わたしは昨年でこれまで手掛けてきた事業関係からは一歩退いたカタチですが、ひとそれぞれで「高齢化」と向き合うところ、わたしの場合はどうも趣味生活に没頭するとかは、まったく性に合わないようです。習い性ということか。
結局、これまで積み重ねてきた経験って、そのなかに大きな「数寄」の要素があるようで、いまはその志向性を自分なりに純化させたような方向に向かっています。昨日はその動きの中で核心的なことに明確な進展があって、さて、というところ。今後、発表できる段階になったら、徐々にご案内していきたいと思っています。
さて、先日「床の間」という日本的な精神性の根幹のような住宅装置について考察しましたが、それと並んで「ふすま絵」というような表現領域もある。上の写真は大阪・堺が出身地である女流作家・与謝野晶子のふすま絵。下の写真は一般的なふすま絵が置かれた家の中での雰囲気を写し撮ったものです。＜どちらもわたし自身の撮影＞
与謝野晶子のふすま絵は、前妻と離婚のうえで晶子と結婚した夫君の与謝野鉄幹がヨーロッパに旅行していて、かれを追って渡欧しようとした晶子さんが、その旅費を稼ぎ出すのに、作品として知人に買い取ってもらったふすま絵ということ。
彼女は戦前期「大正浪漫」最盛期を彩った作家ですが、当時としては画期的な女性の自我や性愛を詠い、浪漫派歌人としてのスタイルを確立したとされる。どうも最近、この大正浪漫時期から戦前の時期に興味がありまして、そういう時代の雰囲気の底流に彼女の存在があるように思っております。
それはいいのですが、ふすま絵という形式には日本的伝統かあるいは中国的な文化スタイルなのか、こういう漢詩のような文章と、その筆致をビジュアルとして鑑賞するという文化が日本には根強かったのですね。掛け軸などでも似たようなテーマで作品化される。ちょっと首を捻るのには、政治家の書なども珍重されたりもする文化があった。
現代ではこういった要素も住宅インテリアとしてはほぼ絶滅危惧種。
絵画であればこういう表現手段も現代でもすなおに受け入れられるけれど、著名人・文化人の書いた文章などがこうやってピンナップされる、それに高額な報酬を支払う文化というものが日本には伝統的に存在したのでしょう。
建築的に考えると、ふすまという建材自体が芸術品として取り扱われたということになる。こういった文化が存在したことと、現代住宅ではほぼ姿を消していることの両方が、非常に興味深いと思っています。ふ〜む、といったところ。
English version⬇
Fusuma-e, a decorative element of Japanese-style rooms, is a form of expression.
Fusuma, a building material, was sublimated and valued as a kind of artwork. I am interested in both the culture of appreciating such things and their disappearance. I am interested in both the culture of loving these things and their disappearance.
Last year I took a step back from the business I have been involved in, and while everyone faces "aging" in their own way, in my case, it does not seem to suit my nature at all to devote myself to hobbies and lifestyle. I guess it is a habit of mine.
In the end, the experience I have accumulated so far seems to have a large "sukiyomi" element in it, and I am now moving in a direction that seems to have purified that orientation in my own way. Yesterday, I made a clear progress on the core of this movement, and now I'm just getting started. I would like to gradually announce the results when we are ready to make an announcement.
Now, the other day I discussed "tokonoma," a housing device that seems to be the root of Japanese spirituality, and along with it, there is another area of expression such as "fusuma-e," or fusuma paintings. The photo above is a fusuma-e by Yosano Akiko, a female writer whose hometown was Sakai, Osaka. The photo below is a shot of the atmosphere in a house with a common fusuma-e. ＜Both photos were taken by myself.
Akiko Yosano's fusuma-e (fusuma paintings) are said to have been created by her husband, Tekkan Yosano, who had married Akiko after divorcing his ex-wife and was traveling in Europe, and Akiko, who wanted to follow him to Europe, bought them as artworks from an acquaintance to earn money for the trip.
She was a writer who colored the heyday of "Taisho Romanticism" in the prewar period, and it is said that she established her style as a Romantic poet by composing about female ego and sexual love, which was groundbreaking at the time. Recently, I have been interested in the period between the Taisho Romantic Period and the prewar period, and I feel that she is at the bottom of the atmosphere of that era.
I think she was at the bottom of the atmosphere of that period. Similar themes are used to create works of art in hanging scrolls and the like. To twist the question a bit, there was also a culture in which the calligraphy of politicians was also highly valued.
Today, these elements are almost endangered for home interiors.
While paintings can be easily accepted today as a means of expression, the culture of pinning up writings by celebrities and cultural figures and paying high fees for them must have existed in Japan for centuries.
From an architectural point of view, fusuma, the building material itself, was treated as a work of art. I find it very interesting both that such a culture existed and that it has almost disappeared in modern housing. Hmmm.