きのういつものように早朝散歩に午前６時頃に家を出たのですが、体感気温が予想以上に低く感じた。あとで調べたら７度程度ということでしたが、体感的には５度を下回っているようなレベル感。はやく寒さから逃れたいと通常よりも「速歩」気味にして体温上昇を一生懸命にこころみていました。10分程度早足で歩いている内にようやく馴染んできていましたが、普通のジャンパーを着込んでいましたが、これから場合によっては薄手のダウンジャケットも選択肢かと。
　ということで近隣の「発寒川」流域の公園を歩いていたら、橋の欄干に人が集まって川面を注視している。「お、」というところ。案の定、鮭たちが発寒川を遡上している様子を観察しているのです。北海道人としては、まことに季節を知らせてくれる季語のような「イベント」。発寒川は結構な傾斜のある流路なのでところどころにサケの遡上用に造作が施されているのですが、そこを力を込めて遡上するのに、やや体力を整えてからチャレンジするところに遭遇していた。
　写真ではやや鮮明ではないでしょうが、どうもオスメスのペアのように思えた。種としてのいのちの定めにためらうことなく立ち向かうかれらの姿は神々しい。観衆としての人間たちは、自然に誰言うともなく「応援」するような心理になってくる。地元のスポーツ選手を無条件に応援するような心理に近い。
　そういえば先週末の買い物ではサケの獲れたてのヤツが１匹990円で販売されていて、即購入。ひとり１本限定販売。謹んで捌かせていただいた。白子が腹部から生々しく取り出せた。カミさんは「ゲっ」とひとこと（笑）。わたしは淡々と立ち向かって、赤身の本体を捌き終わったあと、白子を丁寧に調理させていただいた。煮物料理の主役として扱って料理したのですが、カミさんも恐る恐るだったけれど食べたら「うん、いけるね」。どうしても「アニサキス」の心配があるので、多少しっかり目に加熱調理した。
　残ったアタマ部分と骨の部分は「アラ汁」として楽しんでおりました。って、まだアラ汁は半分しか材料を使っていないのでもう一回食べられる。もちろん肉身は50-60切れくらいに分けて冷凍。990円でコスパ最高レベル。
　遡上を応援したり、その食味を味わわせていただいたり、北海道の秋にとってサケはまことに主役。
　一方、散歩道のナナカマドの色づきも日々深まっている。メッチャ硬くて食用に調理するには７回くらいカマドを使うというものですが、冬の間、野鳥たちの貴重な栄養補給源にもなってくれる。
　万物生々流転、おだやかに進んで行く秋の風情であります。

English version⬇

Sapporo’s salmon run up the Hassamu River, Nanakamado, and autumn colors deepen.
The cold progressed rapidly during my early morning walk. It may be time to put on your down jacket. The salmon, both in taste and in the show of their return to the Hakkasamu River, are a favorite of the people of Hokkaido. Nanakamado trees are also beautiful. Sapporo

　I left home around 6 a.m. for an early morning walk as usual yesterday, but the temperature I felt felt was lower than expected. I later checked the temperature and found that it was about 7 degrees Celsius, but my physical sensation was as if it was below 5 degrees Celsius. I tried my best to walk faster than usual to get out of the cold and raise my body temperature. 10 minutes of walking at a fast pace and I was finally getting used to it, but I was wearing a normal jacket, but I thought a light down jacket might be an option.
　So I was walking in a park along the Hassamu River, and I saw people gathered on the parapet of a bridge, staring at the surface of the river. I was about to say, “Oh! Sure enough, they were watching salmon moving up the Hassamu River. As a Hokkaido native, this “event” is truly a seasonal reminder of the season. The Hassamu River is a fairly sloping stream channel, so it is built for salmon runs in some places, but I was encountering a place where I had to be somewhat physically fit to challenge the salmon to make a strong run up there.
　The photo will be somewhat unclear, but it appeared to be a male-female pair. It was divine to see them face their destiny of life as a species without hesitation. As spectators, we naturally began to “cheer” for them, without anyone telling us to. It is similar to the mentality of unconditionally cheering for local athletes.
　Speaking of which, when I was shopping last weekend, freshly caught salmon were on sale for 990 yen per fish, and I immediately bought one. Limited to one per person. I was respectfully allowed to handle it. The milt was freshly removed from the abdomen. My wife said, “Geez” (laugh). I faced her without hesitation and carefully cooked the milt after I finished processing the lean body. I treated it as the main ingredient in a stewed dish, and although Kami was a little afraid of it, when she ate it, she said, “Yes, it’s good. I cooked it more or less thoroughly because I was worried about “anisakis” (an aquatic organism).
　The rest of the fish, including the head and bones, was enjoyed as “ara-jiru” (soup with ara). I mean, I have only used half of the ingredients for the “ara-jiru,” so I can eat it once more. Of course, the meat pieces were divided into about 50-60 slices and frozen. 990 yen is the best level of cosmos.
　Salmon are a mainstay of Hokkaido’s autumn season, whether cheering for their return or savoring their taste.
　On the other hand, the coloring of the Japanese white ash along the path is deepening day by day. They are so hard that it takes about seven times to cook them, but they are also a valuable source of nourishment for wild birds during the winter.
　The autumn season is a time when all things are moving gently and gently.

Posted on 10月 11th, 2024 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 日本社会・文化研究 | No Comments »

　きのう見たように、幕末明治初頭の日本に対して、欧米の市場経済が期待したものは養蚕業による絹製品群だった。近代国家として独立を確保しさらに欧米列強と伍して行くためには、当然ながら「国力」の涵養が第一に必要。国内戦争を経て権力体制の樹立に成功して後、それまでの幕府が尽力してきた経済的な努力を明治政府はまっとうに継承し、発展させていった。
　それまでの日本社会でも養蚕業は環境的適地性があって全国で展開されていたが、それは農家の女性たちによる「家内制手工業」の枠に留まっていた。そういう状況の中でフランスなどの大消費地からの需要が急拡大したことで、粗悪品などが流通する結果になってしまった。そうしたなかで主にフランス式の発展した「大規模工場生産方式」が志向された。そのプロセスでは、初代の指導者、仏人ポール・ブリュナは、日本の家内制手工業の養蚕技術を詳細に研究して、日本人女性たちの手法に学びながらそのエキスを反映した工場生産方法に昇華させていったとされる。
　明治５年にこの富岡製糸場からの製品出荷が開始されて、その均質で高精度な絹製品は、欧米市場で高い評価を獲得していくことになる。
　こうしたプロセスで国営として製糸場は経営されていくけれど、最初期には女性たちの「募集」に大きな困難があったと言われる。「異様な西洋人たちによって工女はその生き血を吸われる」というような風説が広がって、募集活動は壁にぶち当たったのだ。〜御雇いの異人どもは、実は魔法使いの悪鬼輩にして、彼のおふれに応じた年若の工女を入れるや、可愛や其女等はかれらに生き血を絞られていのちを断たれてしまう（当時の庶民の発言：富岡製糸場誌より）〜
　そういう状況に対して設立に尽力して所長となる尾高惇忠は自ら範を示すため、娘の「勇」を伝習工女第１号として入場させてウワサの払拭を図ったのだという。官営工場として、ここで最新の工場生産手法を学んで、地元で設立される予定の製糸場にその技術を持ち帰るというまことに崇高な使命感を訴求して、武家の娘たちを中心にして、徐々に工女は確保されていったのだという。
　鉄道がようやく新橋〜横浜間で開通したばかりの当時、この群馬の富岡には全国30道府県からやってきた彼女たちは、徒歩でやってきたのだ。それも交通宿泊費はすべて自費だったのだという。
　国を思い郷里の発展を思い、風説におびえながらも献身した彼女たちの状況を不覚にも初めて知った。
　ふっと『元始、女性は太陽であった』という女性解放運動の先駆者として知られる作家、平塚らいてうの言葉が思い出された。神々しく感じられる伝習工女たちの表情から、女神・アマテラスの残照を見る思い。

English version⬇

Women were the sun even in the Meiji era.
The phrase “In the beginning, women were the sun” reverberates loudly. The goddess Amaterasu is the basis of Japanese culture. The divine expressions of the women who were responsible for the national economy of the Meiji era. The sun, the sun, the sun, the sun, the sun.

　As we saw yesterday, what the Western market economy expected from Japan at the end of the Edo period and the beginning of the Meiji period was silk products produced by sericulture. In order to secure independence as a modern nation and to compete with the Western powers, the cultivation of “national power” was naturally the first priority. After succeeding in establishing a system of power through domestic wars, the Meiji government properly inherited and developed the economic efforts of the previous shogunate.
　Until then, sericultural industry had been developed throughout Japan because of its environmental suitability, but it remained within the framework of a “cottage industry” operated by farm women. Under such circumstances, demand from France and other large consumption centers increased rapidly, resulting in the distribution of inferior products. Under such circumstances, the “large-scale factory production system,” which was mainly developed in the French style, was oriented. In the process, the first leader, Frenchman Paul Brunat, is said to have studied in detail the sericultural techniques of the Japanese cottage industry and sublimated them into a factory production method that reflected the extracts while learning from the methods of Japanese women.
　In 1872, the Tomioka Silk Mill began to ship products, and its homogeneous and highly precise silk products won high acclaim in the European and American markets.
　Although the silk mill was managed as a state-owned enterprise through this process, it is said that there was a great difficulty in “recruiting” women in the early stage of the operation. The recruitment process ran into a wall due to the spread of rumors that the women would be “sucked alive by strange Westerners. 〜The hired foreigners were actually evil wizards, and as soon as they let in young workers at his behest, they squeezed the lifeblood out of the girls and cut off their lives (from a commoner’s comment at the time: “Tomioka Silk Mill Magazine”).
　Junchu Otaka, who worked hard for the establishment of the mill and became its director, tried to dispel the rumors by admitting his daughter, “Isamu,” as the first apprentice. The factory was run by the government, and the girls, mainly daughters of samurai families, were gradually recruited, appealing to the noble mission of learning the latest factory production techniques and bringing them back to the local silk mill to be established in the area.
　At a time when the railroad had just opened between Shimbashi and Yokohama, women from 30 prefectures in Japan came to Tomioka, Gunma, on foot. They had to pay for their own transportation and lodging.
　I was surprised to learn for the first time of their devotion to their country and to the development of their hometown, even though they were frightened by rumors.
　I suddenly recalled the words of Raiteu Hiratsuka, a writer known as a pioneer of the women’s liberation movement, who said, “In the beginning, women were the sun. The godlike expressions on the faces of the apprentice workers reminded me of the afterglow of the goddess Amaterasu.
　

Posted on 10月 9th, 2024 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 歴史探訪 | No Comments »

　このブログでは2019-20年頃、北海道の住宅史の始原期を探って明治最初期の状況をずっと深掘りしてみていた。ちょうどコロナ禍によって社会閉塞のやむなき背景事情があったのだけれど、日常的な仕事の状況を反映したブログから、ちょっと意識変化してのブログのテーマ化だった。
　いまは逆にそこで追究した素材テーマ感が自分に強く影響してきている（笑）。年齢のこともあって開拓した事業を譲渡して、いまは比較的に自由にテーマに沿った掘り起こしを志向している。
　で、その過程で富岡製糸場のことに気付きが至って、北海道での始原期の開拓の実像一択でこれまで凝り固まっていたのかもと思えるようになった。わたしたち北海道人にとっては、いま現在にまでつながってくるのが、住宅性能進化に顕現した多くの先人の営為が主たる興味分野だけれど、一方で日本全体もまた、同様に「国家の近代化」に邁進してきていた事実にあまりにも無縁な姿勢だったのではないかと深く頓悟させられるのです。
　上の図は富岡製糸場の「継承される革新の歴史」というすばらしいガイドブックの付録年表図の一部。不勉強だったので、まずは教科書的にその歴史を学ばせていただくのに購入して、謹んで参照させていただいています。富岡製糸場は明治５年に操業開始するのだけれど、計画は明治３年からスタートしている。同時期、北海道では以下のような「洋造」建築がどんどんと建設されていた。


　同時並行した北海道・明治６年には開拓使の建築がもっとも活況を呈した１年。
象徴的建築としての「開拓使本庁舎」の大工事が進捗し、
さらに「お雇い外国人」たちがどんどん入地してきて、
いかにも北米的な「洋造新都市」がその骨格を表してきた時期。
　明治からの遠雷。
150年のタイムスリップは、しかしまったく古さを感じない。
むしろ日本という国家社会を進化させようとする明治という時代の必死さに深く打たれる。
　北海道人として、地域で展開した巨大な文明的進化がきわめて「現代的」なままに存続し発展進化し続けている状況に、自分自身も意識の上では「協働」感を持っていて、ひろく他を、日本全体を俯瞰するという心理にはなっていなかったのだと思われるのです。
　いま、さまざまな資料類を学ばせていただきながら、明治最初期の人びとの「熱さ」を追体験しているとその熱気が直撃してくる。北海道の「高断熱高気密」という住宅革新も、大きな視点で見ればこの明治の人びとの熱い思いが結晶して事柄であると思えるのです。
　そしてその明治の時代の人びとの心情を、すこしづつ掘っていきたい。まるで超高温の温泉源に出会ったような気分になっています（笑）。

English version⬇

Hokkaido Settlement and Parallel – Desperate Opening to Modernity – Tomioka Silk Mill – 4
An encounter experience at the ethnic level with modern civilization 150 years ago. Hokkaido people are fighting at the level of “living” survival. Here, it is a battle of reproduction and development. …

　Around 2019-20, this blog has been exploring the primitive period of Hokkaido’s housing history and delving deeper into the situation at the beginning of the Meiji period. The Corona disaster had forced me to look into the background of the social blockage, and this was a bit of a conscious shift from a blog reflecting my daily work situation to the theme of my blog.
　Now, on the contrary, the sense of material theme that I pursued there is having a strong influence on me (laughs). (laugh) Due to my age, I gave up the business that I had pioneered, and now I am oriented toward digging up materials in line with the theme in a relatively free manner.
　In the process of doing so, I became aware of the Tomioka Silk Mill, and I began to think that I may have been fixated on only the actual image of the pioneer settlements in Hokkaido in the primitive period. For us Hokkaido people, our main area of interest is the activities of our predecessors as manifested in the evolution of housing performance, which is connected to the present, but on the other hand, we are deeply reminded that Japan as a whole may have been too unaware of the fact that it was also striving for “national modernization” in the same way.
　The above figure is part of the chronological chart in the appendix of a wonderful guidebook entitled “History of Inherited Innovations” on the Tomioka Silk Mill. Since I had not studied the history of Tomioka Silk Mill, I bought it to learn its history as a textbook, and I am respectfully referring to it. Tomioka Silk Mill started its operation in 1872, but its planning started in 1872. At the same time, the following “Western-style” buildings were being constructed in Hokkaido.

　The year 1876 was the most active year for Kaitakushi (Hokkaido Development Office) construction in Hokkaido.
The symbolic “Kaitakushi Honcho Sho” (main building) was under construction, and more and more “hired foreigners” arrived in Hokkaido, creating the framework of a “Western-style new city” that was truly North American in style.
　A distant thunderbolt from the Meiji era.
The 150-year time slip, however, does not feel old at all.
Rather, we are deeply struck by the desperation of the Meiji era to evolve Japan as a national society.
　As a Hokkaido-er, I was consciously “collaborating” with the huge civilizational evolution that had developed in the region and was continuing to develop and evolve in a very “modern” way, and it seems that I had not yet developed the mentality to look at other parts of the world or Japan as a whole from a bird’s eye view.
　Now, as I study various materials and relive the “heat” of the people in the early Meiji period, I am directly affected by that heat. From a larger perspective, the housing innovation of “high thermal insulation and airtightness” in Hokkaido is also a crystallization of the passion of the people of the Meiji era.
　I would like to explore the sentiments of the people of the Meiji era. I feel as if I have found the source of an ultra-hot hot spring (laughs).

Posted on 10月 7th, 2024 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 歴史探訪 | No Comments »

富岡製糸場の参観ではやはり明治５年段階の大規模建築、公共投資としての大型建築のありようが興味深かった。それまでの日本建築は城郭建築が主体であり、その目的性に根ざした技術が伝承されてきた。民間建築は各地域での農家などの建築が主体で、都市では長屋などの集住建築が量的には主流という市場構造だった。
　そういう建築界の状況に対して、明治維新という革命は巨大なインパクトを与えた。産業のための建築という新領域が広大に広がっていくという予感で、のちにゼネコンと言われる企業家たちは奮い立っていた。
　明治４−５年という時期、さながら「洋造」建築の展示場のように北海道開拓の首府、札幌の街区建設が進められ、同時に寒冷気候に対応した住宅技術研究が旺盛に開始していた。たぶん明治期の国家にとって対ロシアの国防目的からの北海道移民促進と、この「ものづくりニッポン」の創始は両輪として意図され進められた。
　上の写真は富岡製糸場の建築風景と、外壁に現れた「木骨レンガ造」の構造素地。そして、伝統木造工法では柱のない大作業空間ができないことから、西洋の木造技術と言える「トラス工法」が導入されて柱のない大空間が可能になった様子。事実として、こうして出来上がった大作業空間は、その後、百年を超えて官営〜民営の全期間、富岡製糸場の経営の土台を支え続けた。普通は業容の拡大に合わせて建て替えなどで対応するのが一般的と言われる中で、ここでは創建時の建築が事業を支え続けたのだ。
　フランスの建築技師たちはメートル法に基づいた図面を提示したけれど、日本の大工たちは尺貫法に翻訳させながら柔軟に対応していった。
　北海道で官民挙げて「寒冷地対応」の住宅性能を追求進化させている一方で、産業発展の機能性空間という方向に本州以南地域では発展させていった様子が伝わってくる。

　建築として特徴的なレンガの表情。明治初年段階では、こうしたレンガは日本建築の伝統にはなかったので、旧来の「瓦製造業」たちが、フランス人技術者の指導を受けながら生産していったのだという。地元の土を焼成させた独特の風合い・色合いには、なにか癒されるものを感じる。「よく来たな、北海道から」と（笑）。
　また、つなぎのセメントは入手困難な輸入製品だったので、国内の漆喰が利用された。その構造もまた日本社会の柔軟な「対応力」を見る思い。
　木骨の骨組みを現場で木挽きしている大工職人たちの力感にもいかにも「精魂込めているぜ」みたいな心意気を感じさせられる。フランス人たちは「フランス革命と同等」と明治維新を評価していたとされるけれど、150年前ころの先人たちのはるかな叫び声が、こちらの胸奥に響き渡っていた。

English version⬇

Architectural “Innovations” of the Meiji Era: Large-Space Structure of Tomioka Silk Mill – 3
The “truss construction method,” which is not found in traditional Japanese construction methods, made possible a large space with no pillars, and at the same time, the bricks that make up the walls were researched and developed by a tile manufacturer. …

In visiting the Tomioka Silk Mill, it was interesting to see how large-scale construction in the 5th year of Meiji (1872) was carried out as a public investment. Until then, Japanese architecture was mainly castle architecture, and techniques rooted in the purpose of such architecture were handed down from generation to generation. The architecture of the private sector was primarily that of farmhouses and other buildings in each region, while in the cities, row houses and other residential buildings were the mainstream in terms of quantity.
　The Meiji Restoration revolution had a huge impact on this situation in the architectural world. Entrepreneurs, who later became known as general contractors, were excited by the prospect of the vast expansion of a new field of architecture for industry.
　In the 4th and 5th year of Meiji (1871-1912), the construction of city blocks in Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, was underway as if it were an exhibition hall for “Western-style” architecture, and at the same time, research on housing technology for cold climates was vigorously underway. The Meiji period was probably a time when the nation was promoting immigration to Hokkaido for the purpose of national defense against Russia, and the creation of “Monozukuri Nippon,” or “Manufacturing Nippon,” was promoted as a double-edged effort.
　The photo above shows an architectural scene of the Tomioka Silk Mill and the “wood-frame brick structure” that appeared on the exterior walls. The photo above shows the “wood-frame brick structure” of the Tomioka Silk Mill and the “truss construction method,” a Western wooden construction technique, which was introduced to create a large working space without pillars, because the traditional wooden construction method could not be used to create a large working space without pillars. As a matter of fact, the large working space thus created continued to support the foundation of the Tomioka Silk Mill’s management for more than 100 years during the entire period of government and private management. While it is said that the factory is usually rebuilt to accommodate the expansion of the business, the architecture of the factory at the time of its foundation continued to support the business.
　French architectural engineers presented drawings based on the metric system, but Japanese carpenters flexibly adapted the system by translating it into the shaku-kan system.
　While the public and private sectors in Hokkaido were pursuing and evolving “cold-weather” housing performance, the southern Honshu region was developing in the direction of functional space for industrial development.

　The look of the bricks is characteristic of the architecture. In the early Meiji period, such bricks were not part of the Japanese architectural tradition, so they were produced by the old “tile makers” under the guidance of French engineers. The unique texture and coloring of the fired local clay is soothing to the senses. I was surprised that they came all the way from Hokkaido,” he said with a laugh.
　The cement used to connect the buildings was an imported product that was difficult to obtain, so domestic plaster was used. The structure of the building also reflects the flexible “adaptability” of Japanese society.
　The carpenters who were sawing the wooden frame on site also showed a spirit of “we put our hearts and souls into it. It is said that the French regarded the Meiji Restoration as “equivalent to the French Revolution,” but the distant cries of our predecessors around 150 years ago echoed deep in my heart.

Posted on 10月 5th, 2024 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 住宅取材＆ウラ話 | No Comments »

　江戸期の古民家を探訪することが多いわたしですが、とくに最近行った福島市民家園では、多くの古民家で「養蚕〜機織り」が家内制手工業として営まれている様子に触れていた。また、ツルの恩返しという古民俗の様子もいかにも地域密着で根付いている様子がわかる。
　そんなことから当然のこととして、幕末〜明治の日本の製造業の基盤を形成し、そして世界に日本の存在を強く訴求した生糸生産・製品輸出の根源地になった富岡製糸場について、訪問して詳細にその根幹を取材したいと思うに至っていました。仕事生活の一段落からあらたな行動の方向性として、建築と人間社会みたいな領域を掘っていきたいという願いのひとつのあらわれでしょうか。
　歴史が好きでいろいろな探究をしていましたが、ふしぎとこの富岡製糸場のことは抜けていた。富岡製糸場の建設はフランス人指導者ポール・ブリュナの計画書をもとに1871（明治4）年から始まり翌年の1872（明治5）年には主な建造物が完成し操業が開始。繭から生糸を取る繰糸所では全国から集まった伝習工女たちが働き、本格的な器械製糸が始まった。ということで、先日の出張で足を伸ばしてようやく現地取材の機会を持つことが出来た。やはり建築の仕様ひとつをとってもいろいろな発見に満ちていた。
　ポール・ブリュナの言葉として「明治維新はフランス革命と同等」という位置付けをされていることがあり、日本の明治以降の近代化・工業社会化というものは人類史の中でも特筆すべき事柄なのだと思い至った。建築という側面からも、それまでの日本建築からは大きく隔絶した歴史を刻みつけている。従来は、北海道人として開拓期の「洋造」建築からの流れという視点に偏っていたかも知れない。
　それとはまた違う日本の近代化の流れ、とくに製造業の世界最先端化ということを生み出した、富岡製糸場の経験知は、ひろく日本社会の自信を呼び起こしていったのだと思う。さすがに明治ニッポンの国を挙げた産業育成・勃興にまつわる全体像なので、まだ取材の整理途上。だけれど、気付かされたことは膨大で、すこしづつ紡ぎ出すように振り返って見たいと思う次第です。
　たしかに明治維新というのは、今日の工業化現代国家・ニッポンの礎石だと強く実感する。世界史のなかでも地球規模でモノが行き交う交易の時代の始まりであり、その変革への対応で日本は独自の地位を獲得していった。温故知新。今日の日本は一歩間違えば、大きな停滞に直面するかも知れない。そうならなかった明治の決断に迫ってみたい。

English version⬇

Tomioka Silk Mill, the origin of Japanese manufacturing
The Meiji Restoration, a direct social reform that continues to the present day. How was the Japanese manufacturing industry, which surprised the world, created? The …

　I often visit old private houses from the Edo period, and especially at the Fukushima City Minka-en, which I visited recently, I was exposed to how “sericulture – weaving” was being operated as a cottage industry in many old private houses. The ancient folk custom of repaying cranes for their kindness is also evident in the way it is rooted in the local community.
　This naturally led me to want to visit the Tomioka Silk Mill, which formed the foundation of Japan’s manufacturing industry from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji period and became the root of raw silk production and product export, which strongly appealed to the world about Japan’s existence. This may be an expression of my desire to explore areas such as architecture and human society as a new direction of action after the end of my work life.
　I love history and have done a lot of research on it, but I was surprised to find that I had not mentioned the Tomioka Silk Mill. The construction of the Tomioka Silk Mill began in 1871 based on the plans of a French leader, Paul Brunat, and the main buildings were completed and operation started in the following year, 1872. In 1872, the main buildings were completed and operations began. At the reeling factory, where raw silk was harvested from cocoons, apprentice workers from all over the country worked, and full-scale instrumental spinning began. I finally had a chance to visit the site on a recent business trip. As I expected, I was filled with various discoveries, even in terms of architectural specifications.
　In the words of Paul Brunner, “The Meiji Restoration was equivalent to the French Revolution,” and I realized that the modernization and industrialization of Japan after the Meiji period is a matter of particular note in the history of mankind. From the aspect of architecture, too, the history of architecture in Japan is marked by a sharp departure from that of the past. As a Hokkaido-native, I may have been biased to the viewpoint of the flow from “Western-style” architecture of the pioneering period.
　The experience and knowledge of the Tomioka Silk Mill, which gave birth to a different trend of Japan’s modernization, especially the world’s most advanced manufacturing industry, must have aroused the confidence of Japanese society at large. As one would expect from the overall picture of the development and rise of industry in Meiji Japan, I am still in the process of organizing my coverage. However, I would like to look back at what I have learned and see what I can learn from it.
　Indeed, I strongly feel that the Meiji Restoration was the cornerstone of today’s modern, industrialized Japan. It was the beginning of an era in world history in which goods were traded on a global scale, and Japan achieved a unique status by responding to these changes. The new age of learning from the past. One misstep and Japan today could face major stagnation. We would like to look at the decisions made by the Meiji period that prevented this from happening.

Posted on 10月 3rd, 2024 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 歴史探訪 | No Comments »