写真は、2013年頃に石見銀山地域を巡ったときに参観していた「商家」の佇まい。で、その下の絵図は昨日に続いて尾道の豪商「灰屋」の店先風景。瀬戸内海側と日本海側ですが、ほぼ同時代の空気感。
　わたしは独立して以降、住宅にかかわって仕事を続けてきましたが、基本的に建築の内部空間が数寄の基本。それもこの写真のような商家が醸し出してくる空気感により強く惹かれる。農家のものづくり主体の機能性空間よりも、商家の人間交流が主体の空間性により惹かれる。
　コミュニケーション主体の空間性によりシンパシーを感じるのです。
　たぶんそれは幼年期から少年期に過ごしていた商家兼食品製造工場としてのわが家の空間記憶が大きいのだろうと思っていたのですが、家系調査を経てきてこの尾道で確実に過ごしていた血脈の様子が明確化してきた。江戸期の政治経済機構のなかで一族が生き延びてきたことが遠雷としてこだましてくる。
　「おう、阿賀屋、繁盛してるか？あ？」
　「おお◎◎さん、いつもご贔屓にありがとうございます。きょうはどちらへ？」
　「ああ、尾道の港から午後の便でこれから堺まで、半月ほどの商用だよ・・・」
　っていうような会話が迫ってきてくれるようなのです。そういう交流の中には武家もいただろうし、同業者同士の切った貼ったもあったことでしょう。そういうなかでわが家系は「塩」がキーポイントだったようです。
　「そういえば近頃、蝦夷地じゃぁサケを塩引きにして遠距離輸送・流通が可能なようにするんだって？」
　「そうなんですよ、高田屋嘉兵衛さんなどウチから塩を大量に船積みして北前航路に向かって、蝦夷地じゃぁたくさんの人足を使って群来のサケを水揚げして、塩で捌きまくるのだそうですね。荒稼ぎ。」
　「しかし塩鮭はうまいからなぁ、結構なことで（笑）」
　江戸期はこういった経済活動が、北前などの商品大量輸送を起動要素として発展したのでしょう。蝦夷地の北方漁業産品など多様な品々が天下の台所・大阪へ、瀬戸内海の潮の干満の要地・尾道は交易の最高立地。
　人的往来と情報の活発な流通。日本の市井の資本主義経済が力強く勃興する起点だったのでしょう。
　想像力はフツフツと沸き立ってきて、たまりません（笑）。

お知らせ
拙書「作家と住空間」幻冬舎から電子書籍で発刊
お求めはAmazonで。
https://amzn.asia/d/eUiv9yO

English version⬇

The Late Edo Period Through the Lens of My Family’s “Onomichi Merchant House”
Onomichi, the greatest trading hub of the Edo period where goods and information flowed freely. The way my family lived comes alive against this backdrop, bubbling up in my imagination (laugh). …

　The photograph shows the appearance of a merchant house I visited while touring the Iwami Ginzan region around 2013. Below it is a sketch, continuing from yesterday, depicting the shopfront scene of the wealthy merchant “Haiya” in Onomichi. Though on opposite sides of the Seto Inland Sea and the Sea of Japan, they share a similar atmosphere from roughly the same era.
　Since becoming independent, I’ve continued working in residential design, but fundamentally, the interior space of architecture is the essence of aesthetics. I’m particularly drawn to the atmosphere exuded by merchant houses like the one in this photo. More than the functional spaces centered on craftsmanship found in farmhouses, I’m captivated by the spatiality of merchant houses, where human interaction takes center stage.
　I feel a deep connection to these communication-centered spatial qualities.
I had always thought this stemmed largely from my childhood memories of my own home, which served as both a merchant house and a food manufacturing factory. However, through genealogical research, the clear presence of my bloodline’s time spent here in Onomichi has become evident. The echoes of my clan surviving within the political and economic structures of the Edo period resonate like distant thunder.
“Oh, Aga-ya, business booming? Huh?”
　“Oh, Mr. ◎◎, thank you for your continued patronage. Where are you headed today?”
“Ah, I’m taking the afternoon ship from Onomichi Port to Sakai. About a fortnight’s business trip…”
Conversations like this seem to come rushing back. Such exchanges would have included samurai, and no doubt fierce rivalries among fellow merchants. Within that, “salt” appears to have been the key point for my family line.
　“Speaking of which, I hear they’re salting salmon in Ezo these days to make long-distance transport and distribution possible?”
“That’s right. People like Takadaya Kahei ship huge loads of salt from us to the Kitamae route. In Ezo, they use tons of laborers to haul in the salmon run and process it all with salt. Making a killing.”
　“But salted salmon is delicious, so it’s a good thing (laughs).”
During the Edo period, such economic activities likely developed with the mass transport of goods via routes like the Kitamae as a driving force. Diverse products like northern fisheries goods from Ezo flowed to Osaka, the nation’s kitchen. Onomichi, a key location for the tides of the Seto Inland Sea, was the prime location for trade.
　The active flow of people and information. This was likely the starting point for the vigorous rise of Japan’s grassroots capitalist economy.
My imagination is bubbling up, I can’t stand it (laugh).

Notice
My book “Writers and Living Spaces” published as an e-book by Gentosha
Available on Amazon.

Posted on 11月 18th, 2025 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 未分類