写真は、わたしを１代と数えた５代前で、明治維新直前の江戸末期を生きた先祖「三木文蔵」の葬儀記録帳の最後のページ。
　当主の葬儀にあたってその生きた人的交流の実相が表現される葬儀記録は伝統的記録表現。家系史〜ひいてはその生きた時代相を理解するのに最適な記録になります。わが家ではこの記録帳の「傷み」が心配されたので、広島県立文書館の西向先生に依頼して内容を精査いただき、先生からも江戸末期の地域社会や経済、人間関係を考えるうえでも有益な資料との評価をいただきました。
　この資料を含め、いま「本家」筋の長兄の家からわたしに譲受された史的資料類をデジカメ撮影して電子形態で保存し、さらにこの機会に時代順に整理整頓して、年代ごとに仕分けして「三木家文書」としてアーカイブ保存させようという計画。こうした記録類がデジタル化される意義は大きい。今後、WEB上に保存させるなどの手段を通して「一族共通の史的資産」として活用可能になる。
　次兄がまとめてきてくれた一族の「足取り」の通史をさらに発展させて、いまを生きる一族にとって貴重な先祖の「人生体験記憶」をなまなましく活用出来るようにさせたい。人間は親がいなければこの世に存在しない。けっして「自分ひとり」だけの命ではない。
　過去を生きた先人の足取りから「学べる」ことは非常に大きいと思う。
　因果は応報し輪廻する。未来を生きるいのちに少しでも役立てられれば、という願い。
　今を生きている自分としては、その「基礎工事」的な心境で、謹んでこのアーカイブ化をジミジミと取り組んでいます。その基礎工事のさらに基礎、みたいな作業を始めたところ。
　そして自分たちの世代もまた未来にとってはひとつの「過去生」として見えてくるでしょう。自分たち自身の「歩み」に対してのクールダウンした見方も獲得できてくる可能性がある。
　こういう新しいタイプの「歴史資料蓄積」は、歴史好きの日本人に取っても新領域として浮かび上がってくる可能性も高い。いつまでも「信長だ秀吉だ家康だ」ばかりが日本人の歴史興味ではないだろうと思うのです。さまざまな「家系」が複雑に絡み合い日本人の歴史は紡がれてきた。このような「家系史アーカイブ」が基盤を形成するようになる「未来」。・・・あり得るのでは？

●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⬇

[Digitizing and Organizing Family “Documents”]
A process of permanently preserving the vivid traces of our ancestors’ lives and passing on the true story to future generations. An archive for “living better.” …

　The photograph shows the final page of the funeral record book for my ancestor “Miki Bunzo,” who lived during the late Edo period just before the Meiji Restoration—five generations back, counting me as the first generation.
　Funeral records, which capture the true nature of a person’s social interactions during their lifetime, are a traditional form of documentation. They are the ideal records for understanding family history—and, by extension, the social conditions of the era in which they lived. In our family, we were concerned about the “deterioration” of this record book, so we asked Professor Nishimuki at the Hiroshima Prefectural Archives to carefully examine its contents. He confirmed that it is a valuable resource for analyzing the regional socio-economic conditions of Hiroshima Prefecture during the late Edo period.
　Including this document, I plan to photograph the historical materials recently transferred to me from the home of the eldest brother of the “main branch” of the family using a digital camera and preserve them in electronic form. Furthermore, I intend to take this opportunity to organize and arrange them chronologically, sorting them by era, and archive them as the “Miki Family Documents.” The significance of digitizing such records is immense. In the future, through means such as storing them online, they will become usable as “historical assets shared by the entire clan.”
　I wish to further develop the comprehensive history of our clan’s “journey”—which my second-eldest brother has compiled—so that we, as the living members of the clan today, can vividly draw upon the “memories of our ancestors’ life experiences.” Without our parents, we would not exist in this world. Our lives are by no means our own alone.
　I believe there is much we can “learn” from the footsteps of our forebears who lived in the past.
　Cause and effect bring about retribution and the cycle of reincarnation. My hope is that this will be of even the slightest help to the lives that will live in the future.
　As someone living in the present, I am humbly and steadily working on this archiving project with a mindset akin to laying “foundation work.” I have just begun work that serves as the very foundation of that foundation work.
　And our own generation, too, will likely come to be seen as a “past life” for the future. There is a possibility that we will also gain a more detached perspective on our own “journey.”
　This new type of “historical record accumulation” is highly likely to emerge as a new frontier even for history-loving Japanese people. I don’t think Japanese interest in history will forever revolve solely around “Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Ieyasu.” Japanese history has been woven from the complex intertwining of various “family lineages.” A “future” in which such “family history archives” form the foundation… Could that be possible?

● Announcement
My book, *Writers and Living Spaces*, has been published as an e-book by Gentosha.
Available on Amazon.

Posted on 9月 14th, 2026 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 未分類