さて３度目くらいの訪問になった「武相荘」参観。以前に全７回のシリーズ＜第１回はこちら＞で取り上げたので、まぁ基本的にはそれで完結しているのですが、訪問の度にちょっとずつ視点が変わっていることにも気付きます。
今回は住宅の住まい手のあるべき「自由度」と、それに対応できていた日本的「田の字型」間取りの奥行きについてまざまざと気付かされた次第。
なんですが、戦争の開始時期とほぼ同時期に東京での暮らしからこの地に移住した白洲さんの生き方にも強く惹かれている自分がいます。「金持ちのドラ息子」（笑）出自であって欧米留学からの人脈を持っていた白洲さんには敗戦は自然な成り行きだったことだろう。
そして吉田茂に請われて対米交渉の第一線でかれは活躍した。
日本国内での戦争推進派とは明確に道を分かって、敗戦必至と見ていたかれはなかば隠遁する。しかし敗戦後の総理をつとめた旧英国大使の吉田茂に請われ、戦後の立て直しに奔走する。吉田とは留学生時代からの旧知の仲だった。敗戦からの復興期に、かれのようなスタンスの人間は最適だっただろう。
現行憲法について「アメリカででも成立しない夢想的憲法」と占領軍の押しつけを批判的に語っている。占領軍のアメリカ側から「日本人で稀な原理原則を主張する硬骨漢」とみなされたという。アメリカ自身もこれが長く維持されるとは「夢想もしなかった」ものが70年以上も残っている。戦後日本は現実的に対応して冷静に復興の着地点を整理整頓していった。現実政治は一歩一歩でしか前進させられない。きれい事だけを言うのは非現実的であり民の暮らしにとって迷惑なのだ。
一方で生活環境としては、イマドキでいえば「テレワーク」最適の居住環境を求めたようにも思われる。そういう生き方の志向には廃・農家住宅は格好の住み処を提供した。
きのうも見たように暮らし方次第で融通無碍に千変万化する田の字間取りは「どうせ使い方はどんどん変わっていくし、手を加えていくのが自然だ」という住宅と暮らしへの透徹した達観を持っている人間からすれば、まことに環境としては最適だったのだろう。
そして今日ではWEB接続環境というカタチで「情報の自由」も加速してきているけれど、戦前戦後期の金持ちボンボンとしての高級外車は、ときどき東京都心を訪れなければならないときに、権力中枢への情報アクセスキーとして機能した。
たぶんこれから先の未来でも、この移動の自由は大きな領域を占めていくだろう。ビジネスはIT環境が整っていくことで居所に自由を与えたが、人類から「移動の自由」は決して奪えないだろう。たぶん始原期から人類の基本は「遊動」生活なのだと強く思う。
English version⬇
The automobile culture, the starting point of the postwar lifestyle.
People, information, labor, and mobility. These basic "freedoms" have been expanding rapidly. Both the development of telework from home and freedom of movement will continue to be aimed for in the future. The "origin of the postwar lifestyle," the automobile culture, and the "freedom of movement.
Well, this is my third or so visit to Busoso. Since we have previously covered the subject in a series of seven articles, well, that basically completes the series, but we also notice that the perspective changes a little bit each time we visit.
This time, I was reminded of the "degree of freedom" that a homeowner should have and the depth of the Japanese "tano-shaped" floor plan that was able to accommodate this freedom.
However, I am also strongly attracted to the way of life of Mr. Shirasu, who moved to this area from Tokyo at about the same time the war started. For Mr. Shirasu, who was a "rich man's son" (laugh) and had connections from his studies in Europe and the United States, the defeat in the war would have been a natural consequence.
At the request of Shigeru Yoshida, he was at the forefront of negotiations with the United States.
He had a clear path to follow with the war proponents in Japan, and he went into seclusion for a while, seeing the inevitability of defeat. However, he was befriended by Shigeru Yoshida, the former British ambassador to Japan, who served as prime minister after the defeat, and worked hard to rebuild the country after the war. Yoshida was an old acquaintance of Yoshida's from his days as a foreign student. A man with a stance like Yoshida's would have been ideal for the postwar reconstruction period.
He is critical of the current Constitution, calling it "a dreamlike constitution that could not have been enacted even in the U.S." and saying that it was imposed by the occupying forces. The U.S. side of the occupation force regarded him as "a hard-nosed man who insisted on principles rare among Japanese. The U.S. itself "never dreamed" that this would be maintained for so long, and it has remained in place for more than 70 years. Postwar Japan responded pragmatically and calmly organized the landing site for reconstruction. Realpolitik can only move forward step by step. It is unrealistic to talk only about "pretty things," and it is a nuisance to the people's livelihood.
On the other hand, as a living environment, they seem to have sought an optimal living environment for "teleworking" in the modern sense. For this kind of lifestyle, abandoned farmhouses provided the perfect place to live.
As we saw yesterday, the "tano-ji" floor plan, which can be changed in any number of ways depending on the way of living, was the perfect environment for those who have a thoroughgoing and enlightened view of housing and living, saying, "The way of living changes rapidly anyway, and it is natural to make modifications to the house.
Today, "freedom of information" has been accelerated in the form of a web-connected environment, but the luxury foreign cars of the prewar and postwar rich bon vivants functioned as information access keys to the center of power when they had to visit central Tokyo from time to time.
This freedom of movement will probably continue to occupy a large area in the future. Business has given freedom of location through the development of the IT environment, but it will never be able to take "freedom of movement" away from humankind. I strongly believe that the basis of human life has been "mobility" since the primitive times.
