminded of this when I looked at the Edo period’s hairdressing culture. I wondered why the custom of hairdressing developed in this way in the Japanese society and developed into a highly original custom. It is a puzzle for Japanese people. It is an important part of the history of women’s sense of fashion, but I have never given it much thought. It is a “history of aesthetics” in other words, but while we can trace the flow of art works, it may be difficult to trace the history of this sense or the history of fashion trends. However, what is decisive is the everyday part like this.
Personally, I recall my daughter’s hair at her coming-of-age ceremony. The hairdresser came up with various hairstyles, and there was a lively exchange of ideas such as, “Shall I make this part of her hair more lively? I felt that this was a part of Japanese women’s DNA that stimulated their deep aesthetic sense. The sparkle in their eyes makes me smile every time I recall it (laugh).

As a fruit of this culture, combs and hairpins occupied a unique position in the field of Japanese crafts. Even the Edo period craftsmen’s drawings depict the way they worked with their hands while sitting down. This is a special kind of handicraft in which attention is concentrated on the fingertips. The color of the hair as a background is black for the Japanese people, and red and white have been chosen as the point colors. The purpose of this technique is to emphasize the beauty of the hair by bringing it together in design and modeling. I believe that the texture of long black hair that responds to the climate conditions has formed the basis of this hair-tie tradition.
The hair design that makes the most of these conditions has been thought about for a long time, about 37,000 years, and has crystallized into the original custom of hairdressing. Later, when Western culture was fully embraced in the Meiji period (1868-1912), the background conditions for fashion changed drastically, with Western clothes having superior activity and functionality in contrast to Japanese clothes. This meant that the Japanese custom of tying hair fell out of the mainstream.
However, the sensory world of handicrafts became the foundation for the subsequent rise of industry. One of the unique elements of Japanese craftsmanship is the attention to detail, and it is a bold inference that the cultural climate had a lot to do with the black hair of Japanese women (laughs).

Posted on 1月 13th, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 未分類 | No Comments »

昨日10日より通常業務が開始という会社は多いだろうと思います。わたしはちょっと札幌を離れていたのですが、昨日帰還。いきなりの大雪の風景が出迎えてくれました（泣）。
知人の北海道内の住宅研究者のTさんからは住宅系時事ネタ復帰へのブロックサインも出ていました。北海道の住まいと暮らしにとって「雪との付き合い方」は永く続くテーマ。札幌は年間積雪が６ｍを超えるという世界で稀な多雪地域の大都市圏。参考までに「札幌を東京地域に重ねたら」地図が以下。

〜https://hokkaido.press/sapocan/より引用。〜
東はほぼ千葉市近くまで及び、西は横浜市をも飲み込む勢い。さらに北はさいたま市を包囲している。関東を動き回るときこういうルートで動くと、高速を使っても相当の時間が掛かる。渋滞まで計算したら丸１日程度、移動するのに掛かるのではないか。これほどに都市面積がデカいので「除雪」のために費やさなければならない費用コストが巨大。この冬はそう大きな降雪がなく、やや安心していたのではありますが、そうは問屋が卸してはくれない。

なんですが、わが家の周辺には夜の間に除雪が来てくれて、ご覧のようなスッキリ感であります。札幌を離れていたけれど建物周辺の雪処理も家人スタッフがやってくれていて感謝であります。罪滅ぼしにこれから雪処理を一生懸命やっていきたいのですが、チョコチョコと出張予定も入ってくる。そうするとその日程を狙ったように降雪があるのが困ったものなんですけど・・・。


さてこの除雪費用について、なんとかコスト削減を図っていくのが札幌市のサスティナビリティ優先度高めテーマ。市民生活の利便性と除雪費用の費用対効果を見定めて安定的な着地点を展望する必要がある。現状では合計で215.8億円程度掛かっているのですね。最近話題になっているコスト削減策というのは、徹底的に除排雪するのではなく「ほどほどの圧雪状態」で「やりすごそう」という作戦。
昨年あたりから市民の話題になってきているのですが、この施策も運用がなかなか難しい。タイミングとバランス配分次第では市民からの苦情爆発も避けられないのであります。

予報では本日から週末に掛けて今度は気温高めなんだとか。そうすると今度は道路面の圧雪が「グチャグチャ」雪に変貌する可能性が高い。今年も忘れずやってきた大雪さん、お久しぶりであります。まぁ切っても切れない関係なので気長に末永いお付き合い。なまあたたかく、よろしくであります（笑）。

English version⬇

The New Year started in earnest in the midst of a heavy snowstorm.
General Winter took advantage of the moment when I was away from Sapporo for a little while. We will welcome him warmly this year as well. The New Year is just around the corner.

I am sure that many companies have started their normal business operations since yesterday, the 10th. I was away from Sapporo for a while, but returned yesterday. I was suddenly greeted with a heavy snow scene (tears).
Mr. T, a housing researcher in Hokkaido, who is an acquaintance of mine, gave me a block sign to return to the housing-related current affairs. For housing and living in Hokkaido, “how to deal with snow” is an enduring theme. Sapporo is a metropolitan area with an annual snowfall of over 6 meters, which is rare in the world for a metropolitan area with heavy snowfall. For reference, the map below shows Sapporo superimposed on the Tokyo area.
To the east, it extends almost to Chiba City, and to the west, it is threatening to swallow Yokohama City. It also encircles Saitama City in the north. When moving around the Kanto region along these routes, it takes a considerable amount of time even if you use the expressway. If traffic jams are included in the calculation, it would take about a full day to travel around. The cost of “snow removal” is huge for such a large city. We were somewhat relieved that there was no significant snowfall this winter, but that is not the case with us.

However, the snow plows came to the area around our house during the night, and as you can see, it is very clear. Although I was away from Sapporo, my wife’s staff took care of the snow around our building, and I am very grateful to them. I would like to make up for my sins by doing my best to clean up the snow from now on, but I also have some business trips coming up. I am also planning to go on a few business trips, but it’s a problem that the snow falls on the same dates as my business trips….

Now, the city of Sapporo’s sustainability priority theme is to somehow reduce the cost of snow removal. It is necessary to determine the cost-effectiveness of snow removal costs in relation to the convenience of citizens’ lives, and to look for a stable landing point. Currently, the total cost is about 21.58 billion yen. A cost-cutting measure that has been talked about recently is the strategy of “getting by” with “moderately compacted snow” instead of thorough snow removal.
This has been a topic of conversation among citizens since last year, but it is also quite difficult to implement this measure. Depending on the timing and the distribution of the balance, an explosion of complaints from citizens may be inevitable.

According to the forecast, the temperature will be higher from today through the weekend. If this happens, there is a high possibility that the compacted snow on the road surface will turn into “squishy” snow. It has been a long time since we have had a heavy snowfall this year. We are inseparable, so please be patient with us for a long time to come. I wish you a long and fruitful relationship with us.

Posted on 1月 11th, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 「都市の快適」研究, 住宅マーケティング | No Comments »

古民家でも商家となると現代の資本主義的なビジネス感覚と相似するカタチがみえてくる。写真は「木工屋」の店先・隅柱に掛けられた「下駄」のPOPと先日紹介の「めしや」の看板。昨日「樽つくり」の様子も見たけれど、木を使って造作することは生活に密着した手工業だった。化学素材が出現するより前の時代には、木のような自然素材が生活領域すべてをほぼ覆っていた。化学素材でのものづくりでは必然的に工業化された集中生産が進展し、一般社会からの「疎外」が当たり前になる。現代生活での日常必需品では手づくりというのはむしろ少数派で、大部分はどこで誰がつくっているか想像力が及ばないのが普通。言われてみてはじめてそれが他国でつくられていることを知るのが一般的。
一方で木のような自然素材の日用品が主体の江戸期までの社会では、それこそ製造業が「家内制」であって、需要地域に深く根ざして存在していた。江戸期までは履物といえば下駄が主流であっただろうから、このようなPOPが木工の主用途を表現したのだろう。「なんでも木で作るモノならつくりますよ」というメッセージが伝わってくる。
わたしは昭和中期に生まれた年代だけれど、都市居住ではこのような「◎◎屋」という存在が日常語として頻繁に使われていた。それが街のランドマークでもあり、向こう三軒両隣のような範囲でふつうの空気感として存在していた。八百屋・魚屋など生業が明確な存在が街の表情を形成していた。それがスーパーというような流通形態が主流になって企業規模が拡大していって「近代化」が進んだ。こういったありようにはノスタルジーが感じられ、独特の人間くささも薫っている。
こういったPOPの表現にはわかりやすさと同時にその作り手の個性、人間性も伝わる部分があるのではないか。まるで擬人化・マンガ文化力のようなものも感じさせられる。店に入るときに、その人となりの幾分か、応答内容が予測されるものがあると思える。


街並み再現構成のカタチとしてイマドキの子どもたちにもわかりやすいように、店頭には木割りの模型とか、樽の実物展示などがされている。木造住宅でも現代では構造が隠される「大壁」的な仕上げが多いので、柱梁が直接露出している方が少数派。現代住宅で育った子どもたちにはこういった部分から「構造を知らせる」きっかけを働きかける必要もあるでしょうね。またそもそも「樽」などという実物を見る機会もほとんどないだろう。化学素材製ではないモノの個性の豊かさというものに大いに驚いて欲しいと思う。化学素材製品のさらなる発展のためにも、その創造の原点としての自然素材の「肌ざわり・質感」というものがバネとして働くと思う。現代の子どもたちの新鮮な感受性を刺激するには、こういう機会を大人たちがもっと意識的に作って行くことが大切ではないか。

English version⬇

Store POP advertisement “Woodwork shop-2” Bustling townhouse in Bossou, Edo period – 3
Humorous POP with a strong message. The cradle of Japanese sensibility, which is connected to manga culture. Appealing to children’s hearts and minds. The “Bosho Machiya-2” and “Bosho Machiya-3” are the most popular.

Even in old private houses, when it comes to merchant houses, one can see forms that resemble the capitalistic business sense of today. The photo shows “geta” POP hanging on the corner post of a woodworking shop and the signboard of “meshiya” introduced the other day. I also saw a scene of “barrel making” yesterday, and the use of wood in manufacturing was a handicraft closely related to daily life. Before the advent of chemical materials, natural materials such as wood covered almost all areas of daily life. Manufacturing with chemical materials inevitably assumes industrialized, intensive production, and “alienation” from general society becomes the norm. In modern life, handmade products for daily necessities are in the minority, and it is common for people to have no idea where most of them are made. It is only when they are told that they are made in other countries that they realize that they are made in other countries.
On the other hand, until the Edo period, when daily necessities were mainly made of natural materials such as wood, the manufacturing industry was a “cottage industry” that was rooted in the area of demand. Until the Edo period, geta (wooden clogs) would have been the most common type of footwear, so this type of POP would have represented the main use of woodworking. It conveys the message, “We can make anything out of wood.
I was born in the mid-Showa period (1926-1989), and in urban areas, this kind of “◎◎ shop” was frequently used as an everyday word. It was a landmark of the town, and existed as a common atmosphere in the neighborhoods across the street from each other. Grocers, fishmongers, and other businesses with clear lines of business formed the face of the town. Then, supermarkets and other forms of distribution became the mainstream, and the scale of business expanded, which probably contributed to the “modernization” of the town. This way of being is nostalgic, but it also has a unique humanistic flavor.
This kind of POP expression is not only easy to understand, but also conveys the individuality and humanity of the owner. It is like the power of anthropomorphism and manga culture. When you enter a store, some of the responses of the owner’s personality can be predicted.

In order to make it easy for children of today’s generation to understand the form of the townscape reproduction composition, models of wood splits and actual barrels are displayed in the storefront. In modern wooden houses, many of them are finished with large walls, so exposed pillars and beams are more common in the minority. It is probably necessary to encourage children who have grown up in modern houses to learn about the structure from these types of structures. In the first place, there are probably few opportunities to see actual “barrels. I would like them to be surprised at the richness of individuality of products that are not made of chemical materials. For the further development of products made of chemical materials, the “feel and texture” of natural materials as the starting point of their creation will act as a springboard. In order to further stimulate the fresh sensibilities of today’s children, it is important for adults to consciously create such opportunities.

Posted on 1月 9th, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 日本社会・文化研究 | No Comments »