町家・商家の古民家で現代まで残り続けるというのはレアケース。
都市居住は日本人の大きな人口割合だろうと思うのですが、
現代に「古民家」として残っているのは圧倒的に農家が多い。
わたしの家系も400年以上前に武家奉公から帰農し後に商家を営んだ。
大部分の歴史時間としては商家として生きてきたようなのです。
したがって古民家を探究するに際して、こうした商家にめぐり会うと
興味の深さが根がらみになってくる部分があります。
立地環境としては奈良の旧市街地・奈良町で興福寺を中心にその南北及び
西方に市街が広がる地域。在所の下高畑町はその東南で新薬師寺に向かう途次。
この奈良の柳生街道沿いというのは古くからこれら古寺社参詣の往来で賑わって
勢い、町もいわゆる「町家形式」の街割りが行われてきた。

そのなかでもこの「井岡屋」さんは古株の存在だったとされます。
この町家商家の建築年代は17世紀末頃と推定され、現存する奈良町の
町屋としては最古の部類に属する。1600年代の末頃ですから
いまから350年前くらいにさかのぼることができる。
井岡家の家業は古くは油屋を営み、後に線香屋に転業したという。
1848-52年の頃とされていますから、いまから170年前前後。
この「業種変更」は、養子を取って実現したのだそうですが、
その養子が線香屋さんから入家してきたことがきっかけとされるのです。
現代人は家というのは血縁同族というように捉えるけれど、
江戸期までの日本では家というのは「法人」性が非常に強いモノであり、
血族の親子関係で相続できて商売が発展すれば越したことはないけれど、
多くの場合、そうはうまくいかずに娘に娶す婿さん、それもいなければ
血縁外の有能者を養子としてスカウトするというのが
非常に大切な家存続手段とされるのですね。
そういう意味では社会全体で人材への眼力が必要とされていた。
息子と違って婿さんや養子は、それこそ慎重にふるいに掛けることができる。

油も線香もどちらも仏事に関係するものであるのですが、
油はこの家で「搾油」したというよりも委託販売に近そうなビジネス。
一方で線香づくりは主屋の土間が原材料の杉の葉の貯蔵場所とされ、
通りに面した「シモミセ」で製造作業を行っていたということ。
いわば製造工程をそのまま見せて「呼び込み」効果を狙ったか。
そして展示販売は通り土間を挟んだ「ミセノマ」で行われていたとされる。
店ではガラスの入った戸棚で線香が並べられていたとされます。
ガラスという素材は江戸期にも少量はあって、こういう用途で使われた。
欧米社会のように「建材」として使われ流通するのは明治以降。
敷地図面の左の「離れ」の土間でこねた原料を細く伸ばす作業を行った。
ちなみに線香は一般販売の他に、大口契約先として
生駒聖天宝山寺とのビジネスが主力だったとされます。
たぶん養子は大口契約先とのコネも持っていた存在ではなかったかと。
こうしたビジネスで昭和16年頃まで継続してきたけれど、
戦争の為に原材料の入手が困難になって廃業を余儀なくされたという。
いまから80年前くらいなので線香屋ビジネスは100年弱の寿命。
中小企業の浮き沈みは日本社会のみならず世の常。
人間と家との歴史が紡ぎ出されて、まことに味わいが深くなる。・・・

English version⬇

[Business transition of Nara merchants / Good Japanese houses ⑯-6]

It is a rare case that old folk houses of townhouses and merchants will continue to exist until the present day.
I think that many Japanese people live in the city with a large proportion of the population.
Overwhelmingly, there are many farmers who remain as “old folk houses” in modern times.
My family also ran a merchant house after returning from the samurai service more than 500 years ago.
For most of his historical time, he seems to have lived as a merchant.
Therefore, when exploring an old folk house, if there is such a merchant house
There is a part where the depth of interest is rooted.
As for the location environment, in the old city of Nara, Nara Town, centering on Kofukuji Temple, north and south and
An area where the city extends to the west. Shimotakabatake-cho, where we are located, is on the way to Shin-Yakushiji Temple in the southeast.
The area along the Yagyu Highway in Nara has been crowded with visitors to these old temples and shrines for a long time.
Momentum, the town has also been divided into so-called “machiya style” towns.

Among them, this “Iokaya” is said to have been an old stock.
The construction date of this machiya merchant house is estimated to be around the end of the 17th century, and it is located in the existing Naramachi.
It belongs to the oldest category of Machiya. Because it was the end of the 1600s
It can be traced back to about 350 years ago.
It is said that the Ioka family’s family business used to run an oil shop and later transferred to an incense stick shop.
It is said to be around 1848-52, so it was around 170 years ago.
It seems that this “industry change” was realized by adopting a child.
It is said that the adopted child entered the house from an incense stick shop.
Modern people think of a house as a blood relative,
In Japan until the Edo period, a house was a very “corporate” thing, and
It would be great if we could inherit the relationship between the parents and children of the relatives and develop the business.
In many cases, that doesn’t work and the son-in-law is a son-in-law, without it.
Scouting an unrelated talented person as an adopted child
It’s a very important way to survive a house, isn’t it?
In that sense, society as a whole needed an eye for human resources.
Son-in-laws and adopted children, unlike their sons, can be carefully sifted.

Both oil and incense sticks are related to Buddhist affairs.
Oil is a business that seems to be more like consignment sales than “oil squeezing” in this house.
On the other hand, incense sticks are made using the soil floor of the main building as a storage place for cedar leaves, which is the raw material.
It means that the manufacturing work was done at “Simomise” facing the street.
So to speak, did you aim for the “call-in” effect by showing the manufacturing process as it is?
And it is said that the exhibition and sale was done at “Misenoma” across the street.
It is said that incense sticks were lined up in a cupboard with glass in the store.
There was a small amount of glass as a material in the Edo period, and it was used for this purpose.
It has been used and distributed as a “building material” since the Meiji era as in Western societies.
The work was done to thinly stretch the kneaded raw material in the “separate” soil on the left side of the site drawing.
By the way, incense sticks are sold as a large contractor in addition to general sales.
It is said that the main business was with Ikoma Seitenhozanji.
Perhaps the adopted child also had connections with large contractors.
This kind of business continued until around 1945, but
It is said that the war made it difficult to obtain raw materials and forced the business to go out of business.
Since it is about 80 years ago, the incense stick business has a lifespan of less than 100 years.
The ups and downs of small and medium-sized enterprises are common not only in Japanese society but also in the world.
The history of humans and homes is spun out, and the taste really deepens.・ ・ ・

Posted on 4月 10th, 2021 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 住宅マーケティング, 日本社会・文化研究