さて石ノ森章太郎生家の探訪取材。この家は建築後100年前後と伝えられているとの説明。大正の末期から昭和の初め頃の建築と言うことになる。1926年前後。
　世界情勢としては日露戦争のあとロシア革命が勃発しソ連が成立したての時期。日本は日露戦争に勝利したあと、複雑な国際政治外交の権謀術数の世界にアジアの有力国、対露戦勝国として参入する。そういった時代に生きていた日本人のひとつの間取り、家という社会の基本構成要素のありようが表現されている。
　登米市の中田町が現在名だけれど、当時は「石森町」という地域名。石森と書いて「いしのもり」と呼称するのが地域の習慣だったので、石ノ森章太郎はごく自然に最初は「石森」とペンネームを表記していた（本姓は小野寺）けれど、全国的にはふつうに「いしもり」としか発音されないことに違和感を持っていたのだそう。画業30年を経過した段階でそのことを変えたいと祈念し、正式に「石ノ森〜いしのもり」と「ノ」を入れてネーム更新したのだという。地域伝統社会へのリスペクト。
　作家としてのかれは、地名を誇らしくペンネームとするほどに郷土へのこだわりが強かったということ。少年期の様子などを探索すると手塚作品に衝撃を受けてマンガ家一本道のように思えるのだけれど、別な側面から見ると地域文化や長男として「家長」的な立場認識に、色濃く影響されていたように思われる。
　上の図は説明懸垂幕にあったので一部に「ゆがみ」が反映している「間取り図」。間取りとしては１階に店舗が通りに面して広く取られ、それぞれ床の間付きの大きな和室３室が展開している。いちばん奥に店守りの祖母と叔母の居室兼用の最上位和室があり、真ん中には姉と章太郎の弟・妹、子どもたちが寝起きする和室。そしていちばん手前側が「茶の間」家族のだんらん・食事空間が座卓としてある。席順も記されているように「格」重視の日本人的な家族認識習慣が垣間見える。「世継ぎ」である石ノ森章太郎だけには２階に出窓付きの洋室個室が与えられて、横に家長である両親の隣室があてがわれている。
　石ノ森章太郎が高校卒業時にマンガ家を志望すると言ったとき、謹直な公務員であった父は許さないと言った。そのとき、姉である由恵さんが援護して親を説得し、マンガ家志望の弟の素志を遂げさせた。姉弟の共同戦線に折れざるを得なかった父親の心事に思いをいたすと面白い。父親としてはたぶん章太郎だけの主張であれば、強硬に否認する可能性も高かったのではないだろうか。ところが父親は娘には弱い（笑）。病弱でもある最愛の娘が弟に味方して叛旗を翻す事態に、オロオロさせられただろうことは想像できる。日本の「家」の実像。

English version⬇

[Floor plan of Shotaro Ishinomori’s birthplace
After the victory in the Russo-Japanese War, the period was a whirlwind of change in the complicated international politics. The space layout expresses a sense of ‘home’ that was typical of the period. A sense of patriarchal responsibility for the continuation of the family. …

　Now, an exploratory interview at Shotaro Ishinomori’s birthplace. The house is reported to be around 100 years old. It was built between the end of the Taisho era (1912-1926) and the beginning of the Showa era (1926-1989).
　The world situation was that the Russian Revolution broke out after the Russo-Japanese War and the Soviet Union had just been established. After winning the Russo-Japanese War, Japan entered the complex world of international political and diplomatic intrigue as a powerful Asian country and victor against Russia. The work expresses one of the layouts of the Japanese people who lived in those times, and the way in which the basic components of society, the house, were constructed.
　Nakada-cho in Tome City is the current name of the area, but at the time the name of the area was Ishimomori-cho. It was local custom to write Ishimori and call it Ishinomori, so Shotaro Ishinomori naturally used the pen name Ishimori at first (his real name was Onodera), but he was uncomfortable with the fact that it was usually pronounced only as Ishimori throughout the country. After 30 years of painting, he prayed to change that and officially updated his name to ‘Ishinomori – Ishinomori’ with a ‘no’. Respect for local traditional society.
　As a writer, Kare was so strongly attached to his hometown that he proudly used the name of the place as his pen name. When we explore his boyhood, it seems as if he was impacted by Tezuka’s works and became a manga artist in one way or another, but from a different perspective, it seems that he was strongly influenced by the local culture and his perception of his position as the ‘patriarch’ as the eldest son.
　The diagram above is a ‘floor plan’ reflecting some ‘distortion’ as it was on the explanatory banner. The layout consists of a shop on the ground floor facing the street, with three large Japanese-style rooms, each with an alcove. At the far end is a top-level Japanese-style room that doubles as a living room for the shop keeper’s grandmother and aunt, and in the middle is a Japanese-style room where the elder sister, Shotaro’s younger brother and sister and their children sleep and wake up. At the very front is the ‘chanoma’ (tea room), where the family gathers and eats together at a table. The order of seating is also marked, which gives a glimpse of the Japanese custom of recognising family members with an emphasis on ‘rank’. Shotaro Ishinomori, the ‘heir’ of the family, is given a private Western-style room with a bay window on the second floor, with the room next to his parents, who are the patriarchs, allocated to him.
　When Shotaro Ishinomori said he wanted to become a manga artist upon graduating from high school, his father, an honest civil servant, said he would not allow it. At that time, his older sister, Yue, backed him up and persuaded his parents to let him fulfil his ambition to become a manga artist. It is interesting to reflect on the father’s feelings about having to break down in the face of the sister and brother’s joint front. The father probably would have been more likely to strongly deny the claim if only Shotaro had insisted on it. However, fathers are weak against their daughters (laughs). It is imaginable that he would have been horrified by the situation in which his beloved daughter, who was also sickly and weak, sided with her brother and rebelled against him. The reality of the Japanese ‘family’.

Posted on 3月 13th, 2025 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 住宅取材＆ウラ話