【貴人接遇の床の間文化と現代住宅／松浦武四郎-7】

　わたしは北海道の「高断熱高気密の性能革命」の進行に随伴するように、その動向のリアルタイムを住宅雑誌出版というカタチでユーザーと情報共有してきた。企業経営面からは退いて、いまは「見守り隊」のような立ち位置ですが、一方でその延長・継続認識から離陸して、より「人間」に寄った住宅のテーマを深掘りしたいと全国各地の「古住宅」を訪ね歩くことをライフワークと考えています。情報事業としては「性能とデザイン」という領域から、そこで人間が「どう暮らしてきたか」に移ってきていると自己認識。
　そういう意味では「寒冷地の現代住宅」という基本取材対象から、むしろ「温暖地域の過去住宅と人間生活の相互関係」という領域に転進してきている。
　ちょうどいまは、三重県松阪市に残る北海道の名付け親・松浦武四郎の生家を訪ねるシリーズですが、その「離れ」には床の間和室という伝統的文化価値感にもとづく空間が残されている。北海道の現代住宅では、まったく皆無とは言わないけれど、こうした「貴人接遇」が主目的の住空間の必須必要性は、現代住宅からは大きく喪失してきてほぼ見かけない。
　生活文化・民俗としての貴人のための「仮の宿」機能は、全国の都市文化発展の大きな要素として旅館・ホテル建築が盛況をきわめて発展し、さらに「移動交通」手段も飛躍的に高度化したことで、一般の住宅文化からはほぼその必要性が失われてしまっている。40-50年前頃にわたしの叔父がそれまで函館から来ると札幌のわが家に宿泊していたものが「最近は、ホテルいっぱいあるから」とわが家で接遇を受けたあと、タクシーで駅前のホテルに移動して宿泊したことをなぜか鮮明に記憶している。そういう「接遇文化の基盤変容」が、わたしの生きてきた時代の日本に起こったということでしょう。
　わたしの高断熱高気密住宅ウォッチを大きなテーマとした住宅情報事業の過程では、取材していた住宅事例からこうした住の機能空間はほぼ「絶滅」してきていた。
　で、今回松浦武四郎の生家取材で記録写真の中に武四郎没後、この家を1960年に取材探訪された金田一京介教授（言語学者、民族学者。日本のアイヌ語研究の本格的創始者として知られる）が撮影されていて、それが「床の間」に床柱を背にして多くのひとと歓談している様子。まさに「貴人接遇」そのもの。

　そして日本の当時の「最高学識」を迎えた記念に「植樹」まで松岡家から所望されて、庭にサクラを植えられたとのこと。日本民俗の「応接文化」の実像・象徴を見させられる思いがしていました。
　松浦武四郎の取材テーマとも離れて、このような「日本住宅の機能性変容」の証拠写真のようにも思われた次第。松浦さん、金田一先生に感謝であります。

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English version⬇

[The Culture of Reception Rooms for Distinguished Guests and Modern Housing / Takeshiro Matsuura-7]
A culture of hospitality in which guests are seated with their backs to the bed pillar to show respect. Japanese folk culture, in which the spatiality of the room also expresses the status of the house. Experiencing the real-time disappearance of that culture...

　I have been sharing real-time information on the progress of the “high insulation and airtightness performance revolution” in Hokkaido with users through the publication of housing magazines. While I have stepped back from corporate management, I now take on a ‘watchdog’ role. However, I also aim to delve deeper into housing themes that are more “human-centric,” visiting old houses across the country as a lifelong pursuit. In terms of information business, I recognize that the focus has shifted from the realm of “performance and design” to how humans have lived in such environments.
In that sense, I have transitioned from the basic subject of “modern housing in cold regions” to the realm of “the mutual relationship between past housing and human life in warm regions.”
　Currently, I am working on a series visiting the birthplace of Matsura Takashiro, the namesake of Hokkaido, which remains in Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture. The “detached house” there still retains a traditional cultural space based on the concept of a tokonoma (alcove) and a Japanese-style room. While it is not entirely absent in modern Hokkaido housing, the necessity of such living spaces primarily intended for entertaining guests has largely disappeared from modern housing.
　The function of a “temporary lodging” for distinguished guests, as part of living culture and folklore, has largely disappeared from general residential culture due to the flourishing development of ryokan and hotel architecture as a major element of urban cultural development nationwide, as well as the dramatic advancement of transportation methods. Around 40-50 years ago, my uncle, who had previously stayed at my family's home in Sapporo when visiting from Hakodate, mentioned, “These days, there are plenty of hotels,” and after being hosted at our home, he moved to a hotel near the station by taxi. I vividly recall this incident. Such a “transformation of the foundation of hospitality culture” occurred in Japan during the era I lived through.
　In the process of my residential information business focused on high-insulation, high-airtightness homes, I observed that such functional living spaces had nearly “disappeared” from the residential cases I was researching.
　During my recent research on Matsura Takashiro's birthplace, I found a photograph in the records showing Professor Kaneda Ichikyo (a linguist and ethnologist known as the pioneer of Ainu language studies in Japan) visiting the house in 1960 after Takashiro's death. In the photo, he is seated against the bed pillar in the tokonoma, engaging in lively conversation with many people. It was truly a scene of “hosting distinguished guests.”
　And to commemorate the visit of Japan's leading intellectuals at the time, the Matsuoka family requested that cherry trees be planted in the garden. I felt that I was seeing the reality and symbolism of Japan's “entertaining culture.”
This seemed to be evidence of the “functional transformation of Japanese housing,” which was unrelated to Matsura Takeshiro's research theme. I am grateful to Mr. Matsura and Professor Kindaichi.

●Notice
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