少年期、北海道で学校教育を受けはじめたときから、間宮林蔵とか伊能忠敬、松浦武四郎とかの人物名がいわば先験的に染み込んできていた。たしかに学校教育でその名を教えられたのだろうけれど、北海道に生まれ育った人間からすると強い直接感を持っていた。
けっしてかれらは他人ではなく、自分たちはその魂のようなものの末裔なのだという意識。北海道という地域意識を日本人に根底的に認識させた巨人のような先人意識があった。たぶん教育者のみなさん、少年教育に携わっていただいた先生たちの多くの魂を揺さぶっていたということなのでしょう。それが多感な少年期のわたしたちにも「染みわたって」いたのだと思う。
ロシアによるウクライナ侵略というおぞましい事態が発生して以来、こういう意識が自分自身の底の部分から湧き上がってくる感覚があった。そういう先人のひとり、間宮林蔵さんの「生家」というのが茨城県つくば市近郊にあり公開されているという。たまたま出張の用務先の近くでもあったので、自分自身の少年期の感覚と現実の間で、いわば魂の部分での探究ということで訪ねてみた。
もうとっくの昔に死んだ人間だけれど、現地に近づくにつれて「なつかしさ」の感情に満たされていって仕方なかった。少年期に感じていた人物像が意識下にあって、そのはるかな記憶領域がいまはノスタルジックな雰囲気をまとって脳内に存在しているに違いない。人間の意識構造、その歴史的な生成プロセスの領域部分でも強い興味がジワジワと湧き上がっていた。自分自身でも予期せぬ心理。
間宮林蔵の彫像が、かれの生まれた家に向き合って立っていた。
住宅という人間環境領域でながく仕事してきた人間として、このような配置関係で迫られることはまことに多くの気付きを仕掛けられてくる気がした。そうなのだ、人間はその生まれ育った空間環境に対して無限のノスタルジーを刷り込まれるのだ。いわば魂魄だけに還元された間宮林蔵さんは、ただわが家を見つめ続けている。「そこでどんな思いがかれのなかで生起するのだろうか」と、自然に強い興味関心がわたし自身の中に湧き上がってくる。
まるで住宅取材のような生々しい興味関心が盛り上がって、間宮林蔵さんと対話しながら、その生まれ育った住宅の細部を観察させられることになった。ふだん、いろいろな人と住宅の関わりを取材してきた人間として、バーチャルリアリティ感覚でそんな架空の設定が出来上がっていった。
English version⬇
Exploration of the Predecessor's House that Preserves the Soul of Hokkaido - Rinzo Mamiya's House of Birth - 1
Rinzo Mamiya was a late-Edo period ancestor who achieved an accurate understanding of the geography of the island of Hokkaido. As a local resident, this is a unique experience like visiting the residence of a benefactor. ...
Since I began my schooling in Hokkaido as a young boy, the names of people such as Rinzo Mamiya, Tadataka Ino, and Takeshiro Matsuura had been ingrained in my mind a priori, so to speak. Although the names may have been taught in schooling, they had a strong sense of immediacy for someone who was born and raised in Hokkaido.
They were not strangers to us, and we felt that we were descended from their souls. They were like giants who made the Japanese people fundamentally aware of the regional consciousness of Hokkaido. Perhaps this is what shook the souls of many of the educators and teachers who were involved in the education of boys. I believe that it "seeped" into us as impressionable boys.
Ever since the horrific events of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I have felt this kind of awareness rising up from the depths of my own being. One of his predecessors, Rinzo Mamiya's birthplace is located in the suburbs of Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and is open to the public. As it happened to be near where I was on a business trip, I decided to visit the house to explore the space between my own boyhood and the reality of my life, the part of my soul, so to speak.
Although I am a person who has long since passed away, as I approached the site, I couldn't help but be filled with feelings of nostalgia. The image of the person I had felt in my boyhood was under my consciousness, and the far-off memory area must now exist in my brain with a nostalgic atmosphere. I was also slowly becoming interested in the structure of human consciousness and its historical generative process. A psychology unexpected even to myself.
A statue of Rinzo Mamiya stood facing the house where he was born.
As someone who has worked for a long time in the human-environmental field of housing, I felt that being confronted with this kind of arrangement was a real challenge to my awareness. Yes, human beings are imprinted with unlimited nostalgia for the spatial environment in which they were born and raised. Rinzo Mamiya, reduced, so to speak, to his spirit, simply continues to gaze at his home. I naturally felt a strong interest in the house, wondering what kind of thoughts and feelings were arising in his mind.
This interest, which was as vivid as that of a residential interview, led me to observe the details of the house where Rinzo Mamiya was born and raised, while conversing with him. As a person who has usually covered the relationship between various people and their homes, I was able to create such an imaginary setting with a sense of virtual reality.
