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【マンガ家志望・思春期の石ノ森章太郎の部屋】




人間は自分ひとりで生きていける存在ではない。親があってはじめてこの世に生を受け、家族というぬくもりに支えられて成長していくもの。そしてその後「世に出た」後も、その出自の環境からさまざまに支えられながら、人生という波濤のなかに漕ぎ出していくものだろう。わたし自身も自ら顧みて、そうした大きな「繭」のようなものに深く抱かれていたことが実感させられる。この石ノ森章太郎生家を探訪していて、おばあちゃんや実姉の残影が色濃く感じられて、作家の内面を「覗き見た」思いが強い。さまざまな断面からのぞき得たけれど、さらに父親や母親の思いなども掘り起こすことが出来たらと思っている。そしてそのことが身を締め付けるように愛おしいと感じられる。
 こういう部分を注目していると柳田國男の掘り起こした民俗、いわば日本人的な「前世」観という思想へのはるかな探究につながるのかも知れない。「作家と住空間」電子本で探究した柳田國男だけれど、わたしはその後も柳田さんの思想痕跡にずっと「抱かれている」と感じている。ただ、柳田さんが生きていた頃から時代は先に進んで、柳田さん以降の日本人の生命の積層があって、独特な「民俗」も多様に展開しているのだと思う。
 そういう典型的存在として、わたしの思春期とも大きく重なる石ノ森章太郎の部屋にたどりついてしまった(笑)。そうなんです、ある種「来てしまった」感が盛り上がり、燃えさかっていた。
 わたし自身はかれ石ノ森章太郎についてそこまで深い「心的交流」をしていたか、と考えれば、たとえば司馬遼太郎の作品群との対話時間のような近接感には至っていない。・・・と思っていた。しかし、この写真のような光景に出会ってしまったら、一気に自分の中学生頃の感受性世界と深く応答させられてしまったのです。
 ちょうど石ノ森章太郎が父親からマンガ家志望に反対されたのと同様に、わたし自身は父親から描いていたマンガ作品を焼却処分されていた。そういう思春期の体験感覚が一気に蘇ってしまった。別に空間としての感じがわたしの過ごしていた部屋と似ているワケではないのに、そういう心理の復元起動力、パワーがこの部屋から感じられた。
 作家の住空間として残されている住宅のなかで同時代感が大きくスウィングしてくるのは、わたし自身の年齢から考えてギリギリ石ノ森の世代でしょう。おおよそ14-5年程度の時間差はあるけれど、戦後しばらく経った昭和中期が鮮烈に襲ってきたと感じていたのです。やはり人間と住空間はオモシロい。

English version⬇

[Aspiring manga artist and adolescent Shotaro Ishinomori’s room
The restorative activation and power of the psyche that the living space has. The feeling of life swinging. The feeling of having ‘arrived’ in such a place. …

Human beings are not beings who can live on their own. He is born into the world only after his parents, and grows up supported by the warmth of his family. After they ‘come into the world’, they are supported in various ways by the environment in which they came from, as they paddle out into the surging waves of life. Looking back on my own life, I realise that I was deeply embraced by such a large ‘cocoon’. When I visited the birthplace of Shotaro Ishinomori, I could feel the strong traces of my grandmother and sister, and I strongly felt that I had ‘peeked’ into the artist’s inner life. I was able to peek into various aspects of the artist’s life, but I hope to be able to further uncover his father’s and mother’s thoughts and feelings. And that makes me feel squeezed and lovely.
 Paying attention to these aspects may lead to a far-reaching exploration of the folk customs that Kunio Yanagida unearthed, the Japanese view of ‘prehistoric life’, so to speak. I have been ‘held’ by the traces of Yanagida’s thought ever since my exploration of Kunio Yanagida in the e-book ‘The Writer and the Living Space’. However, since the time when Mr Yanagida lived, times have moved on and there is a layering of Japanese life after Mr Yanagida, and I think that the unique ‘folklore’ has developed in various ways.
 As a typical example of such an existence, I ended up in the room of Shotaro Ishinomori, whose adolescence also overlapped greatly with my own (laughs). Yes, a certain sense of ‘I’ve arrived’ was rising and burning.
 When I think about whether I myself had such a deep ‘emotional exchange’ with Shotaro Ishinomori, I have not reached the same level of proximity as in the time I spent talking with Ryotaro Shiba’s works, for example. … I thought. However, once I came across a scene like the one in this picture, I was at once made to respond deeply to the world of sensitivity of my junior high school days.
 Just as Shotaro Ishinomori was opposed by his father to his aspiration to become a manga artist, I myself had had the manga works I was drawing burnt by my father. The sensation of that kind of adolescent experience came back to me all at once. The room does not resemble the room in which I used to spend my time, but I could feel the power of psychological restoration and activation in this room.
 Among the residences that have been preserved as artists’ living spaces, it is probably Ishinomori’s generation, just barely considering my own age, that has the greatest swing in the sense of contemporariness. There is a time gap of about 14-5 years, but I felt that the mid-Showa period, some time after the war, had struck me vividly. After all, people and living spaces are interesting.

 

【石ノ森章太郎生家の間取り】




 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’.

【トキワ荘のマドンナ・石ノ森章太郎実姉の残影】


 作家と住空間というわたしのNEXTライフテーマですが、どちらかといえば「住空間」の方に7:3くらいで力点があると認識しています。作家自身についてはたくさんの情報データもあるので、そちらには配慮しつつもあくまでもサブ的にと考えているところ。たまたま石ノ森章太郎のことを考えて見て、その作品については同時代的に耽溺していた自分自身の「体感」があって、作家とその作品世界理解という意味ではそう深くは触れる必要性を感じていなかったのです。正直。
 ・・・なんですが、この住宅で触れた実姉・由恵さんの「人形作品」を目にしてこころが完全に奪われてしまった次第。昨日の人形と並んで、上の人形作品もまた展示されていた。昨日アップした人形が「正」であるとすればこちらは「奇」の表現だと思う。同一人物にして、このように違いが生み出されるというのは、その「才能」の深みに驚かされる。参考までに昨日紹介の人形も以下に再掲。

 どうもこの「実姉・由恵さん」に強く興味が沸き起こってしまった。
 Wikiの「石ノ森章太郎」の項の記述などをみると彼女のことが、人間・石ノ森章太郎にとってはまさに「血肉」のような存在であったことが、断片的ながら、強く浮かび上がってくる。石ノ森は厳格な公務員であった父からマンガへの進路を反対されていたが、この実姉が父親を説得して石ノ森を上京させたとある。そしてさらに彼女は、生来病弱で外出もままならない病の療養のこともあって弟を追うように上京して当時のマンガ文化勃興期の「梁山泊」トキワ荘で、石ノ森と同居しながら暮らしていたと記されている。その生前の写真はこの「生家」で公開され、管理の方からは「大いに広報拡散してください(笑)」と許諾も受けているけれど、公開は避けたい。しかし、実に「トキワ荘のマドンナ」という表現は正鵠を穿っていると強く思えるほどの美人。
 石ノ森章太郎とは3歳上。高校卒業後すぐに上京した弟とトキワ荘で同居していた時期は、それこそ花も恥じらうほどだっただろうか。石ノ森章太郎は上京後、トキワ荘では最年少ながらすぐに「売れっ子」マンガ家になっていたことも合わせ考えると実姉・由恵さんも実弟・章太郎の作品制作に協力していた蓋然性はきわめて高い。さらにこうしたマドンナの存在が、トキワ荘に集ったマンガ作家たちの青春模様に色濃く影響したことも想像される。まさに新文化創造の「るつぼ」感がハンパない。
 そういった彼女の才能の片鱗が、デフォルメされた印象的な人形造形に表出しているように思える。

English version⬇

Remnants of Tokiwasou’s Madonna Shotaro Ishinomori’s own sister.
The power of expression expressed in her impressive doll modelling. Although she was too sickly to go out, she may have kindled the flame of her talent as the greatest collaborator of her own brother. …

 My NEXT life theme is ‘Writers and Living Spaces’, and I am aware that the emphasis is more or less 7:3 on ‘living spaces’. There is a lot of information and data on the artist himself, so while I take that into consideration, I consider it to be only a sub-themes. When I happened to think about Shotaro Ishinomori and look at his works, I had my own ‘experience’ of his works, which I was indulging in at the same time, and I didn’t feel the need to touch them so deeply in terms of understanding the artist and his world of works. Honestly.
 But when I saw my own sister Yue’s ‘doll works’ in this house, my heart was completely taken by them. Along with the dolls from yesterday, the dolls above were also on display. If the doll I uploaded yesterday is a ‘positive’ expression, this one is an expression of ‘strangeness’. The fact that such a difference can be produced by the same person is astonishing in the depth of his ‘talent’. For reference, the doll introduced yesterday is also reproduced below.

I became strongly interested in this ‘real sister, Yue’.
 The Wiki article on Shotaro Ishinomori shows that she was like ‘flesh and blood’ to the human Shotaro Ishinomori, although only in fragments. Ishinomori’s father, a strict civil servant, was opposed to Ishinomori’s career in manga, but his own sister persuaded him to move to Tokyo. It further states that she followed her brother to Tokyo and lived with Ishinomori at Tokiwa-so, the ‘Ryozanbaku’ of the then emerging manga culture, as he was recovering from an illness that made him sickly and unable to leave the house. Photographs of his early life are available in this ‘birth house’, and the management has given permission for me to ‘spread the word’ (laughs), but I don’t want to make them public. However, I strongly believe that the expression ‘Madonna of Tokiwaso’ hits the nail on the head.
 She is three years older than Shotaro Ishinomori. When she lived together with her younger brother at Tokiwa-so, who moved to Tokyo immediately after graduating from high school, even the flowers must have been ashamed of themselves. Considering that Shotaro Ishinomori was the youngest manga artist at Tokiwaso after moving to Tokyo, but soon became a ‘successful’ manga artist, it is highly probable that his own sister, Yue, also cooperated with his brother Shotaro in the production of his works. It can also be imagined that the presence of such a madonna had a strong influence on the youth of the manga artists who gathered at Tokiwa-so. The sense of a melting pot for the creation of new culture is truly overwhelming.
 It seems that a glimpse of her talent is expressed in the deformed and impressive doll modelling.

【石ノ森章太郎の実姉がつくった人形】


 石ノ森章太郎の「生家」取材シリーズです。わたしの場合、特定テーマについて気付くことを書いていくときに、この「毎日更新」のブログという機会設定はちょうどいいと感じています。取材現場では写真撮影と、そのときに「感受したこと」とが同期してその本然的興味のおもむくままにアングルとテーマを決定していく。住宅という空間を記録する、記憶するにはそういうプロセスが肉感的でふさわしい。もちろん住宅を記録するのには一定の作法があり、その部分については個人的に師事したと認識している写真家から言われたコトバをいつもアタマのなかで復元させながら、しかし自分なりにイメージ構成に取り組んでいる。
 そしてそこで得られた「体感」を大事にしながらデスクに復帰してから、写真を整理整頓する。この整理整頓作業では、その場で感じていたことが純粋化されたり、抽象化されたりする。この作業が実は文章化のスタートにもなっているように思っている。住宅取材ということで生きてきた人間としての体験的純化なのでしょう。
 ただ、そのたびになにかしら新規な体験をさせられることがある。「え、こんなことがあるんだ」
 そういう種類の発見が上の写真。この日本人形は石ノ森章太郎の実のお姉さん(由恵さん)が作られたものとわざわざ説明字句が添えられていた。作家の肉親がその人となりを自己開示していることに、不意を突かれた。
 そう言われて気がつくと、弟さんは説明書類などで貴重なコメントを多数寄せられていて、人間と住空間との相関関係を探索する者にとって興味深かった。しかし、このお姉さんの作品は素晴らしく直接こころをえぐってくる。
 人形は顔がいのち、というコマーシャルが日本人形のメーカーさんの金言としてアタマにこびりついているが、この人形の表情には深くとらわれた。お姉さんも一緒に写っている家族写真を参照すると、この人形の顔立ちにご自分の表情が反映されていると感じられた。人間がなにかを造形するという営為は、やはりそこに作リ手の人間性が深々と投影されるのだということが、直感させられる。
 そしてこのような人格が弟であるマンガ作家・石ノ森章太郎が持っているだろう、ある本然と通底しているに違いない、という中身を感じることも出来たのだ。
 すごく直接に響いてくるモノがあって強く「打ち解け」させられていた。

English version⬇

[Dolls made by Shotaro Ishinomori’s own sister].
The writer’s immediate family speaks of his true humanity. I was taken by surprise and hit directly, and was completely tricked. From there, the artist’s inner life is seen again. …

 This is a series of interviews with Shotaro Ishinomori’s ‘birthplace’. In my case, I feel that this ‘daily update’ blog is just the right setting for me to write about what I notice about a particular theme. At the interview site, the photography and what I ‘perceived’ at the time are synchronised, and I decide on the angle and theme according to my natural interest. Such a process is a sensual and appropriate way of recording and remembering the space of the house. Of course, there are certain rules for documenting houses, and I always try to reconstruct in my mind the words of a photographer whom I recognise as my personal mentor, but in my own way I work on the composition of the image.
 Then, after returning to my desk, I organise the photographs, valuing the ‘experience’ I have gained from this process. In this organising process, what I was feeling on the spot is purified and abstracted. I feel that this process is actually also the start of the writing process. It is probably an experiential purification as a person who has lived through the process of housing coverage.
 However, every time I do it, there is something new to experience. ‘Oh, I didn’t know this was possible.’
 That kind of discovery is shown in the photograph above. This Japanese doll was made by Shotaro Ishinomori’s own sister (Yue-san), with an explanation attached. I was caught off guard by the fact that the artist’s immediate family had disclosed their personalities.
 When I was told this, I realised that the younger brother had made many valuable comments in the explanatory documents, which was interesting for those exploring the correlation between people and their living spaces. However, this sister’s work is wonderfully and directly gripping.
 The commercial saying that the face is the life of the doll is stuck in my mind as the golden rule of the makers of Japanese dolls, but the expression on this doll’s face captured me deeply. When I referred to a family photo of the doll with her sister, I felt that her own expression was reflected in the doll’s facial features. It is intuitive that in the act of human modelling something, the creator’s humanity is deeply projected onto the work.
 I could also sense that this kind of personality must have a certain underlying nature that his younger brother, manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori, must have.
 There was something that resonated directly with me and made me ‘open up’ to him strongly.

【祖母の「母性」痕跡の空間】


 昨日の続きで、宮城県登米市の石ノ森章太郎生家で感じたことシリーズです。
 少年・石ノ森章太郎は、この生家で祖母が往来の繁華な道路に面した店舗を営業しながら、その成長を支え続けたのだという。こうした店舗守りという暮らし方が大きな人格形成に与った事例として、大阪堺の繁華街商店で店番をしていたという与謝野晶子の店舗という空間事例も体験している。彼女の場合は「夢見る少女」がその夢想を大きく涵養させた空間、というように感じたけれど、この店番空間では、もうちょっと違う印象を受けた。
 この台所空間は広い店舗にきわめて機能的な位置していて、隣接する、まるで店守りのための「休憩場所」のような居間・食堂の座空間のバックグラウンドになっていた。
 最近、祖母のやさしさということについて、いろいろ思いが至ることが多くなっている。子どもたちにとって、母親の母性とはまた少し違った印象で、祖母の母性と言うものは大きな人格形成要素なのだろうと思えるのです。石ノ森の祖母本人は、家の家業として使命感を持って家計を支える経済活動を行っている主体認識でしょう。一方、そういう祖母がしっかりと保全してくれている店舗とその機能的な併用空間を「帰巣」空間として育つ幼少年のこころに寄り添ってみたら、こうした祖母の「おかえり」と声掛けしてくるその音楽的な韻律は、独特な母性だっただろう、と。
 子ども心には、無限のやさしさが繰り返しリフレインしてくるような習慣的いとなみ。わたしがいちばん好きな石ノ森章太郎マンガ作品は、少年が幻想的な湿地森林を巡り歩いて出会った女性との心理的交流、恋心を描いた「龍神沼」なのだけれど、その女性は実は龍神であり、やがてその化身の瞬間がクライマックスとして導びかれていくドラマ。
 わたしは石ノ森章太郎についてこの作品の生み出されたテーマコンセプトを無意識のうちに求めていると、自分のことが認識されていた。そうするとこのような祖母の広大無辺の愛情ということにふと気付かされた。
 ドラマのクライマックスでは少女から龍神への化身・変貌の場面は見開きページで展開していた。ストーリーマンガの展開に於いて見開き2ページいっぱいにワンシーンが、まさに幻視のように表現されることに、少年期のわたしは圧倒的な感動を覚えていた。
 そのコンセプトの小さな断片としての、店番の祖母、その母性。小さいけれど無性にうれしい瞬間。

English version⬇

[Space of grandmother’s ‘maternal’ traces].
A theme of fantastic manga works that fascinated me as a boy. The generosity of female love, even symbolised by the dragon god. A cross-section of this is ‘transmitted’ through the traces of the shop keeper’s activities. …

 This is a continuation of yesterday’s series on what I felt at Shotaro Ishinomori’s birthplace in Tome, Miyagi Prefecture.
 The boy Shotaro Ishinomori continued to support his development in this birthplace while his grandmother ran a shop facing a busy traffic road. As an example of how this way of life as a shop keeper gave rise to a major personality development, we also experience the spatial case of Akiko Yosano’s shop, where she was a shop keeper in a busy shopping street in Sakai, Osaka. In her case, I felt that it was a space where a ‘dreaming girl’ greatly cultivated her dream, but in this shopkeeping space, I had a slightly different impression.
 This kitchen space was located in an extremely functional position in the spacious shop and served as a background for the adjacent sitting room/diner, which was like a ‘resting place’ for the shop keeper.
 Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the kindness of grandmothers. For children, it seems to me that their grandmother’s maternal kindness is a major character-building element, as it is a little different from their mother’s maternal kindness. Ishinomori’s grandmother herself is probably aware of her subject’s economic activities that support the family economy with a sense of mission as the family’s family business. On the other hand, if you look into the mind of a child who grew up with the shop and its functional space as a ‘home away from home’, which her grandmother had preserved so well, you will find that her musical rhythm of saying ‘welcome home’ must have been uniquely motherly.
 To a child’s mind, it is a customary refrain of infinite tenderness. My favourite Shotaro Ishinomori manga work is ‘Ryujin-numa’, which depicts a boy’s psychological interaction and love affair with a woman he meets on his journey through a fantastical marshland forest, but the woman is in fact the Dragon God, and the moment of her incarnation is the climax of the drama.
 I recognised myself in Shotaro Ishinomori when I subconsciously sought the thematic concept that produced this work. In doing so, I suddenly became aware of this kind of vast and boundless love of the grandmother.
 At the climax of the drama, the incarnation and transformation from a girl to a dragon goddess was developed on facing pages. As a young boy, I was overwhelmingly moved by the fact that a scene was presented on a full double-page spread in the development of a story manga, just like a vision.
 The grandmother of the shop keeper, her motherhood, as a small fragment of this concept. A small but irresistibly happy moment.

【作家の住空間探訪の「奥行き」感】



 もう少しで電子書籍「作家と住空間」が上梓されるのですが、そこで探訪した作家群の取材以降も、折に触れて全国各所で探訪を続けています。基本的にはその作家の「住んでいた」住宅そのもの、あるいはその残滓が感覚できる空間~作家記念館などを探訪するワケですが、そうするとごく最近の人、まだ生きていてその評価がいまだ定まっていない作家などは、そういう住宅保存とかの段階には至っていない。
 勢い、死後であってその評価が定まっている作家人物に対して取材するということになる。
 そういった意味では、わたしのちょっと上の年代というのがもっとも若い年代ということになる。わたしの幼少期~青春期はマンガ一色の文化模様。いわゆる文学としては三島由紀夫や大江健三郎、司馬遼太郎とかがあったけれど、文化としてはマンガがもっとも熱い領域だった。手塚治虫が超絶的な作品を生産してきた頃、それにはるかに憧れた全国の少年たちが、まるで梁山泊に集う英傑のようにトキワ荘と呼ばれるアパートに集結し、相互に刺激し合いながら、物語を紡ぎ出していた。そういう年代、わたしなどからは10数年上の世代として石ノ森章太郎がいる。
 たぶん作家の住空間保存の動きとしては「もっとも新しい」世代に属するのだろう。わたしにとっては「ちょっと兄貴」年代だろうか。先日の東北行脚で仙台にほど近い宮城県登米市郊外のそのふるさとの地を訪れることが出来た。
 ・・・やはり圧倒的な「同時代感」が住空間各所から立ち上ってきて、いたたまれないほどだった。わたし自身も過ごしていた幼少年期・昭和30-40年代頃の共有していた時代性が住空間の至る所から感じられて、ちょっと立ち去りがたいほどの感銘を受け続けていた。大量生産型の無機質感を印象させるという、それ以降の常識感覚とは違って、簡易な住宅壁面建材として当時一般的だった「ベニヤ板張り」からすら、ある強い「時代感」を感じていたのだ。「おお、ベニヤ壁かよ」とその年季の入った様子に心をえぐられ続けていた。ヤバい。ベニヤ板をこころの底で愛していたのか、オレ。
 中学時代、石ノ森などの後続年代として友人たちとマンガ青年を夢見ていたことが自分自身の「原点風景」として復元してきて、「明るい慟哭」とでも言える心理で過ごしておりました。
 

English version⬇

[A sense of ‘depth’ in the artist’s exploration of his living space
The original landscape of my boyhood, when my friends and I yearned to follow in the footsteps of Shotaro Ishinomori and others as manga artists. It is like being reunited with that mental image, or looking directly at the cancer cells from the neck up. …

 The e-book ‘Writers and Living Spaces’ will be published soon, and I have continued to visit various places in Japan from time to time since the interviews with the writers I visited in the e-book. Basically, we visit the houses where the artists ‘lived’, or spaces where we can feel the residues of their works, such as writers’ memorials, etc. However, we have not yet reached the stage of preserving such houses for very recent writers who are still alive and whose reputation has not yet been established.
 I would be interviewing artists who are posthumous and whose reputation has been established.
 In this sense, the people who are a little older than me are the youngest generation. My childhood and youth were dominated by manga. In terms of so-called literature, there was Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburo Oe and Ryotaro Shiba, but in terms of culture, manga was the hottest area. When Osamu Tezuka was producing his superb works, boys from all over the country, who admired his works, gathered in a flat called Tokiwaso, as if they were gathering at a Ryozanbaku, and while mutually stimulating each other, they spun out stories. Shotaro Ishinomori was a member of that generation, more than ten years older than myself.
 He probably belongs to the ‘newest’ generation in the movement to preserve the living space of artists. For me, he is a bit older than me. On a recent trip to the Tohoku region, I was able to visit his hometown in the suburbs of Tome City, Miyagi Prefecture, which is close to Sendai.
 I was also able to visit my hometown in the suburbs of Tome City in Miyagi Prefecture, close to Sendai, on a recent trip to the Tohoku region. I could feel the sense of the times that I myself shared in my childhood, around the 1950s and 1960s, everywhere in the living space, and I was continually impressed to the point where I found it hard to leave. Unlike the common sense of mass-produced, inorganic materials that have been used since then, I felt a strong ‘sense of the times’ even from the ‘veneer wall coverings’ that were common at the time as a simple building material for house walls. The plywood walls were a common building material in those days, and I kept feeling a strong sense of ‘age’ from them. It’s not good. Did I love plywood in the depths of my heart?
 In junior high school, when I was in the generation that followed Ishinomori and others, I dreamt of being a manga youth with my friends, and it came back to me as my own ‘origin landscape’, and I spent my time with a psychology that could be described as a ‘bright wail’.
 

【雪との対話もいよいよ晩冬期、除排雪風景】



 雪国人にとってほぼ半年にわたる「雪との対話」は、生きている証のようなもの。雪は個人の状況とは無縁にそれこそ自然の営みそのものとして関与してくる。一方年々加齢は進行してくるけれど、毎年、雪と体を通して相対しているとそれ自体が生命活動に深く関与していると感じられてくる。自分自身の健康感覚は毎年試され続けていると言えるだろう。
 マンション暮らしではたしかに雪と「縁遠く」はなるけれど、しかし無縁とは言えない。雪道歩行やクルマの問題だとかで否応なく自然環境と対話しながら生き続けていかなければならない。クルマでは常に「雪道にハマる」スタックの恐怖と隣り合わせ。いわんや戸建て住宅ではまさに直接的に日々の降雪具合に万全の注意を払って、イヤも応もなく対応を迫られることになる。例年11月くらいから、いつなんどき到来するかわからないという緊張がこころに準備され、12月には完全にそのモード全開になる。そして最盛期としての1−2月があって、3月にいたりようやく冬将軍さまから和平の申し入れをいただけるようになる。「もうちょっといるけどな(笑)」。
 そのような雪国的な強烈な「季語」として、公共による「集中除排雪」作業がある。共助という社会の仕組みだけれど、そのことに深く感謝の気持ちが湧いてくる。こういう地域としての生活実感は季語というような詠嘆的なとらえ方を超えるものだけれど、たぶん日本語文化圏がここ百年くらいの間に獲得してきたもののように思う。
 寒冷に対しては高断熱高気密住宅という知恵と進化を高めてきたけれど、積雪に対してはこのような公共の助力を得ながら、半年間、対話し続けているのだろう。年間積雪が5mを超える巨大都市というのは全人類的にも稀有だという。
 最近になってこういう雪国人の雪との対話と、温暖地域の「庭園趣味」との対比ということが気に掛かってきている。庭園趣味からすれば無粋そのものの堆雪の断面模様(下の写真参照)などに、じっと観察眼を働かせたりしている。
 樹木や緑、池などのうつろい以上に、その断面に花鳥風月を感じたりする。自分の除雪の作業痕跡とか、公共による除雪の痕跡などに、それなりの「韻律」を感じていたりもするのだ。こういうわたしはオカシイだろうかなぁ?(笑)。

English version

The dialogue with snow is finally coming to an end in late winter, snow clearing scenery].
The dialogue that snow country people have with the snow around their homes has a spirituality that goes beyond the feeling of flowers, birds, wind and moon. The cross-sectional patterns of the snow in the snowbanks are a source of poetry and rhyme. …
 For snow country people, the almost six-month-long ‘dialogue with the snow’ is like a proof of life. The snow is not related to personal circumstances, but is involved in the workings of nature itself. On the other hand, although we age year by year, every year when we are in contact with the snow through our bodies, we feel that the snow itself is deeply involved in our life activities. It can be said that one’s sense of health is continually tested every year.
 Living in a condominium, it is true that you can get ‘away’ from the snow, but you can’t say that you are unaffected by it. We have to live our lives interacting with the natural environment, whether it be walking on snow-covered roads or driving a car. With cars, we are always next to the fear of getting stuck on snow-covered roads. In detached houses, on the other hand, we are forced to pay close attention to the daily snowfall and deal with the situation whether we like it or not. Every year, from around November, the tension of not knowing when the snowfall will come starts to build up in the mind, and by December, the mode is in full swing. Then there is January and February, the peak season, and finally in March, General Winter finally makes a peace offer. I’ll be here a little longer, though (laughs).’
 One such strong snowy ‘season’ is the public ‘intensive snow clearing’ operation. It is a social mechanism of mutual aid, for which we are deeply grateful. This sense of community life is more than a seasonal term in the sense of a poem, but it is something that the Japanese cultural sphere has probably acquired over the last hundred years or so.
 In response to the cold weather, we have developed highly insulated and airtight housing, and with the help of the public, we have been talking to each other about snowfall for half a year. A huge city with an annual snowfall of more than 5 metres is a rarity in the whole of humanity.
 Recently, I have become interested in the contrast between the dialogue between the snowy people of snow country and the ‘taste for gardens’ of warmer regions. I have been observing the cross-sectional pattern of composted snow (see photo below), which is quite tactless from the perspective of the garden hobbyist.
 More than the changing colours of the trees, greenery and ponds, I feel the flowers, birds, wind and moon in the cross-sections. I also feel a certain ‘rhyme’ in the traces of my own snow removal work and the traces of public snow removal. Am I crazy like this? (Laughs).

【津軽と北海道。雪と住宅のワンシーン】


3月の声を聞いて集中除排雪も来てくれたのですが、冬将軍さまはいじわるのように毎日頑張っております。昨日も夫婦でおおむね30分ほどは除雪していましたが、この時期になってくると北海道の真冬らしい「軽い」雪質ではなくて、本州日本海側の湿度の高い雪質に感じられてくる。
 って、生活したことはないのでこういうのは想像による感覚ではあります。ただ、実際に雪かきはしていないけれど、この写真のような光景は目にすることは多い。こちらの家は「太宰治〜斜陽館」として知られるかれの生家の最近の様子。2025年2月24日の様子。この部位は斜陽館として知られるかれの生家に近接して建てられた「疎開していた家」。ということなので、今から80数年〜90年前頃の家と言うことになる。
 太宰は超富裕層の出身で生家は江戸期に高利貸しで儲けていた家系。幕末から明治に掛け、こうした商業資本家たちに農地取得の道が開かれて明治期の「大地主層」が形成されていった。いまもこの家系(津島家)は地域の政治家<太宰の孫に当たる津島淳>を輩出していて日本の支配者構造を明白に表している。
 おっと、そういう話題は本筋ではない。そういった歴史背景の中で建てられた住宅。住宅探訪が「ライフワーク」と定めてきた人間として全国の公開された住空間を見ることがNEXT領域だと思って歩いている。
 津軽の雪質は北海道人としては、似ているけれどやはり相当の「相違」を感じさせられる。北海道人には積雪によって「閉ざされる」という心象はそう大きくはないけれど、なんというか、重量感のある閉塞感が津軽の雪には感じられる。たまたまガラスの開口部には堆雪からの圧迫から守るように板状断熱材が緩衝材として使われているけれど、こういった作法は北海道ではこの時期(80数年〜90年前頃)でも避けられていたように思う。積雪寒冷条件に対して、津軽ではそれ以外の時期を基本気候として考える家づくりがスジ、と考えているように思うのですね。
 さすがに北海道ではこの写真のような「掃きだし窓」に直接積雪荷重が加わることは避けていただろう。同じ雪国だけれど、寒冷のレベルにやや違いがあってこういう相違が出来てくるのだろうか。
 旅人視点だけれど強い同胞感もあって、こうした相違についての市井の人との会話も楽しい。
English version
[Tsugaru and Hokkaido. A scene of snow and housing]
Differences in the way of perceiving and thinking about snow across the Tsugaru Strait. The climate is the same, but the way of perceiving it is different. The dialogue in the city centre is also funny. …
 Intensive snow removal also came when we heard the call of March, but General Winter is working hard every day like a tease. Yesterday, too, a couple of us were generally clearing snow for about 30 minutes, but at this time of year, the snow feels like the humid snow on the Japan Sea side of Honshu, instead of the ‘light’ snow quality that is typical of Hokkaido in midwinter.
 I have never lived in Hokkaido, so this is just a feeling based on my imagination. However, although I don’t actually shovel snow, I often see scenes like the one in this photo. This is a recent view of his birthplace, known as ‘Osamu Dazai – Shayoukan’, on 24 February 2025. This part of the house is an ‘evacuated house’ built close to his birthplace, known as the Shayoukan. This means that the house was built around 80-odd to 90 years ago.
 Dazai was from a very wealthy family, and his family made money as a loan shark during the Edo period. From the end of the Edo period to the Meiji era (1868-1912), these commercial capitalists were given access to agricultural land, forming the ‘landowning class’ of the Meiji era. Even today, this family (the Tsushima family) has produced a local politician (Tsushima Jun, grandson of Dazai), which clearly shows the ruling structure of Japan.
 Oops, that is not the main topic. The houses were built in such a historical background. As someone who has defined house-hunting as my ‘life’s work’, I walk around the country thinking that the NEXT area is to see living spaces that have been opened to the public.
 The quality of the snow in Tsugaru is similar to that of Hokkaido, but I can feel a considerable ‘difference’. Although Hokkaido people do not have such a big image of being ‘closed in’ by the snowfall, there is a heavy sense of entrapment in Tsugaru’s snow. Although the glass openings happen to be protected from the pressure of the snow by a buffer of plate insulation, this practice seems to have been avoided in Hokkaido even at this time of year (around 80-90 years ago). In contrast to the snowy and cold conditions, Tsugaru people seem to think that it is natural to build houses in other seasons as the basic climate.
 In Hokkaido, it would have been avoided to add snow load directly to the ‘sweep window’ as shown in this picture. Although they are in the same snowy country, there is a slight difference in the level of coldness, which may be the reason for this difference.
 Although from a traveller’s point of view, there is a strong sense of fellowship, and it is fun to talk with local people about these differences.

【母村という新たな民俗概念 十津川と「新十津川」-9】




 大阪豊中の民家園でみつけた「十津川の家」参観体験から、北海道人としてすぐに思い至った新十津川の由来、その地域同士の関係性について想念を巡らせてみた。本日でひと区切り。
 敬愛する作家・司馬遼太郎の著作でも「街道をゆく」シリーズで母村の十津川について「十津川街道」があり、そして子村にあたる新十津川についても同じシリーズで「北海道の諸道」で訪問記が記されている。そうした記述に導かれながら、こうした「母子関係」ということが、いかにも北海道らしい「民俗」の起点のひとつになるのではと感じている。
 わたし自身のことだけれど、自分の家系が江戸期、それ以前にどこの地に生きて、はるかに自分という人間がこの世に生成したか、いわばルーツに強く惹かれている部分がある。それが兵庫県の各地、そして広島県福山市、そして漠然としているけれど「紀州」さらには四国の愛媛県などに「痕跡」を探訪することが、まるでいのちの確証を求めるような心理で、その地の空気と対話していると感じている。そんなことから柳田國男の創始した「民俗」でも、あるいは柳宗悦の民藝運動などであまり触れられていない「北海道らしい民俗」というもののありようが、ほの見えてくる気がしてくる。
 もちろん北海道の日常の暮らしは明治以降の西洋文明の受容の最先端地域という側面が非常に大きい。その面が北海道らしい「民俗」のベースを形成していくことは間違いない。しかし一方で、北海道民それぞれの多様なルーツ感情がそこに投影されて、いわば「陰影」のように作用すると思える。
 司馬さんの新十津川探訪の記述を見ると、やはり戦後以降の科学的合理性・現代化が圧倒的なパワーを発揮して今日の北海道の地域のありようを構成しているのだということは自明。明治期までの伝統社会的な民俗が根付き発展したというよりも、やはり合理性発展が北海道の現在の本然の姿。しかしそうであっても新十津川の人びとは奈良県の十津川に対して「母村」というリスペクトを抱き続けている。そして母村の側でも、強い同胞意識を持ち続けている。
 北海道全体はそうした本州以南地域との「同胞」意識共有によって、新しい「民俗」意識を作り始めていると感じている。単なる地域性を超えた民俗。柳田民俗学の3分類に従えば「心意伝承」の進化形と捉えられる領域ではないだろうか。

English version⬇

[New folk concept of ‘mother village’ Totsukawa and ‘new Totsukawa’ – 9]
A sense of reverence for one’s roots. In a modernised society, I hope that this kind of spirituality will lead to a new ‘folklore’. …

 The experience of visiting a house in Totsukawa, which I found in a private house garden in Toyonaka, Osaka, immediately made me think about the origin of New Totsukawa, and the relationship between the areas. Today marks a break.
 In the ‘Kaido yuku’ series of books by the much-loved author Ryotaro Shiba, there is a section entitled ‘Totsukawa Kaido’ about Totsukawa, the mother village, and in the same series, a visit to Shin-Totsukawa, a child village, is described in ‘Hokkaido no Shurodo’ (Hokkaido Roads). Guided by these descriptions, I feel that this kind of ‘mother-son relationship’ is one of the starting points of a ‘folklore’ that is very typical of Hokkaido.
 As for myself, I am strongly attracted to the roots of where my family lineage lived in the Edo period and before, and how far back I came into the world. I feel that when I visit places in Hyogo Prefecture, Fukuyama City in Hiroshima Prefecture, Kishu and Ehime Prefecture in Shikoku, I am communicating with the atmosphere of those places, as if I am seeking for proof of life. From such a perspective, I feel that I can see a glimpse of the nature of ‘folk customs typical of Hokkaido’, which are not often mentioned in the ‘folk customs’ founded by Yanagida Kunio or in Yanagi Muneyoshi’s Mingei movement.
 Of course, Hokkaido’s daily life has a significant aspect of being a cutting-edge region in the acceptance of Western civilisation since the Meiji era. There is no doubt that this aspect forms the basis of ‘folklore’ typical of Hokkaido. At the same time, however, the diverse root feelings of the people of Hokkaido are projected onto it and seem to act as ‘shadows’, so to speak.
 Looking at Shiba’s description of his exploration of Shintotsukawa, it is obvious that the overwhelming power of scientific rationality and modernisation since the post-war period still constitutes the state of Hokkaido’s regions today. Rather than the traditional social folklore that took root and developed up to the Meiji period, rationality and development are still the true state of affairs in Hokkaido today. Even so, the people of Shintotsukawa continue to hold respect for Totsukawa in Nara Prefecture as their ‘mother village’. And even on the side of the mother village, they continue to have a strong sense of brotherhood.
 I feel that Hokkaido as a whole is beginning to create a new ‘folk’ consciousness by sharing such a sense of ‘compatriotism’ with the regions south of Honshu. Folklore that transcends mere regionality. According to the three classifications of Yanagida’s folklore, this is an area that can be regarded as an evolved form of ‘mind-mind transmission’.
 
 

【明治22年北海道への集団移住 十津川と「新十津川」-8】



 前章までで触れたような独特の地域風土と歴史経緯をもった十津川の地を大水害が明治22年夏におそう。
 地域産のスギ材などを出荷する地域の大動脈となっていた十津川自体の流路が大破綻してしまって、その復元のメドすら立たない中で、母村の破綻を知った明治政府に出仕していた同郷人たちが即座に政権中枢に働きかけて、折から移民を募り続けていた北海道への集団移住実現のために奔走し、超スピードでその難民救済という国家的な政策対応が実現する。明治22年8月の発災から10月には神戸港から集団移住の船が総数2691人を乗せて出航したという。すごい速度感。
 船は北海道・小樽港に着岸し、そこから汽車や徒歩で内陸部に入り、翌年6月半ばまで「屯田兵屋」で越冬した後、入植地として定められていた「トック」に入っていった。この地名はアイヌ語の「トックブト」(川の入口の突起)を意味し、石狩川と徳富(トップ)川の合流点の原野を指していた。その後、奈良県十津川村から村社・玉置神社を分祀して「新十津川」を地名とした。ちなみに玉置神社は世界遺産の絶景パワースポットとして知られる。日本人と神社信仰の関わり方、民俗性も伝わる故実。

 
 明治帝はこの十津川の惨事に際して当時の「弐千円」を下賜されて十津川の民の再起を祈念されたとされている。上の「告諭文」は当時の奈良県知事が「吉野郡十津川郷北海道移住者」に宛てたもの。
 「今や諸氏が墳墓の地を去って北海道に移るは今年八月、未曾有の災いに罹り一朝にして家産を失い生活其の方途を得さるが為にして心事を察すれば転々痛悼に堪えざるものあり然り・・・」と語り始めやがて「諸氏は古来勤皇を以て聞こゆる十津川郷の名族にして北海道はわが北門の鎖鑰(さやく)なり。」と記されている。そして「聖恩に答え奉らんことを諸氏、其れ勤めよや。別れに望み特にこれを告ぐ。」と締めくくられている。
 日本の歴史と北海道が出会ったワンシーンだけれど、象徴的な意味合いが感じられる。わたしたち北海道人のDNAの一断面にはこうした基底が存在していることが伝わってくる。

English version⬇

[Mass emigration to Hokkaido in 1889, Totsukawa and ‘New Totsukawa’ – 8]
The Meiji Emperor was also anxious about the disaster in Totsukawa and supported it. The mass emigration of the Tunda people. One episode in the history of Hokkaido. …

 In the summer of 1889, a major flood hit the region of Totsukawa, which had a unique local climate and historical background as mentioned in the previous chapters.
 The Totsukawa River itself, which was the main artery of the region for the shipment of locally produced cedar timber and other products, suffered a major breakdown, and with no time frame for restoration, the local people who had served in the Meiji Government, upon learning of the collapse of their mother village, immediately approached the centre of government and worked hard to realise mass emigration to Hokkaido, which had long been inviting immigrants. The national policy response to provide relief for the refugees was achieved with super speed. In October after the disaster in August 1889, a ship carrying a total of 2,691 people set sail from the port of Kobe. Amazing speed.
 The ships landed at the port of Otaru, Hokkaido, from where they entered the interior by train or on foot, wintered at the ‘Tondenbeiya’ until mid-June the following year, and then entered ‘Tok’, which had been designated as a settlement area. The name of this place means ‘Tokkbut’ (a projection at the entrance of a river) in Ainu, and referred to the wilderness at the confluence of the Ishikari and Tokutomi (Top) rivers. Later, a village shrine, Tamaki Shrine, was enshrined as a branch shrine from Totsukawa Village, Nara Prefecture, and ‘Shin Totsukawa’ was used as the place name. Incidentally, Tamaki Shrine is known as a World Heritage Site and a spectacular power spot. This is a late fact that also conveys the way Japanese people relate to shrine beliefs and their folklore.

 It is said that at the time of the Totsukawa disaster, the Meiji Emperor gave the people of Totsukawa ‘one thousand yen’ to pray for their revival. The above ‘letter of warning’ was addressed by the Governor of Nara Prefecture at the time to the ‘emigrants of Hokkaido, Totsukawa-go, Yoshino-gun’.
 The above ‘letter’ was addressed to the ‘emigrants of Totsukawa-go, Yoshino County, Hokkaido’ by the Governor of Nara Prefecture at the time. (Hokkaido is the key to our northern gate.’ Hokkaido is the key to our northern gate’. It then goes on to say: ‘Let us all work to answer to the Holy Ghost. In parting, I wish to say this in particular.’ It concludes.
 It is a scene where the history of Japan and Hokkaido meet, but it has a symbolic meaning. It shows us that this basis exists in a section of the DNA of the people of Hokkaido.