この木橋ミュージアムの現場パネル展示にあった説明文に、隈研吾氏の建築への解説が書かれていたのだけれど、表現はちょっと難解。
「刎木（はねき）が重なり合う「斗栱〜ときょう」という伝統表現をオーバードライブして作られる全体は「木の組積造」とも呼ぶべきものとなり、軸組形式では得られない存在感（具体性）と抽象性を醸し出している。」
・・・これでは説明文にさらに説明が必要で、それも図解入りが必須のようです。

写真で示すならこの写真が斗栱になるようです。柱の最上部や軸部の上に設置され、軒桁を支える部位。たしかに「木の組積造」という表現がふさわしいし、こういった架構が通常の軸組木造とは違うイメージを見る者に与えることはよくわかる。斗栱という架構技術は広義では社寺建築などに一般的な「組物」のひとつという理解の仕方がいいのでしょう。
〜「地域文化の活性化」「アーバンデザイン」「架構技術」「素材と伝統表現」といったさまざまな主題をブリッジすることで、公共建築の新たなあり方を試みた。〜というように隈研吾氏は追記して、その設計意図を語ってくれている。

扇の軸がタテにすっくと立ち上がりそれを広げたような外観を見せている木橋側とは対比的に屋根頂部から下側に架構が広がったような架構のアトリエギャラリー。その壁面には斗栱の太い木材が白く塗られて独特の幾何模様を見せている。木材の断面の保護のために塗られた防腐剤とおぼしき顔料が、木橋と呼応しているように思われる。
一方以下の写真は、木橋側の内観。


見る者にこのような「木に抱かれる」感覚を味わわせる、そういう空間体験を抱かせることが、梼原という地域としても重要なメッセージになると考えたのではないか。そしてそれは今回わたしにも確かに伝わってきた。
いま、日本全体で公共建築に「木造採用」の動きが非常に強まってきている。東京オリンピック2021で隈研吾設計の国立競技場のデザインが話題になったけれど、それが確かに公共建築木造化のひとつの「号砲」になったものかも知れない。
そのコンセプトの原点がこのような空間体験に込められている。
高知県は森林の面積が全体の８割以上を占める「森林王国」。その中でも、愛媛県との県境にあり、四万十川の源流域に位置する梼原町は森林面積が91％にも上り、地元では森林産業を盛り上げようとこれまで様々な試みが展開されてきたとされる。
こういった文脈の中で、隈研吾建築群がいわばランドスケープデザインとして採用され、その役割を果たしているということなのでしょう。

English version⬇

Yusuhara, Shikoku and Kengo Kuma – 4
The movement to “utilize wood” in public buildings is accelerating across Japan. Kengo Kuma Design is extremely busy (laughs). Is Yusuhara the epicenter of this trend? Yusuhara is the epicenter of this trend.

The explanation of Kengo Kuma’s architecture was written on the on-site panel display at the Mokuhashi Museum, but the expression is a bit difficult to understand.
The entire structure, which overdrives the traditional expression of “tokyo,” or “wooden structure” with its overlapping splintered timbers, is what might be called a “kumi-zukuri zukuri,” or “wooden structure,” and it exudes a sense of presence (concreteness) and abstraction that cannot be achieved with an axial structure.
If it were shown in a photograph, this photograph would be a togue. It is placed at the top of the column or above the shaft to support the eaves girder. It is true that the expression “kumi-zukuri zukuri” is appropriate and that this kind of structure gives the viewer an image different from that of a normal wooden frame structure. In a broader sense, the “tohoku” structure technique is probably best understood as one of the “kumimono” types commonly used in shrine and temple architecture.
〜By bridging various subjects such as “revitalization of local culture,” “urban design,” “erection technology,” and “materials and traditional expression,” Kuma attempted to create a new way of thinking about public architecture. 〜Kengo Kuma explains his design intent in the following postscript: “I wanted to create a new way of thinking about public architecture.

In contrast to the wooden bridge side, which looks as if the shaft of a fan rises up vertically and spreads out, the atelier gallery has a structure that looks as if the structure extends from the top of the roof to the underside. The thick timbers of the tohoku are painted white on the wall surface, showing a unique geometric pattern. The pigment, which appears to be a preservative applied to protect the cross section of the wood, seems to correspond to the wooden bridge.
The following photo is an interior view of the wooden bridge side.

Yusuhara must have thought that giving viewers this kind of “tree hugging” sensation, this kind of spatial experience, would be an important message for the region. And this message was certainly conveyed to me this time.
In Japan today, there is a growing trend toward the use of wooden structures in public buildings. Kengo Kuma’s design of the National Stadium for the Tokyo Olympics 2021 has become the talk of the town, and it may indeed be the signal for the shift to wood construction in public buildings.
The origin of this concept is contained in this kind of spatial experience.
Kochi Prefecture is a “forest kingdom” with more than 80% of its total forest area. Yusuhara, which is located on the border with Ehime Prefecture and at the headwaters of the Shimanto River, has 91% forest area.
It is in this context that Kengo Kuma’s architectural group has been adopted as a landscape design, so to speak, and is playing a role in this context.

Posted on 3月 27th, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
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〜隈研吾と梼原町を結びつけたのは、木造の芝居小屋「ゆすはら座（梼原公民館）」。大正時代に流行した和洋折衷様式の流れを汲む貴重な建物だったが、建築から約40年を経た頃、老朽化などを理由に取り壊しが検討されていた。その保存運動に関わっていた高知県在住の一級建築士・小谷匡宏さんが、交流のあった隈さんに「ぜひゆすはら座を見てほしい」と依頼。隈さんは1987年（昭和62）に梼原町を訪ねたのだという。
この正直な木組みそのままの端正な美しさとそれを成し得た技術に圧倒された隈研吾は、ゆすはら座の保存運動に力を貸すことを決意。そして、それまでに手がけてきた装飾的なモダン建築の対極にあるようなこの建物との出会いは、建築家人生の大きな転機となった。隈建築の特徴である「木」へのこだわりは、ここから始まった。〜＜昨日紹介の四国電力広報誌から要旨を引用。＞
こうした木造の大型芝居小屋建築は全国で遺っている。架構はされていない野外建築だけれど川崎の日本民家園でも残されているし、四国香川県の四国村でも保存されている。また屋根も掛けられた秋田県鹿角郡小坂町にある小坂町立の芝居小屋「康楽館」はわたしも実見した。国の重要文化財。
娯楽の少ない時代、旅回りの芝居劇団がこういった小屋で公演することは、そのまま地域の貴重な一体感を確認する装置でもあったことだろう。やがてテレビに情報と娯楽の中心が移っていくことで、こうした建築施設はその主要な機能を失っていく。
しかし隈研吾が揺り動かされたように、村人全部を包含するような大きさとその木造の力強い架構ぶりからは、地域のプライドの象徴といった側面が強く感じられる。そして木肌のゆたかな表情からは、コンクリートや鉄筋などでは感受できないイキモノ感が強く伝わってくる。モダン建築に限界を感じていた隈研吾が、時間が経過した分だけ正直にその美感を訴えてくる建築と出会ったときに、コアが揺さぶられたものがあったのでしょう。


逆にこの「ゆすはら座」のような建築が、現代都市への人口集中、合理化最優先の社会構造の中で、人びとの「心の叫び」のようにして保存運動が盛り上がることに建築家として接して、木の魅力の復元再生がむしろ現代世界の閉塞性を突破できるものと直感したとも言えるのだろうか。
わたし的にはこの四国山地のド真ん中、清流・四万十川源流域と言われる梼原がむしろそのことを、現代社会の中で最大のセールスポイントとして訴求していったことが魅力的だと思う。むしろ地域戦略としてかなりパワーのある選択だと思えるのですね。
翻って全国でいま、木造の公共建築が大きく着手されてきている。これまでのコンクリートによる集約化・巨大化追究から潮目が大きく変化してきている。ゆすはら座は、そういう潮目で大きな役割を果たしているのかも知れない。

English version⬇

The richness of Yusuharaza, a theater building in Yusuhara, Shikoku, and Kengo Kuma-2
In response to the trend of population concentration, urbanization, and depopulation of rural areas, wooden architecture is sending a message through the persona of Kengo Kuma. Yusuhara, Shikoku

〜What brought Kengo Kuma and Yusuhara together was the Yusuhara Theater (Yusuhara Community Center), a wooden playhouse. It was a valuable building in the style of the Japanese-Western fusion that was popular in the Taisho era (1912-1926), but about 40 years after its construction, it was being considered for demolition due to aging and other reasons. Masahiro Kotani, a first-class architect living in Kochi Prefecture who was involved in the preservation movement, asked Mr. Kuma, with whom he had been in contact, to take a look at the Yusuhara-za. Mr. Kuma visited Yusuhara in 1987.
Overwhelmed by the neat beauty of this honest wooden structure as it was and the technology that enabled him to achieve it, Kuma Kengo decided to help in the campaign to preserve the Yusuhara-za. His encounter with this building, which was the polar opposite of the decorative modern architecture he had been working on, was a major turning point in his life as an architect. This was the beginning of Kuma’s obsession with wood, a characteristic of his architecture. Such large wooden playhouse buildings can be found all over Japan. Although it is an open-air structure with no structure, it has been preserved at the Nippon Minka-en in Kawasaki and at Shikoku-mura in Kagawa Prefecture, Shikoku. I also visited the Korakukan, a playhouse in Kosaka-cho, Kazuno County, Akita Prefecture, which is also covered with a roof. It is a national important cultural property.
In an era when entertainment was scarce, traveling theatrical troupes would have used performances at such a hut as a device for confirming the precious sense of unity in the community. Eventually, as the center of information and entertainment shifted to television, these architectural facilities lost their primary function.
However, as Kengo Kuma was moved by the building’s size, which seemed to encompass the entire village, and its powerful wooden structure, one can strongly sense the symbolic aspect of regional pride. The rich expression of the wood surface strongly conveys a sense of “real thing” that concrete and reinforced concrete cannot convey. Kengo Kuma, who felt the limitations of modern architecture, must have been shaken to the core when he encountered an architecture that honestly expressed its sense of beauty only through the passage of time.

Conversely, as an architect, I have seen the movement for the preservation of buildings such as Yusuharaza gain momentum as if it were a cry from people’s hearts in the midst of a social structure that places the highest priority on population concentration and rationalization in modern urban areas.
I think it is fascinating that Yusuhara, which is located in the middle of the Shikoku mountainous region and the headwaters of the clear Shimanto River, has made this its biggest selling point in the modern world. I think it is a rather powerful choice as a regional strategy.
On the flip side, there is now a major push for public buildings made of wood throughout Japan. The tide is turning away from the conventional pursuit of concrete construction, which has led to intensification and gigantic buildings. Yusuhara-za may be playing a major role in this trend.

Posted on 3月 25th, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
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北海道人であるわたしが本州以南地域を旅するのにはいろいろな心理的動機があるのでしょう。東京関東圏には首都機能・人口密集地としての活力をみるし、関西圏の歴史を背景とした時間の重層性など、さまざまな「ニッポン」との出会い感がある。
そういうなかでちょっと不思議な心理に至るのが四国との出会い。就職が決まって最初に会社のみなさんと共同行動を経験した「原体験」的なことはあるけれど、その後、ほぼ数十年経過して家族旅・夫婦旅を重ねてみると、温暖地域の中でもっとも「自然豊か」ということに癒されていることがわかる。
中央構造線が四国を東西に走ることでそれに沿って山岳地域が形成される。北側の瀬戸内海地域の方が人口集積が大きい。しかし全体として人口規模がそれほどでもないことから山地には巨大な森が保存され続け、そこで蓄えられた豊かな水量が流れるとき「清流」を生み出している。その名前の印象深さから四万十川が有名だけれど、清流を教えてと高知で街の方に聞いたら「仁淀川」と即座に答えられた。
さらにその清流には「沈下橋」という聞き慣れない橋が架けられているという。「なにそれ」であります（笑）。字の通りに考えると水の下に消えてしまう橋。そんなの橋の用を足さないではないか、という素朴な疑問。ということで探索に向かった次第。それが写真のような状況であります。
沈下橋は低水路・低水敷と呼ばれる普段水が流れているところだけに架橋され、また床板も河川敷・高水敷の土地と同じ程度の高さとなっていて、低水位の状態では橋として使えるものの増水時には水面下に沈んでしまう橋のこと。河川行政的には「潜水橋」という。写真のこちらは名越屋沈下橋という橋。
背景としての清流は奇跡の清流と呼ばれる仁淀川。国土交通省による水質調査結果で何度も「水質日本一」に選定。透明度が高いため水面と川底が青く輝く「仁淀ブルー」の愛称でも親しまれている。


わたしはさすがにチャレンジしませんでしたが、この橋をクルマで通行する人もいた。歩道と車道の区別も特段なく、速度はひとの歩く速度に自然と合わせられているように感じる。そういうのがまた、いかにも独特の雰囲気を醸し出してくれる。あとで調べたら、北海道内でもいくつかこの沈下橋はあるのだそうです。
どうもひたすら高速道路に合わせた時間感覚の中でわたしたちは日常生活を送っている。そういうことにこれら清流や沈下橋は、「まぁちょっと待てや」と言ってくれているように感じられた。

English version⬇

Niyodo River, a clear stream in Shikoku, and a “submerged bridge.
A submerged bridge that hides in the water flow when the water level rises. Symbiosis with the abundant water volume rivers of the Shikoku mountainous region. I feel that human society has a mindset of obedience to nature. …

As a Hokkaido-native, there are probably a variety of psychological motivations for me to travel to areas south of Honshu. In the Tokyo-Kanto area, I see the vitality of the capital city and its dense population, and in the Kansai area, I feel a sense of encounter with various aspects of “Japan,” such as the multilayered nature of time against the backdrop of its history.
In this context, the encounter with Shikoku is a little strange. Although I had the “original experience” of working together with everyone at my company when I first started my career, after about half a century has passed and I have traveled with my family and as a couple, I find that I am most comforted by the “richness of nature” in the warmer regions.
The Median Tectonic Line runs east to west across Shikoku, forming a mountainous region along it. The Seto Inland Sea region to the north has a larger population concentration. However, because the overall population size is not so large, huge forests continue to be preserved in the mountainous areas, and the abundant amount of water stored there produces “clear streams” when they flow. The Shimanto River is famous for its impressive name, but when I asked a person in Kochi to tell me which clear stream he was referring to, he immediately replied, “The Niyodo River.
He also told me that there is an unfamiliar bridge called a “sunken bridge” across the clear stream. What is that? If you think of it literally, it is a bridge that disappears under the water. (Laughs.) A simple question: “Wouldn’t such a bridge serve no purpose? That is why we set out to search for it. The situation is as shown in the photo.
A submerged bridge is a bridge that is constructed only where water normally flows, called a low waterway or low water bed, and the floor plate is the same height as the land of the riverbed or high water bed, so that it can be used as a bridge when the water level is low but sinks below the water surface when the water level rises. In river administration terms, it is called a “submerged bridge. This one in the photo is called the Nagoshiya Submerged Bridge.
The clear stream in the background is the Niyodo River, which is called a miraculous clear stream. It has been repeatedly selected as the “best water quality river in Japan” according to the results of water quality surveys conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The river is also known by the nickname “Niyodo Blue” because of its high transparency, which makes the surface and bottom of the river glow blue.

I did not challenge the bridge, but there were some people who drove their cars over the bridge. There is no particular distinction between sidewalks and roadways, and the speed of traffic seems to naturally match the speed of people walking. This also creates a unique atmosphere. I found out later that there are several sunken bridges like this in Hokkaido.
I think that we are living our daily lives with a sense of time that is constantly adapted to the expressway. I felt as if these clear streams and sunken bridges were telling us to “wait a minute.

Posted on 3月 23rd, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
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遣唐使という先進文化移植が日本国家の喫緊の課題だった時代。日本国家として世界での地位を確立していくためには、大陸中国国家から先進の技術や文化の導入が不可欠だったことでしょう。
建築では最新の仏教寺院建築が聖徳太子によって四天王寺や飛鳥寺、そして法隆寺など建立されていった。現代にまで朝鮮半島からの大工技術集団、日本最古の工務店・金剛組というカタチで生き残って存続している。仏教という宗教建築の仕様詳細が技術伝達され、在来の木造技術とフュージョンが巻き起こった。畿内地域でのこの先進技術が全国各地に「国分寺・国分尼寺」建設事業として推進され全国隅々まで重層的に技術文化拡散していった。
そういうなかで平安初期・大同元年（806）帰朝した遣唐使最大の「成功者」空海は未曾有の存在。当時の最先端仏教宗派、長安の青龍寺で師匠・恵果和尚から密教のコア秘法を習得し授かって「真言第八祖」となって帰朝した。そのことに日本社会は大きくどよめいたのだと思う。天才的な語学力と人間力で世界の文化中心のコアを鷲づかみして帰ってきたということだったのだろう。
現代でアナロジーするとすれば野球文化での大谷翔平君がいちばん似つかわしい。野球文化の最先端・大リーグを揺り動かすコアが日本人から生まれたという感覚。そういう存在が平安初期、国を挙げて文化導入に取り組んできた仏教界での空海という存在だったのではないか。


国を挙げてこの空海さんの快挙に対してそれを寿ぎ、賛同する空気が充満したのだろう。天皇もそのムーブメントを称揚し、中央政治も追随した。
当然、かれの出身地域・四国でも盛大なブームが起こり、いまに至る「八十八箇所」という文化が生成した。そういうなかで空海自身の体験、多少バイアスのかかった認知が、むしろ地域としては大きなアナウンス材料に変換されていったのではないか。
この青龍寺奥の院には空海が長安で投げた独鈷杵（とっこしょ）がこの地まで飛来したという伝承が伝わる。空海自身に放り投げ記憶があり「この思い、故郷に届け」というこころの叫びがこの地でフラッシュバックして、それが実際の風景に刻印された。青龍寺奥の院の崖地の老松に独鈷杵が「見えた」と感受したのでしょうか。本殿建築の奥の断崖から太平洋を見れば、樹間から朝日が昇っていくときの「キラキラ」がそのような体験を想起させることは自然にあり得るでしょう。
地元の人びとにとってはこういう空海さんの心中での「フラッシュバック」は恰好の「縁起」として説得力を持って受け入れられたことだろう。宗教が科学的認知に優先する時代であれば、理解できると思う。

English version⬇

Is Kukai the Shohei Otani of Heian Buddhism? Seiryu-ji Temple, the Inner Sanctuary of Seiryu-ji Temple-2
Ancient Japan was full of eagerness to introduce cutting-edge technology and culture. Kukai, a very successful man who appeared at the place where he studied abroad. This is a flashback. …

This was a time when the urgent task of the Japanese nation was to transplant advanced culture in the form of Japanese envoys to the Tang Dynasty. In order for Japan to establish its position in the world, the introduction of advanced technology and culture from mainland China would have been essential.
In architecture, the latest Buddhist temple buildings were erected by Prince Shotoku, including Shitennoji Temple, Asukadera Temple, and Horyuji Temple. Even to the present day, a group of carpenters from the Korean peninsula, the oldest construction company in Japan, survived and continues to exist in the form of the Kongo-gumi. The details of the specifications of the religious architecture of Buddhism were transmitted, and fusion with native wooden construction techniques took place. This advanced technology in the Kinai region was promoted throughout Japan in the construction of Kokubunji and Kokubun nunnery temples, and the technology and culture spread in layers to every corner of the country.
In this context, Kukai, the most “successful” Japanese envoy to the Tang Dynasty, who returned to Japan in 806, the first year of the Daido Period in the early Heian period, was an unprecedented figure. He returned to Japan as the “Eighth Patriarch of Shingon,” having learned and received the core secrets of esoteric Buddhism from his master, monk Keika, at Seiryuji Temple in Chang’an, the most advanced Buddhist sect at that time. I believe that Japanese society was greatly moved by this fact. He must have returned home with the core of the world’s cultural center in his prodigious linguistic and human skills.
If we were to make an analogy today, Shohei Otani would be the most appropriate person to represent baseball culture. The core of the baseball culture, the core that shakes the big leagues, is born from a Japanese person. In the early Heian period, Kukai, a Buddhist monk, was probably the one who was involved in the national effort to introduce Buddhism to Japan.

The whole country must have celebrated Kukai’s accomplishment, and an atmosphere of approval must have filled the air. The emperor also praised the movement, and the central government followed suit.
Naturally, Shikoku, Kukai’s birthplace, also experienced a great boom, giving rise to the culture of “88 temples” that has continued to this day. In this context, Kukai’s own experience and somewhat biased perception may have been converted into a major publicity material for the region.
The legend tells that the Tokkosho, or pestle, that Kukai threw in Chang’an flew to this place in the inner sanctuary of Seiryu-ji Temple. Kukai himself had a memory of throwing the pestle, and the cry of his heart, “Deliver this thought to my hometown,” flashed back to him here, and it was imprinted on the actual landscape. He may have “seen” the Tokko pestle in an old pine tree on the cliff at the inner sanctuary of Seiryu-ji Temple. If you look at the Pacific Ocean from the cliff behind the main temple building, it is natural that the “sparkle” of the morning sun as it rises through the trees would evoke such an experience.
For the local people, this kind of “flashback” in Kukai’s mind would have been convincingly accepted as a fitting “omen. In an age when religion takes precedence over scientific cognition, this would be understandable.

Posted on 3月 21st, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 日本社会・文化研究 | No Comments »

「ええーっ、イタドリ、土佐の人みんな食べるの？」「え、美味しいしょ」「へーっ、そんなら北海道から無尽蔵に送るよ、航空便ですぐに満載だわ。」「ほー、さすが北海道。でもホント食べないんだ？」
まさにところ変われば、であります。上の写真はWEB上にあった高知でのイタドリ食紹介からピンナップしてみた。基本的には北海道でのアスパラとよく似た食べ方で、油炒めなどに使うようですが、嵌め込み写真のように高知の地元食「田舎寿司」ネタとしても食されている。３枚目の写真はわたし撮影の札幌での自生の様子。
２番目の写真は売られていた魚抜きの「田舎寿司」。みょうがやコンニャクなどが定番で、野菜としてイタドリも使われるそうです。写真の緑のものはイタドリではなく「りゅうきゅう」のようでした。これはサトイモ科の野菜で茎部分をたべるのだそうです。これはこれで北海道では見たことない。

イタドリは上の分布図のように東アジア地域の在来種野草。明治初期に来日したイギリス人が持ち帰って栽培したところ、瞬く間に繁茂してしまって嫌われ野草の代表格になったと言われる。わたしのブログでも過去に「イギリスでは以前の女性首相が政敵世論から攻撃されるとき「イタドリ」と蔑称されていたというほどの嫌われぶり。まぁあのときは、支持率が下がっているのにしぶとく居座っている、その様子に対して、嫌われ者のイタドリがアナロジーされていた」と書きました。
そのイタドリですが、南国土佐では地域のソウルフードなのだと高知市内の休日市場で初めて知った（！）。と言っても実際の売られている姿はお目にかかれなかった。すぐ「売り切れ」とのこと。高知とはいえ１月だったので出荷が多くはなかったのでしょう。で、売り子の女性に情報を聞かせてもらった次第。


イタドリって言われて、それが野草だと気付けるのはそこそこ自然豊かな地域の住民に限られると思います。関東とか関西圏とかの人口密集地域では、ほとんどまったく目にすることがないでしょう。札幌の都会っ子育ちが素性であるわたしも高齢化して早朝散歩が習慣化してから、はじめてそれが厄介な野草で、札幌に大量に自生していることを知った。
イタドリっていう名前の由来は「痛みを取る」というもので、漢方的な民間療法の一種として利用されてきたということも知識を得た。しかしその生命力・繁殖力はハンパなく、道路管理者のみなさんは苦労されている様子を日頃から見ています。
高知県地元の食生活の一端を知ることができて、この青空市場、たいへん勉強になった次第。ますます高知大好きになっていく・・・。

English version⬇

What? That “Japanese knotweed” is soul food in Tosa, Tropical Japan
Tosa, a southern island of Japan, has been vigorously eating Japanese knotweed, which is synonymous with annoying wildflowers. We would like to send it from Hokkaido to Kochi as a representative product to deepen friendly exchanges between the regions (laughs). …

“Wow, do people in Tosa eat itadori?” “Yes, it’s delicious!” “Well, if that’s the case, we’ll send an inexhaustible supply from Hokkaido. If so, I’ll send you an inexhaustible supply of itadori from Hokkaido. “Wow, that’s Hokkaido. But you really don’t eat it?
It is true that things change from place to place. The photo above was taken from a web page that introduced itadori (Japanese bitter melon) in Kochi. Basically, it is eaten in a similar way to asparagus in Hokkaido, and is used for frying in oil, etc. However, as shown in the photo above, it is also eaten as a local dish in Kochi called “inaka-zushi” (country-style sushi).
The second photo shows “inaka-zushi” without fish. Myoga (myoga) and konnyaku (konjak) are the standard ingredients, and itadori (bitter gourd) is also used as a vegetable. The green one in the photo is not itadori but “ryukyu,” a vegetable of the taro family. This vegetable belongs to the taro family, and the stem part is eaten. I have never seen this kind of vegetable in Hokkaido.

Japanese knotweed is a native wildflower of East Asia, as shown in the illustration. It is said that when an Englishman who came to Japan in the early Meiji period (1868-1912) brought it back to Japan and cultivated it, it quickly flourished and became a representative of the hated wildflowers. In my blog, I have written in the past, “In England, when a female prime minister was attacked by her political rivals, she was derogatorily called ‘itadori’ (Japanese knotweed), which is so detestable. Well, at that time, I wrote that the hated weasel was analogized to the way she stubbornly stayed in office despite her declining approval rating.
I learned for the first time at a holiday market in Kochi City that itadori is a local soul food in Tosa, a southern island of Japan (!). I was surprised to find out that itadori is a local food in Tosa, a southern country. However, I did not see it actually being sold. I was told that they were sold out immediately. Even though it was in Kochi, it was January, so there must not have been many shipments. So, I asked the woman selling them to give me some information.

I think that only residents in areas with abundant nature would recognize it as a wildflower when told that it is a Japanese knotweed. In densely populated areas such as the Kanto and Kansai regions, you will hardly see it at all. I, who grew up as a city kid in Sapporo, learned that it was a troublesome wild plant and that it grows wild in large quantities in Sapporo only after I became a habitual early morning walker in my old age.
The name “itadori” comes from the Japanese word “itadori” meaning “to take away pain,” and I learned that it has been used as a kind of folk medicine in Chinese medicine. However, its vitality and reproductive power are not strong, and I have seen road administrators struggling with it on a daily basis.
I learned a lot from this open-air market, and I learned a lot about the dietary habits of the common people. I am becoming more and more fond of Kochi.

Posted on 3月 19th, 2023 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: おとこの料理＆食 | No Comments »