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【木目の美感に誘われて〜木組み篇】


 このブログでは、だいたい連載型テーマものがひとつの「路線」なんですが、どうも最近たくさんの執筆作業が重なっていて、ブログでまでそういうテーマものに取り組むと、完全にキャパオーバー。
 住宅写真はそれこそ全国各地に探訪しているので山ほどあるのですが、そういった「出力」面での圧力があって、どうも単発的なテーマになってきています。
 なんですが、きのうも書いたように段々と「空間の好み」のようなものが絞り込まれてきているようで、木質の木肌、その表情に深く癒されるようになってきている。象徴的には日常もっとも触れる「家具」などがその対象になるのですが、写真のような「木組み」がある断面でお互いが出会ったような雰囲気に接すると、その新鮮さに驚かされる。
 いろいろな構造材が偶然、ある建築の接点で出会って、お互いの素肌の表情が露わになっている。
 この写真はある木造住宅の吹き抜けに面した部屋中央部での木組みの様子。工事中。
 現場で工務店の方に「この梁材の断面、切り落とし方が上の方がやや幅広で、下の方がやや狭い断面になっているのは、どういう根拠なんですか?」と聞いた。
 答えは「たぶん、木組みの大工さんの現場的な感覚の世界なのではないか」とのこと。
 おお、であります。
 タテに直角に切り落とすのであれば、あんまり考える必要がないけれど、こういう風に意識的な断面にするということで、より「木肌」「木目」にひとの意識は向かっていくのではないか。
 作り手側の大工さんとしては、ちょっとした断面のアクセントをつけることで、「なんでだろう」という日常的な「木との対話」を仕掛けているように思われた。
 家の使い手としては、ほんの一断面だけれど正直に切り口を見せている木組みに、どうしても意識が向かっていくものではないだろうか。そして大黒柱の木肌と、この梁材の木肌・木目が一種のハーモニーになって、木の家の楽しみ方を伝えてくれているように思う。
 この家で住み暮らす長い時間の中で、こんなふうに木と対話し続けているというのは、絶対に「飽きない」のではないだろうか。なぜなら、その木肌・木目とも自然そのものの表出なのだから。
 家の真ん中にこういう「仕掛け」がある家、いいなぁと思っていた。

English version⬇

The beauty of the wood grain invites us to join the woodwork.
The junction point between the Daikobashira (main pillar) and the large beam timber. The way the beams are cut down shows a chance encounter between the honest grain and bark of each piece of wood. A way to set up a “dialogue” with the wood.

In this blog, a serialized theme is usually one of the “lines”, but recently I have been working on a lot of writing projects, and if I try to work on such a theme on the blog, it will completely overload my capacity.
 I have a lot of photos of houses that I have visited all over the country, but due to the pressure of such “output,” it has become a one-shot theme.
 However, as I wrote yesterday, my “taste for space” seems to be gradually narrowing down, and I am becoming more and more deeply healed by the bark of wood and its expression. Symbolically, “furniture,” etc., which we touch the most in our daily lives, are such objects, but when we come in contact with an atmosphere in which “wooden structures” like the one in the photo seem to have met each other in a certain cross-section, we are surprised at how fresh they are.
 Various structural materials meet by chance at a certain architectural contact point, exposing each other’s bare expressions.
 This photo shows the woodwork in the center of a room facing the stairwell of a wooden house. Under construction.
 I asked a construction worker on site, “What is the rationale for the slightly wider cross section of this beam material at the top and the slightly narrower cross section at the bottom?” I asked.
 The answer was, “Perhaps it is the world of the on-site sense of the carpenter of wood framing.
 Oh, yes.
 If the wood is cut off vertically at right angles, there is no need to think much about it, but by making a conscious cross-section like this, people’s attention will be drawn more to the “bark” and “grain” of the wood.
 For the carpenters on the production side, it seemed to me that by accentuating the cross section a little, they set up an everyday “dialogue with the wood” that makes us wonder “why?
 As a user of the house, I think that one’s attention is inevitably drawn to the woodwork, which shows an honest cut, even if it is only a small section. The wood surface of the Daikoku-bashira (main pillar) and the wood surface and grain of the beams create a kind of harmony that conveys the enjoyment of a wooden house.
 I am sure that the owner will never get tired of the dialogue with the wood over the long time he lives in this house. This is because the bark and grain of the wood are the expression of nature itself.
 I thought it would be nice to have a house with this kind of “device” in the middle of the house.

【高速道路パーキングの長大な木の長椅子】


 わが家には芦別の木工場に自然乾燥させられていたナラ無垢材から長い時間を掛けて造作してもらったテーブルがある。わが家にその木が来てからもう25年以上経過している。四半世紀。
 はじめはとにかく「暴れ者」で参っていた。一応、切りだしてから数年間はその木工場で自然乾燥されていたので、ある程度は「ねじれ」「反り」などは緩和されているものと思っていた。そして軽く200kgくらいはあるので5人がかりで家の中に搬入した。
 そこから数年間、ブロックの足をかませて「その家の空気に馴染ませて乾燥させる」という忠告通りにしていたのだけれど、材の各所からねじれ・反りが大暴走していた。それがようやく一段落した頃にようやくテーブル家具として「仕上げて」もらったけれど、なかなか素直にはなってくれなかった。
 いまも多少「いびつ」な部分も遺しながら、壁のブロックや外壁の煉瓦などとともに、わが家の空気感の重要部分を担ってくれている。居間にたどりついたとき、その木目や質感が「おう、よく帰ってきたな」みたいな様子で、馴染ませてくれる。
 そんなことで外を歩いているときにも、木の表情を見せている家具類にはちょっと深入りするような心理が働いて、じっと様子を観察していたりする。もちろんわが家のテーブルのように自己主張は強くなく、それなりに「馴致」されている様子が伝わってくるけれど、やはり木の本然として「生きている」という様子は伝わってくる。
 こちらの写真のベンチは、表情についてはその木目をごらんください、ということで機能性一択に特化して足も確認することができなかった。たぶん背面の木部に対して金物接続させているのだろうが、人間と木目だけの「対話の仕掛け」として好もしかった。
 毎日、木目と話しているタイプの人間としては、共感が湧いてくるのだ。
 「まぁちょっと、坐っていけや」「ああ、でも道を急ぐし」「安全運転には休養第一だぞ」
 みたいな会話を勝手に脳内で通わせている。結局数分間、木目に抱かれている。スマホチェックの一時だけれど、句読点にはなってくれる。ありがとよ、と別れるけれど、家に戻ってくるとそういう写真に強く惹かれている自分を再発見する。

English version⬇

A long wooden couch in a highway parking lot.
Wooden furniture has a psychological “dialogue” with the user. The wooden furniture relaxes the mind when it says, “Well, sit down,” or “But I’m in a bit of a hurry. It also interacts with a photograph. The photograph also interacts with it.

We have a table in our house, which was built over a long period of time from solid oak that was left to dry naturally at a woodworking shop in Ashibetsu. It has been more than 25 years since the wood came to our house. A quarter of a century.
 In the beginning, it was a “rambunctious” tree. I thought that the wood had been dried naturally for a few years after it was cut, so I thought that the “twisting” and “warping” had been mitigated to some extent. And since it weighed about 200 kg lightly, it took five people to carry it into the house.
 For a few years, we followed the advice to let the wood air-dry in the house by putting block feet over it, but the twisting and warping was rampant from all parts of the timber. When that finally came to an end, I finally had it “finished” as table furniture, but it didn’t quite straighten out.
 Even now, it still retains some “distorted” parts, but together with the blocks on the walls and the bricks on the exterior walls, it plays an important part in the atmosphere of our house. When you arrive at the living room, the grain and texture of the wood make you feel at home, as if to say, “Hey, you’ve come home.
 When I am walking around outside, I tend to look closely at the furniture that shows the expression of wood, and I feel as if I am getting a little bit deeper into it. Of course, it is not as assertive as the table in my home, and you can tell that it has “adjusted” to its surroundings in its own way, but you can still feel that the wood is “alive” in its own right.
 As for the bench in the photo here, I could not check the legs because I was focused on the functionality of the bench, so please look at the grain of the wood. The bench is probably connected to the wood on the back with metal hardware, but I liked it as a “device for dialogue” between human beings and the grain of the wood.
 As someone who talks with the grain of the wood every day, I felt a sense of empathy.
 I could hear conversations like, “Well, you should sit down for a while,” “Yeah, but I’m in a hurry,” or “You need to rest first for safe driving.
 I let my brain go through conversations like these on its own. In the end, I am held by the grain of the tree for a few minutes. It’s just a moment to check my phone, but it serves as a punctuation mark. I say, “Thanks,” and we part ways, but when I return home, I rediscover that I am strongly attracted to such pictures.

 

【おお、札幌円山で赤いハナミズキかなぁ?】


 昨日、ある方からの「住宅についての相談」を伺っていて同道した札幌市中央区のある一角。ほぼ自然状態が放置されていたなかに一本の見覚えのある花の姿。北海道では「ヤマボウシ」という名前の方が一般的で、それも花が白いほうが圧倒的なのですが、本州、つくば市の国の住宅研究所「国総研」を訪問した際に、その玄関前に満開の赤いはなびらを見せてくれていて「これがウワサに聞くハナミズキか」と聞いたところ、そんなの当たり前じゃないか、みたいな表情で上の空の返答をいただいた樹種。
 わたしの個人的な体験で言うと、北海道ではこうしたピンクの花びらの花はほとんど見たことがなかった。本州地域のみなさんからは、なかば「置いて行かれる」花常識の世界。
 でも、そういうのにも最近は開き直ってきている。「いいじゃないか、なんと言おうとハナミズキは北海道人には他界の花だ」と。
 有名な歌も、北海道では体感しようもない架空現実の世界のようだった。
 北海道の「夏場」は一気に全部の植生が一斉に百花繚乱するので、いちいちの個別種には気がつかないとも言えるし、そもそも本州とは「季語」自体に共通性があまりない。
 花鳥風月についての会話には、北海道人はただ、ニコニコとスルーさせていただくしかない。内心はそういう小さな世界での「決まり事」みたいな決めつけは遠慮したいと思っているけれど、さりとて日本人であり、共通理解を妨げるのも申し訳ない。そういうときは沈黙一択なのですね。
 でもこうしてほぼ自然状態の中で、自立的に花開いている様子を見ると、うれしい。
 やっと北海道でも季語がやや遅れてとはいえ、同期できることがうれしい。なんかいじましいけど(笑)。ということで本日はややひがみも感じられる樹木の話題でした。狭い心、もうすこし拡張させていきたいと肝に銘じております。

English version⬇

[Oh, is that a red dogwood in Maruyama, Sapporo?
In the midst of various activities, I encountered a tree at a site where I was responding to a housing consultation brought to me. In the history of personal encounters with trees, I was reunited with a distinctive one. …….

Yesterday, I visited a corner of Chuo Ward, Sapporo City, where I was visiting to consult with a client about housing. In the midst of the almost natural state of the flowers, I saw a familiar flower. When I visited the National Institute of Housing Research in Tsukuba City, Honshu, the red petals were in full bloom in front of the entrance of the institute. When I asked him if this was the dogwood that I had heard so much about, he replied with a blank expression on his face, “Of course it is.
 From my personal experience, I have rarely seen such pink petals in Hokkaido. It is a world of common knowledge that people in the Honshu area are “left behind” in terms of flowers.
 However, I have recently become more open to such things. I don’t care what they say, the dogwood is a flower of other worlds to the people of Hokkaido.
 Even the famous song seemed to be an imaginary reality that we cannot experience in Hokkaido.
 In Hokkaido, all the vegetation blooms at once in the summer, so it can be said that we do not notice each individual species, and in the first place, “seasonal words” themselves have little in common with those of Honshu.
 Hokkaido people can only smile and let the conversation about “Kacho Fu Fugetsu” pass them by. Deep down inside, I would like to refrain from making such “rules” in our small world, but I am Japanese, and I am sorry to interfere with our common understanding. In such a case, silence is the only choice.
 However, I am happy to see the independent flowering in this way, almost in a natural state.
 I am glad that we can finally synchronize the seasonal words in Hokkaido, albeit a little late. It’s kind of a tease, though (laughs). So, today’s topic was about trees, which I feel a bit cynical about. I am determined to expand my narrow mind a little more.
 

【やっぱり好きです、高鴨神社】



 先日の関西〜信州飯田往復の旅の最終日、結局、帰りは奈良県の橿原に宿泊して前述のように「重要伝統的建造物群保存地区」のなかの旅宿で体を休めていた。
 翌日、札幌に帰還するのだけれど、レンタカー道中でもあり、やはり大和盆地のなかでいまや「郷愁」を感じている飛鳥大仏と、もう1箇所、高鴨神社に詣でることにした。明日香から適当にクルマを走らせていたら、途中からはなにかが導いてくれているように、よんどころなく高鴨神社に到着することが出来た。きっと数寄のこころが体内で喜び勇んで、こここっち、そこはこっちとわたしのハンドル捌きを教習してくれているかのようだった(笑)。
たぶんはじめて訪れてからは4度目くらいの訪問・参詣。
以下は、神域手前に建てられた案内掲示からの要旨。
〜当神社は全国鴨(加茂)社の総本宮で弥生中期より祭祀を行う日本最古の神社の一つです。
主祭神
阿遅志貴高日子根命
(迦毛之大御神)
事代主命
阿治須岐速雄命
下照姫命・天稚彦命〜
 さらに「当地は少なくとも縄文晩期より集落が形成され祭祀が行われていたことが近年の考古学調査であきらかになっております。」という記述。北海道からの遠来の人間としては、やや気の遠くなる「縁起譚」であります。
 人間は自分の知らないことで、そして強く惹かれることにこだわりを持つ存在。
 そういう意味ではこの高鴨の神さまは、とても敵わない深遠さでこころを満たされてしまう。そういう圧倒されることが、心地よく感じてしまう。
 いつも訪れると、地図の左下側の駐車場に駐めて、池越しに社殿を拝ませていただく。
 この地は葛城山の中腹のような位置関係で、比較的高地であるのに、このような水面越の景観が見られるのです。
はるかな古代、この水が周辺の田んぼに水を供給して人びとのいのちを支えていたのではないか。その後、稲作の統率者として神武以降の王権が成立して、やがて水田は川の流域で行った方が、列島の地形的に合理的であり、その方が圧倒的な「人口増殖」に効率的だった。
 この「鴨」の一族もやがてそうした盆地の河川流域に本拠を移して発展していって、たくさんの「鴨」社が全国に広がっていくことになる。
 ただ、このような高地で奇跡的な水辺が現出したことが、さまざまな「霊力」の源泉とされ、「気」がこの地に満ちていたように、古代の人びとは強く感じていたことだろう。水面に日が当たって複雑な乱反射を見せているのですが、そのなかには地中の鉱物が働いている部分もあるとされている。
 神武帝の足跡の時期の「歴史」の重要地域であることは間違いがない。
 これからも折に触れて、神妙にお伺いしたいと思っております。合掌。

English version⬇

I still love Takagamo Shrine.
The shrine is located in the middle of Mt. Katsuragi in the Yamato Basin and is a soulful experience every time I go there. I’m a lost lamb, but I’m honest enough (laughs) to ask for your help. I am a lost lamb, but I am honest (laugh) there, so please do not hesitate to contact me.

On the last day of my recent trip from Kansai to Iida, Shinshu, I stayed in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, and rested at an inn in the “Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings,” as mentioned above.
 The next day, I was returning to Sapporo, but as I was on my way to rent a car, I decided to pay a visit to the Asuka Great Buddha and another Takagamo Shrine in the Yamato Basin, where I was feeling nostalgic now. Driving from Asuka to Takagamo-jinja Shrine, I arrived there without any trouble as if something was guiding me along the way. It was as if Sukiyoko’s heart was joyfully instructing me on how to drive here, there, and there (laugh).
This was probably my fourth visit to the shrine since my first visit.
The following is the gist of the information posted in front of the shrine.
〜This shrine is the head shrine of Kamo shrines throughout Japan, and is one of the oldest shrines in Japan, with rituals conducted since the middle of the Yayoi period.
Main Deity
Atashiki Takahikone-no-Mikoto
(Shakamo no Mikami)
Kotoshironomikoto
Kotoshironushi no Mikoto
Shimoteruhime-no-Mikoto and Amatsukihiko-no-Mikoto
 Furthermore, “Recent archaeological research has revealed that villages were established and rituals were performed in this area at least as early as the late Jomon period. This is a description of a distant visitor from Hokkaido. As a person from Hokkaido, this is a rather sobering “tale of karma.
 Human beings are obsessed with what they do not know and are strongly attracted to.
 In that sense, this Takagamo no Kami-sama fills my heart with a profundity that is very hard to compete with. I find it comforting to be overwhelmed in this way.
 Whenever I visit, I park in the parking lot on the lower left side of the map and look over the pond to see the shrine.
 The location of this site is like the middle of Mt. Katsuragi, and even though it is at a relatively high altitude, such a view over the water can be seen.
In far ancient times, this water must have supplied water to the surrounding rice fields and supported the lives of people. Later, the kingship after Jinmu was established as the leader of rice cultivation, and eventually it was more reasonable for the topography of the archipelago to have paddy fields in the river basin, which was more efficient for overwhelming “population growth”.
 The “Kamo” clan eventually shifted their headquarters to such basin river valleys and developed, and many “Kamo” companies spread throughout the country.
 However, the miraculous appearance of the waterside at such a high altitude must have been strongly felt by the ancient people as a source of various “spiritual powers” and as if the land was filled with “chi” (energy). The sun shines on the surface of the water and shows complex diffuse reflections, some of which are believed to be areas where minerals in the ground are at work.
 There is no doubt that this is an important area of “history” during the period of the footsteps of Emperor Jinmu.
 I hope to continue to visit the Shinmu from time to time. Gassho.

 

【北海道の自然美と日本的「作庭」美】


 写真はきのう久しぶりにちょっとだけの「散歩」をしたら、さっそく路傍から目を楽しませてくれたルピナス(昇り藤)。この花は北海道自生の品種ではなく明治以降の開拓の過程で、ヨーロッパから導入された花。っていうか、それが目的ではなく付随的に入ってきたとされる。どんなところにも咲く、旺盛な繁殖力で知られて、北海道から本州地域にも広がっているとされる。
 こういう品種の扱い方というのは「園芸」の世界とか「作庭・造園」など管理された美感の世界からは、いわば邪魔者扱いされるのではないか。一方ではわたしのような北海道ネイティブの人間からすると、こういった「野の美感」の代表のような存在で、ちょうどすべての草花が一斉に咲きほころび始める北海道らしい春を代表するようなものと受け止めている。
 で、日本庭園美の様式的「作庭」という文化からは、いちばん遠い「北の自然美」にも通じているかなぁと改めて目を見張らされた。
 健康面でのアラートがいろいろ出てきて、思うように散歩に行けないのだけれど、わたしの場合、家のまわりに庭をつくって緑を楽しむというよりも、ちょっと散歩に出掛ければ、明治期にアメリカ人都市計画家たちが北海道らしい自然をそのままに保存させてくれた円山公園緑地などが、広大に広がっていて、そこでアイヌの人たちのソウルフードをその球根部分に生成させる「オオウバユリ」の発芽からみごとな開花までを毎年のように楽しんでいる。イキモノとしてその生成変容していく様子は、まことに植物の「叙事詩」をリアルタイムで感応させてくれるのだ。
 さらにこのようなルピナスはまことにゲリラ的にあらゆる路傍に突然出現して、美を主張している。
 そういう自然との対話をしている人間からすれば、いかにも審美眼の極地のような造園・作庭に極限的価値感を求めたいという心理・気分にはなれない。
 そういう美感世界を否定はしないし、それはそれで素晴らしいと思うけれど、さりとて、やはり必死に北海道の自然の野の中で、いのちをつないでいるその美を祝福したくなるのが人情。
 ルピナスはこの地に来て以来、たとえば道東のオホーツク人遺跡という鄙の地でも、路傍を彩っている。このようなあるがままの自然の美が、ちょっと目を転じたらあらゆる場所で生き延びているのが北海道なのだと思う。だから塀で囲って「自分だけの」鑑賞世界に閉じ込めて究極の美を誇る、というような作庭の「匠」技のようなものに同意しにくいのかも知れない。
 一昨日も北海道的な自然林と対話するような外部環境を整えている事例を見ていた。そういう「作庭」としては自然なままの植生を受け入れて、枝の下の方を払って眺望性を確保したり、自然のままの芝のなかに徐々に生成される苔を丹念に保護したりというような「作庭」をされていた。
 納得と同意の気分を強く持っていた。

English version⬇

The Natural Beauty of Hokkaido and the Beauty of Japanese “Sakutei” Gardens
A continuation of the garden culture theory. It is not “bloom in the field, evening primrose,” but a variety of species are blooming in Hokkaido. The intensity of life and self-assertion of this natural beauty is intoxicating. The garden is a place of beauty and beauty.

The photo is of a lupine (Ascending Wisteria) that immediately delighted my eyes from the roadside when I took a short “walk” for the first time in a while yesterday. This flower is not native to Hokkaido, but was introduced from Europe in the process of cultivation after the Meiji period. It is said to have been introduced incidentally, rather than for that purpose. Known for its vigorous fertility, which allows it to bloom anywhere, it is said to have spread from Hokkaido to the Honshu region.
 This kind of treatment is considered an obstacle in the world of “horticulture,” “gardening,” and “landscaping,” where the beauty of the plants is controlled. On the other hand, to a native of Hokkaido like myself, they are representative of the “beauty of the wild,” and I see them as representing the spring season in Hokkaido, when all the plants and flowers begin to bloom and bloom at once.
 I was struck once again by the fact that the stylistic “Sakutei” culture of Japanese garden beauty is also connected to the “natural beauty of the north,” which is the furthest thing from the culture of Japanese garden beauty.
 I have a number of health alerts that prevent me from going for walks as much as I would like, but in my case, rather than creating a garden around my house to enjoy the greenery, I just go for a short walk and find the Maruyama Park green space, where American urban planners in the Meiji period preserved the natural beauty that is typical of Hokkaido, There, I enjoy watching the “Oubayuri,” which produces the bulbous part of the Ainu people’s soul food, from germination to beautiful blooming, as I do every year. The way the plant is formed and transformed as an inanimate object is truly an “epic poem” of plants in real time.
 In addition, lupines like this one appear suddenly and guerrilla-like on every roadside, asserting their beauty.
 For those of us who interact with nature in this way, it is impossible for us to feel the urge to seek extreme values in landscaping and gardens that seem to be the ultimate in aesthetics.
 I do not deny the beauty of such a world, and I think it is wonderful in its own way, but I still want to celebrate the beauty that is desperately holding on to life in the wilds of nature in Hokkaido.
 Since its arrival here, lupine has been gracing the roadsides of remote Okhotsk sites in the east of Hokkaido, for example. I believe that this kind of natural beauty survives in Hokkaido in all kinds of places. Perhaps that is why it is difficult to agree with the “artisanal” techniques of garden design, such as enclosing the garden with a fence and confining it to one’s own “private” world of appreciation and pride in its ultimate beauty.
 The day before yesterday, I was looking at an example of an external environment that interacts with a natural forest in a Hokkaido-like setting. In this kind of “garden design,” they accepted the vegetation in its natural state, removed the lower part of the branches to secure the view, and carefully protected the moss that gradually formed in the natural grass.
 I was in a strong mood of acceptance and agreement.

 
 

【大阪-長野県飯田の往復クルマ移動 ふ〜っ】


 寄る年波のさなか、大阪市中央公会堂周辺から、一気に中部地方・長野県飯田市まで長躯移動。
 ある個人的な探究テーマを深掘りすることに没頭しております。これまでの住宅領域での経験に立脚しながら、自分自身の興味分野が拡大して、という状況にいるのですが、そうすると取材対象がいろいろに展開していくことになる。
 先日は関西地域にいくつかの訪問先があったところに南信州・飯田市に行く要件が持ち上がってしまった。片道では300kmで往復では600kmを超えることになる。北海道で言うと札幌から釧路までの往復と同距離ということ。まぁ北海道ではそこそこあり得る行動半径ではある。っていうか、住宅取材などでそれくらいの行動半径では動き続けていた。
 しかし年齢的にはもうそのころとは20年近い隔絶もある。そもそも大阪発時間は夕方5時ころなので、途中、岐阜県のあたりで宿泊して翌朝早くに出発して飯田市入りを目指した。
 でも今度は引き返しの長距離移動もある。普通は公共交通手段を利用してと考えるところでしょうが、この目的地間には適当な移動交通手段がなかった。一方でモータリゼーション世代ではあり、生まれた頃から自動車の移動感覚がネイティブのようなわたしなので、こういう移動交通に数寄もあるようですね。
 すっかり日没時間も午後7時くらいにまで長くなっているので、180kmほどの宿泊地点には余裕で到着。さっさと寝るのは得意なので、若干の用務を片付けてすぐに就寝。あ、晩ごはんは途中の大津の琵琶湖あたりPAで済ましてしまう。
 で、翌朝、早くに出発して山道の「中央道」を約120kmひたすら東上。
 写真は目的地・飯田市の「長野県天然記念物・長姫(おさひめ)のエドヒガン」樹。別名「安富桜」。
 〜幹と根張りが雄々しく、均整の取れた樹形は古木の風格をもち、エドヒガンの特性が良く現れた県下の名木である。飯田城主・堀氏の家老「安富」氏の邸宅近くにあったため、俗に安富桜と称される。〜
 来て見て、飯田市とわたし自身の「未遂の関係性」ということもアタマのなかにたくさん群がり興ってきていた。地域と言うよりもこの地が出身地域である多くの人たちとの「関係性」が、想起されてしまったのですね。ちょっと早めに到着したので、この安富桜にしばし見とれながら、そんなことに気持ちが奪われる時間を過ごしていた。
 ひょっとすると、少し人生選択が違っていたら、自分はこの街と深く根がらみの人生時間を過ごしていたかも知れない、そんな不思議な余韻に浸っておりました。たまたま要件が発生しての大往復だけれど、なにかの人生時間「因果」がそこに絡んでいたのかも知れません。

English version⬇

Traveling by car from Osaka to Iida, Nagano Prefecture and back.
An old tree in the area that soothes the fatigue of an elderly person traveling 300 km. Its majestic and powerful appearance encourages us to keep going strong. ….

In the midst of the passing of the years, I moved from the Osaka Central Public Hall area to Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, in the Chubu region of Japan, in one fell swoop.
 I have been immersed in digging deeper into a personal theme of exploration. I am in a situation where my own field of interest is expanding while building on my past experience in the housing area, and in doing so, the subject of my coverage is developing in various ways.
 The other day, when I had several places to visit in the Kansai region, the requirement to go to Iida City, Minami-Shinshu was brought up. The one-way trip would be 300 km, and the round trip would be over 600 km. In Hokkaido, this is the same distance as a round trip from Sapporo to Kushiro. Well, that’s a reasonable radius of travel in Hokkaido. In fact, I have been moving around within that radius for housing coverage and so on.
 However, it has been almost 20 years since then. Since the departure time from Osaka was around 5:00 p.m., we stayed overnight in Gifu Prefecture on the way to Iida City, and left early the next morning.
 But this time, there was also a long-distance trip back. Normally, one would think of using public transportation, but there was no suitable means of transportation between these destinations. On the other hand, I am of the motorized generation, and since I was born, I have a native sense of automobile transportation.
 Since the sunset time has completely lengthened to about 7:00 p.m., we arrived at the lodging point, about 180 km away, with plenty of time to spare. Since I am good at going to bed quickly, I took care of some errands and went to bed right away. Oh, and dinner is served at a PA around Lake Biwa in Otsu on the way.
 The next morning, we left early and headed east on the mountainous “Chuo Road” for about 120 km.
 The photo shows the “Nagano Prefecture Natural Monument Osahime no Edohigan” tree in Iida City, our destination. It is also known as the “Yasutomi cherry tree.
 〜The tree is a famous tree in the prefecture with a magnificent trunk and root system, and its well-proportioned form gives it the appearance of an old tree, and the characteristics of the edohigan are well represented. It is commonly called “Yasutomi Cherry Blossom” because it was located near the residence of “Yasutomi,” a retainer of the Hori family, lords of Iida Castle. ~.
 After visiting Iida City, my own “attempted relationship” with Iida City also began to crowd my mind. I was reminded of the “relationship” I have with many people who are from this area, rather than the region itself. Since I arrived a little early, I spent a lot of time admiring these Yasutomi cherry blossoms, and my mind was taken by such things.
 Perhaps, if my life choices had been a little different, I might have spent my life time deeply rooted in this town, and I was immersed in such a mysterious afterglow. Although it was a big round-trip due to an accidental requirement, there might have been some kind of life time “cause and effect” involved in it.

【800年続く「戦後」を生きる集落 日向・平家落人村-5】




 日本三大秘境と言われる四国・祖谷、白川郷とこの日向・椎葉。大阪・豊中の古民家園で突然遭遇していたけれど、やはりほかの民家とは隔絶した「背景事情」が感じられて、深くとらわれてしまった。
 現地で見ていたときに日本の古民俗に興味を持っていそうな英米人たちの姿も見かけて、いろいろ話しかけたくなったけれど、片言の会話では語り尽くせないほどの日本史としての奥行きの深さを思ってためらっていた。源平の争乱の歴史など、どういう世界共通理解があり得るのか、測りがたかった(笑)。
 自分としてのひとつの非常に大きな体験感として、この秘境の環境の中で800年ほどの時間を生き続けてきた人びとにとっては「敗戦後の時間」ということなのだろう、というものだった。日向・椎葉の人びとにとっては、平家の「わが世」という自分たちのアイデンティティが崩壊し、それでも生き延びるために戦後の生き様をこの長い時間、経過してきたのだろうと思う。かれらにとって、平家の滅亡ということはかくも巨大な重い現実。
 そこから社会・世界との調和を図って生き延びる必要があった。しかし一方できわめて独自な「鶴富姫」伝承など、自分たちの世界での価値感をも守り続けてきた。さらに山里でありながら「陶酔神楽」文化を熟成させて独自発展させていた。
 個人的には、この平家落人集落の「経済構造」を考えていて、いろいろな書物を見ているうちに、この列島社会での基底文化としての「狩猟採集」ライフスタイルというものに深く気付かされた。司馬遼太郎の「街道をゆく」シリーズをなにげに平行読書していたら、大阪城攻めに動員された紀伊の「十津川」の人びとについての記述箇所に遭遇した。そこではそれまでほぼまったく「水田耕作」を行わなかったかの地域の人びとが、生業としての「弓矢」の術を軍事動員されていた記述。平家の落人の基本的な生き延び方の疑問が氷解した。


 わたし自身はいわゆる「戦後」の時間のなかだけを生きてきた。もうすでに80年以上こうした時間が経過しているけれど、日本社会というのはそういうなかでの「生き延び方」について、非常に柔軟な社会であるのかも知れない。ちょうど江戸幕府体制がながく存続したように。
 結局,再度「黒船」のような外圧が来襲することによって、変化は根底的に訪れるものなのだろう。それが危機として直面しないように祈りたい。
 日向・椎葉の家というのは思いもかけず、そんなことにまでわたしを誘ってくれる機縁になっていた。住空間というものは、そこで生きた人間と社会を抱擁する存在なので、その空気感は非常に重大な気付きにもなっていくのだと今更ながら気付かされた。  <この項終了>

English version⬇

The 800-year-old “postwar” village of Hyuga, a Heike Orachi-jin Village-5
The Genpei uprising and World War II. The experienced knowledge of the Orachi-nin community after the war echoes like a distant thunderbolt. The village is a place where people can live and work together.

Iya, Shikoku, Shirakawa-go, and Shiiba, Hyuga, are said to be the three most mysterious places in Japan. I had suddenly encountered them at an old folk house garden in Toyonaka, Osaka, but I was still deeply captivated by the sense of “background circumstances” that separated them from other folk houses.
 When I was there, I saw some Anglo-Americans who seemed to be interested in old folklore, and I wanted to talk to them, but I was hesitant because of the depth of Japanese history, which is too deep to be discussed in a one-word conversation. It was hard to gauge what kind of universal understanding of the history of the Genpei wars, for example, was possible (laugh).
 One of my very big impressions was that for the people who have been living in this unexplored environment for 800 years or so, it must be “time after the defeat. For the people of Hyuga and Shiiba, their identity as the “our world” of the Heike clan has collapsed, and they must have been living a postwar lifestyle for such a long time in order to survive. For them, the destruction of the Heike clan is a huge and heavy reality.
 They had to survive in harmony with society and the world. At the same time, however, they have also maintained their sense of values in their own world, such as the extremely unique “Tsurutohime” tradition. Furthermore, despite being a mountain village, they had matured and developed their own “euphoric kagura” culture.
 Personally, as I was thinking about the “economic structure” of this Heike Orachi-jin settlement, I became deeply aware of the “hunter-gatherer” lifestyle as the base culture of this archipelago society as I looked at various books. While casually reading Ryotaro Shiba’s “Kaido yuku” series in parallel, I came across a passage describing the “Totsukawa” people of Kii who were mobilized to attack Osaka Castle. In the article, the people of the region, who until then had not practiced rice paddy cultivation at all, were mobilized by the military to use the art of bow and arrow as a means of livelihood. The question of the basic survival of the fallen Heike people was cleared up.

I myself have lived only in the so-called “postwar” period. Although more than 80 years have already passed, Japanese society may be a very flexible society in terms of how to “survive” in such a situation. Just as the Edo shogunate system survived for a long time.
 In the end, change will come fundamentally when external pressure like the “Black Ships” strikes again. I pray that this will not be faced as a crisis.
 The house in Hyuga/Shiiba unexpectedly became an opportunity to invite me to such a thing. I now realize that the atmosphere of a dwelling space is a very important reminder that it embraces the people and society that live there.  <End of this section>

【山村文化の純粋培養「椎葉神楽」 日向・平家村-4】




  住宅の情報の世界という現役時代からやや離陸してきて、自分なりに「ライフワーク」みたいにして「人間と住空間」というテーマ領域に自由な想像力を巡らせつつある。
 住宅雑誌発行の立場から実際の住宅を取材し続けてきて、結局家づくりの究極の意味とは「施主さん」の人生観や生き方の模索の結果なのだと思い至る。
 作り手は豊かな想像力を持って、施主さんの内面の叫び声を「聞き取って」その本然を活かせる空間を形象化するということなのだろう。現代ではその「人生観や生き方」というものに強い「定型」概念がなくなってきつつある。そこに確かな「洞察力」を見出しにくくなっている。自由な社会というのは、規範の根拠、強い思いが成立しにくくなる、ということなのだろうか。
 試行錯誤のなかから、ある一定の「規範」が育っていくそのプロセスに現代はいるのかも。
 一方で、この椎葉地域では、平家落人という地域社会の出発点についての価値感共有がある。
 現代生活ではテレビや映画、WEBやSNSといった情報との接触が「娯楽」のベースになっているけれど、ここでは閉ざされた地域社会という環境の中で、独自の共有文化・純粋培養された「椎葉神楽」という独自文化が営々と続けられてきているのだという。約400年の伝統を持つ文化で、村内26箇所に伝承されている。毎年11月から12月に掛けて神社に限らず民家を舞台にして33番が夜を徹して奉納される。
 説明書きでは「採り物舞〜とりものまい〜剣や扇など採り物を持って舞う」と神楽面を付ける仮面舞を交えて舞われる。簡素化されない古い形式を遺した、繰り返しの多い<陶酔神楽>であることが特徴。
 この「陶酔神楽」という言葉に刺激されるけれど、いろいろ調べてみても内容が明瞭には伝わってこない。しかしわたしのわずかな神楽鑑賞体験から考えると、なんとなく「劇的空間」性が伝わってくる。イメージ的には盛り上がっていく劇的高揚感に舞台と観客が一体化して、同じシーンをなんども繰り返して、劇空間全体が陶酔に舞い上がっていく光景が想像される。

 そういう劇空間がこの椎葉神楽では地域の民家で持ち回って33番も続けられるというのだ。
 この地域の住宅ではこの神楽が上演されるとき、住宅中央の「デイ」で演じられ、「コザ」は楽師・世話人たちの控えの間になる。村人達はその舞台から流れる縁側、ウチエン・ホカエンに坐ってこの集団陶酔を楽しんでいたのだという。住宅の構造・様式それ自体が、この神楽文化にジャストフィットされているワケだ。<写真中、デイの写真に仮面神楽の舞い手を画像で嵌め込んでみた。>
 現代住宅は、現代生活というまだ定型化以前の暮らしようと呼吸を揃えている過程だろうけれど、さてこの椎葉の家々の持っていた暮らしの中での「陶酔感」にまで暮らし文化として昇華できるだろうか。

English version⬇

Shiiba Kagura, a pure culture of mountain village culture, Heike Village, Hyuga, Japan-4
The explanation of “Euphoric Kagura” with many repetitions stimulates the imagination. Each family shares the euphoria of the dramatic space of the Heike Rakunin Mura. A high level of folk culture. The Heike Village

I have somewhat taken a break from the world of housing information in my working days, and I am beginning to let my imagination run free in the thematic area of “human beings and living space” as if it were my “life work” in my own way.
 After covering actual houses from the perspective of a housing magazine publisher, I have come to realize that the ultimate meaning of house building is the result of a search for the “client’s” view of life and way of living.
 The builder must have a rich imagination to “listen” to the client’s inner cries and give form to a space that can make the most of the client’s true nature. Today, there is no longer a strong “fixed” concept of “views of life and a way of life. It is becoming harder to find solid “insight” in them. Does a free society mean that it is harder to establish a basis for norms and strong feelings?
 Perhaps we are now in the process of developing certain “norms” through trial and error.
 On the other hand, in the Shiiba area, there is a shared sense of value about the starting point of the local community, the Heike Rakunin.
 In modern life, entertainment is based on contact with information through TV, movies, the Internet, and SNS, but in the closed environment of the local community, a unique culture called “Shiiba Kagura,” which is a unique, shared, and purely cultivated culture, has been carried on for many years. This culture has a tradition of about 400 years, and has been handed down in 26 places in the village. Every year from November to December, 33 performances are dedicated throughout the night, not only at shrines, but also at private homes.
 According to the description, “Torimono-mai (dance with a sword, fan, or other object to be picked)” is performed with a masked dance in which people wear kagura masks. It is characterized by its repetitiveness and its unabridged old form.
 The word “euphoric kagura” is very stimulating to me, but I could not get a clear picture of what it is about even though I looked it up in various ways. However, based on my limited experience of kagura viewing, I can somehow sense the “dramatic space” nature of this form of kagura. In my imagination, the stage and the audience are united in a dramatic upsurge of excitement, and the same scene is repeated over and over, and the entire theater space is filled with a sense of euphoria.
In this Shiiba Kagura, such a theatrical space is used for 33 performances, which are rotated among the houses in the community.
 When this kagura is performed in the houses in this area, it is performed in the “dei” in the center of the house, and the “koza” is the antechamber for the musicians and caretakers. The villagers would sit on the uchiwen hokaen, the porch that flows from the stage, and enjoy this collective euphoria. The structure and style of the house itself is perfectly suited to this Kagura culture. <The picture of Day in the photo below shows a masked kagura dancer. >The modern house is still a part of modern life, but it is not yet a part of the modern house.
 Modern houses are still in the process of adjusting themselves to the pre-conventional lifestyle of modern life, but I wonder if they will be able to sublimate the “euphoria” of the houses of Shiiba into a living culture.

【狩猟採集・焼き畑、落人の生存戦略 日向・平家村-3】


 九州中部の熊本県と宮崎県の中間の山岳地帯。日本三大秘境と言われる椎葉地区に逃げ延びた平家一族。
 きのうはそうした絶体絶命の状況で安寿と厨子王の安寿姫のように自己犠牲でこの一統を救った清盛の孫娘のことを想像してみた。わたしは民話の中でもこの「安寿と厨子王」の話に子どもこころに深く感動したことを覚えている。そういう女性の人生の生き方、いや自らを犠牲にして肉親を救おうとするタイプの愛があるのだと知って、男性として女性の偉大さに打ちのめされたようになったのだ。やはり清盛を生んだ一族の血脈としてのそういった英邁な精神が、こうした境遇の女性の選択から強くメッセージされる。ある意味では清盛の成功以上に、こうした局面でのいのちの活かし方、使い方こそが重要だと思える。
 一方でそのように救われた深い山間の環境のなかで、平家落人たちはその後どのような「生き残り戦略」で、現代にまでその伝承を純粋化させて生きて来られたのか。
 上の写真はこの展示住宅の記録パネルのなかの古画像。家々が寄り添うように山間の環境の中で共助してきたことがみてとれる。見るとおり平坦地はほとんど見られず、辛うじてネコの額のような平坦地には住宅を建てて、不整形に家並みが形成されている。強い傾斜が家屋群のすぐ後ろに迫り、下側も強い傾斜地に一定の「畑」が作られている。
 説明文ではこの集落の生業は、山での狩猟と木の実などの採集、そして焼き畑農業と記載されている。



山深い椎葉にはもちろん水田はほとんどなかった。水源確保が想像もつかない。主たる生業は狩猟とされる。民俗学者の柳田國男は遠野物語に先行してこの地・椎葉の狩猟を中心とした暮らしについて「後狩詞記(のちのかりことばのき)」として発表した。狩の故実を筆録したもの。これは「後」とされるが、前の狩詞記とは「群書類従」<1793年〜1819年>にある狩猟生活についての記載箇所のこと。
 鉄砲伝来に伴って狩の道具が弓から鉄砲に代わって誰でもが狩を容易に行えるようになったことで山の鹿や猿が少なくなったことを嘆き、弓の時代の狩について記述したとされる。この源平の時代にはもちろん鉄砲はないので、平家として弓に慣れていた人びとにとって、生業としてもっとも技術転用しやすかった可能性が高い。頼朝が鷹狩りを行ったことが記録もされているので、当然弓での狩猟は生業化しやすかったのだろう。
 三大秘境のどこでもみな平家落人伝承が残るのはそういう意味合いか。
 しかし狩猟という「技術記録」ビジュアルは残りにくい。
 焼き畑は古い農法で山の雑木を切り倒して焼き払い、そこにソバ・ヒエ・アワ・小豆などを栽培する。古写真はその乾燥の様子を表現したものと思われる。長大な縁側空間は南面していて、絶好の乾燥場所だったことだろう。この椎葉は「ヒエつき節」の本場と言われるが、そういった生活背景があると推定できる。
 水田耕作が馴染まない環境の中で地域に適合させる生き方・暮らし方の開発に、必死に取り組んできた営々たる努力の数々に、深くアタマが下がる思い。

PS:新建ハウジングDisitalでの連載記事第4弾が、5/31公開されました。
ぜひ、ご一読ください。  https://www.s-housing.jp/archives/351127

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English version⬇

Hunting and Gathering, Slash-and-Burn, Survival Strategies of the Heike Rakunin, Hyuga, Japan-3
How did the Heike Rakunin survive to the present day? Hunting is the best livelihood for experts of bow and arrow. Other than rice paddies, they struggled to survive by cultivating other fields. …

A mountainous region between Kumamoto and Miyazaki prefectures in central Kyushu. The Heike clan fled to the Shiiba area, which is said to be one of the three most mysterious places in Japan.
 Yesterday, I tried to imagine the granddaughter of Kiyomori who saved the Heike clan by self-sacrifice like Princess Anju in the story “Anju to Kurashioh” (Anju and Kurashioh). I remember being deeply moved as a child by the story of “Anju and the King of the Kitchen,” which is one of the most famous folk tales. Knowing that there was such a way of life of a woman, or rather, a type of love in which a woman sacrifices herself to save her relatives, I felt as a man that I had been overwhelmed by the greatness of women. After all, such a heroic spirit as the bloodline of the family that gave birth to Kiyomori is strongly messaged from the choices of women in these circumstances. In a sense, the way in which life is utilized and used in these situations is more important than Kiyomori’s success.
 On the other hand, what kind of “survival strategy” did the fallen Heike warriors use in the deep mountain environment where they were saved, and how were they able to keep their traditions pure and alive until the present day?
 The photo above is an old image from the record panel of this exhibition house. The houses are nestled together in the mountainous environment, as if they were cooperating with each other. As you can see, there is hardly any flat land, and houses have been built on the flat land that barely resembles a cat’s forehead, forming an irregularly shaped row of houses. A strong slope looms immediately behind the houses, and on the lower side, too, a certain amount of “fields” have been built on the strong slope.
 The description describes the village’s occupation as hunting and gathering nuts in the mountains and slash-and-burn agriculture.

There were, of course, few rice paddies in mountainous Shiiba. It is hard to imagine how to secure a water source. The main occupation is said to be hunting. Folklorist Kunio Yanagida Kunio published a book titled “Nochino Kari Kotonoki” about life in Shiiba, which preceded Tono Monogatari (Tales of Tono) and centered on hunting. This is a written record of the facts of hunting. This is said to be a “later” version, but the former Kari Kotonoki refers to the description of the hunting lifestyle in the “Gunsho Ruishu” (1793-1819).
 It is said that the author lamented the decrease in the number of deer and monkeys in the mountains as hunting tools were replaced by guns instead of bows with the introduction of guns, making hunting easier for everyone, and described hunting in the age of the bow. Since there were, of course, no guns in this Genpei period, it is highly likely that it was easiest for people who were accustomed to archery as Heike to convert their skills into a livelihood. Since it is recorded that Yoritomo (1522-1591) engaged in falconry, hunting with a bow would naturally have been an easy occupation for him.
 This may be the reason why there are still legends of the Heike Rakunin in all of the three most remote areas in Japan.
 However, it is difficult to preserve a visual “technical record” of hunting.
 Yakihata is an old agricultural method in which small trees are cut down and burned, and buckwheat, Japanese millet, millet, azuki beans, and other crops are cultivated on the land. The old photographs are thought to represent the drying process. The long porch space faces south and would have been a perfect drying place. It is said that Shiiba is the home of “hiyetsuki-bushi,” and it can be assumed that this is the background of the daily life of this area.
 I am deeply humbled by the efforts made to develop a way of life and livelihood that fits the region in an environment where rice paddy cultivation is not used.

PS: The fourth installment of our series of articles on Shinken Housing Disital was published on May 31.
Please take a look.

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【清盛の孫娘と那須与一弟の伝説 日向・平家落人家-2】


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 わたしとしては能登の時国家住宅以来の「平家落人」の住宅。まぁほかにも四国の古民家でそういう伝承だけはある家も見たのですが、本格的な集落ごと、その伝承を色濃く持っているものは2件目。
上の写真はこの移築住宅の説明パネルより。毎年11月に「椎葉平家祭り」という祭礼が行われる。地元には平家所縁の神社である「厳島神社」が勧請されている。源平の争乱によって日本の神社の中では「八幡」神が多数になったけれど、平家が制していれば厳島神社が多数、興っていたのかもしれない。
 その祭礼に際して神輿の上にひとりの女性が登場する。その父親が清盛の子どもたちの内の誰であるのかは不明。彼女はこの落人集落統合のひとつの象徴のような存在で「鶴富姫」とされている。
 伝承では平清盛の「孫娘」。平家一統にとってこの椎葉まで逃れてきてなお統合を維持してきたのは、こうした貴種への崇拝もあったのだろう。GoogleMapで見てもかなりの秘境。
 後に日本民俗学の祖とされる柳田國男氏がこの地を訪れそのあと、遠野に行ったということで深く民間伝承が残り岐阜県白川・徳島県祖谷と「日本三大秘境」とされるけれど、源氏方の探索はきびしく行われ、頼朝からの命令で那須与一が「討伐」を命ぜられたという。しかし与一は病気としてその弟の那須宗久〜通名「大八郎」が山深いこの地まで攻め寄せたという。
 パネルの説明文では、「戦意を失いひっそりと平和に暮らす落人たちを見て討伐をやめた」と書かれている。そして「やがて大八郎は鶴富姫と恋仲に成り、この地に永住を決意します。ところが鎌倉から帰還の命令が下り別れが来ます。そのときすでに鶴富姫は身ごもっており、もし男子ならば那須家の本願地・下野まで送るように、女子ならばこの地で育てよ、と言い残して去って行った」という。生まれた子は女子だったのでこの地で育ち、婿を取って名跡は「那須」姓を名乗って代々、この地を支配したというのだ。


 地元に残る伝承説話であり、この地域の支配者であった平家の流れを汲む貴種についての話なので、その立場から真相は改竄されている可能性が高いだろう。わたし的には鶴富姫と言う存在が落人たちの行く末を考えていわば「自己犠牲的」に身を捧げた説話と感じた次第。
 敵の攻撃軍の首領に身を捧げ、なおかつ生まれた子孫にもその名跡を名乗らせたということが、この地での「平和構築」にとってどれほど偉大な決断であったかと偲ばれる。
 さらにそういった共有の「思い」がこの落人集落の永続性を担保しつづけたのではないか。自ら身を捧げて一族を守る厨子王の姉「安寿」たらんとしたのだろうか。女性は偉大だと深く思わされる。

English version⬇

Legend of Kiyomori’s Granddaughter and Her Brother Yoichi Nasu, a Heike Rakunin Family in Hyuga-2
 Did the princess, who was a noblewoman related to Kiyomori and could have been a court noble if she had been in the capital, self-sacrificingly devote herself to an enemy general? Yasutoshi and Kurashioh? …

For me, this is the first “Heike Orachito” house I have seen since the Tokikoku residence in Noto. Well, I have seen other old minka houses in Shikoku that have only such traditions, but this is the second one that has a full-fledged village with its own traditions.
The photo above is from the explanatory panel of this reconstructed house. Every year in November, a festival called the “Shiiba Heike Festival” is held. Itsukushima Shrine, a shrine related to the Heike family, is recommended to the local people. Although the Genpei wars have made the “Hachiman” deities predominate among Japanese shrines, many Itsukushima shrines might have sprung up if the Heike had been in control of the area.
 On the occasion of the festival, a woman appears on top of a portable shrine. It is not known who her father was among Kiyomori’s children. She is said to be “Tsurutomi Hime,” a symbol of the integration of the Ochinin community.
 According to tradition, she is the “granddaughter” of Taira no Kiyomori. The Heike line escaped to Shiiba and still maintained their unity, probably due to the worship of such a noble species.
 Kunio Yanagida, who later became the founder of Japanese folklore, visited this area and later went to Tono, so it is considered one of Japan’s three most secluded areas, along with Shirakawa in Gifu Prefecture and Iya in Tokushima Prefecture, where folklore remains. However, Yoichi was ill, and his younger brother Munehisa Nasu, known as “Daihachiro,” attacked this area deep in the mountains.
 The explanation on the panel reads, “He saw the fallen soldiers who had lost their will to fight and were living peacefully, so he decided not to attack them. Daihachiro eventually fell in love with Princess Tsurutomi and decided to live here permanently. However, the order to return came from Kamakura and they parted. If it was a boy, he told her to send him back to Shimono, the Nasu family’s main residence, and if it was a girl, he told her to raise the child here. Since the child was a girl, she grew up in this area, and she took a son-in-law and assumed the family name of “Nasu” and ruled the area for generations.

The story is a local legend about a noble descendant of the Heike clan that ruled the area, so the truth is likely to have been falsified from that standpoint. In my opinion, the story is about Tsurutomihime, a woman who sacrificed herself for the fate of the fallen soldiers.
 I can only imagine how great a decision it must have been for the “peace-building” of this land to have offered herself to the leader of the enemy’s attacking army and to have her descendants bear the name of the leader.
 Furthermore, such shared “feelings” may have continued to ensure the permanence of this Ochijin community. I wonder if she devoted herself to become “Anju,” the elder sister of King Zurikio, who protected the family. It makes me think deeply of the greatness of women.