「付知地域デザインミュージアム」は予めなにか明確なコンセプトを企図して立ち上がったわけではありません。現地に通い、地元のひとたちの話をきき、一緒にご飯をたべ住み込んで話し合い、手を動かしているうちに中山道と飛騨路を結ぶ旧街道沿いに明治8年創業の歴史を持つ上見屋さんを再生する試みがいつの間にかスタートしていました。どのような形をとるにせよ地域の暮らしのいずれもが空間の力を借りることなく十分な力を発揮することは難しい。だったら地域のための場所そのものをつくることができないだろうか。そういう想いは、旧街道のまちなみの中で建具屋さんや製材工場さんといった木の文化的関係がつくり出してきたさまざまな現場の力に呼応するように上見屋さんの再生工事とランドスケープデザインへと着地していきます。私たちは史料収集に基く地域資源の調査を進めながら、自動走行やリニア中央新幹線が変えようとしている地域の新たなつながり方についても何かできないだろうかと考え「付知地域デザインミュージアム」にリサーチアーキテクトという専門職を設けることにしました。
付知を訪れて、付知銀座と呼ばれる長い旧街道を歩くと小さな品のいい美術館やいくつもの古い旧家が立ち並んでいることに驚かされます。中を覗き込むと立派な檜の柱と黒ずんだ地松の梁で支えられた仄かに昏い土間のひんやりとした空気を感じることでしょう。聴こえてくる水の音に誘われるように用水沿いを歩けば畦道で仕切られた長閑（のどか）な田圃をここちいい風が吹き抜け、ぶらぶらと地形に沿うように段丘を登り切ると若宮神社にたどり着きます。境内には木組の立派な舞台があり、そこから眺める付知の風景は絶景といっていい。若宮神社の裏山を手掘りで抜いた若宮用水は高低差のある段丘の田畑を潤すために近世につくられ、今なお付知を支え続ける小さな地域資源といえるでしょう。用水の隙間には豊かな濃い緑陰とともに点在する御料林の歴史が育んだ檜や栗といった木々の性質を大切に継承されてきた家々が点在しています。こうした付知の美しい地域デザインと向き合いながら、リサーチアーキテクトたちは浪江や松山や那覇といったさまざまな地域と連携しいくつかの実践活動に取り組むとともに、こどもたちや大学生と共に地域の文化や新たなモビリティについて学びの試みもスタートしています。「付知地域デザインミュージアム」にぜひご期待ください。
羽藤英二 (付知地域デザインミュージアム館長 東京大学工学部教授)
Opening of the Tsukechi Territorial Design Museum with research architects
The Tsukechi Territorial Design Museum was not established with a clear concept in mind. As we visited the area, listened to the local people, ate with them, lived with them, discussed with them, and acted with them, we found ourselves trying to revitalize Agemiya, which was founded in 1875 along the old highway connecting the Nakasendo and Hida roads. Whatever form it takes, it is difficult for a local lifestyle to be fully effective without the help of space. Then, why not create a place for the community itself? With this in mind, we decided to focus on the power of various places born from a cultural relationship with wood, such as fixture shops and lumber mills on the old street, and to undertake the restoration work and landscape design of Agemiya. While conducting research on local resources based on the collection of historical documents, we wondered if we could do something about the new ways of connecting the region, which are changing due to autonomous vehicles and the Linear Central Shinkansen, and decided to create a new professional position of “research architect” at the “Tsukechi territorial design museum.
When you visit Tsukechi and walk along the long old street called “Tsukechi Ginza,” you will be surprised to see a small elegant museum and a row of old houses. Looking inside, you will feel the cool air in the slightly gloomy earthen floors supported by magnificent cypress pillars and blackened local pine beams. Walking along the irrigation channel as if lured by the sound of water, you will feel a pleasant breeze blowing through the quiet rice paddies separated by the rice field azemichi, and following the terrain up through the terraced rice fields, you will arrive at Wakamiya Shrine. Within the shrine grounds is a magnificent wooden stage from which one can enjoy a spectacular view of Tsukechi. The Wakamiya Irrigation Canal, dug out by hand from the mountain behind Wakamiya Shrine, was created in modern times to moisten the fields on the terraces with a difference in elevation, and is a small local resource that continues to support the surrounding area today. In the gaps between the irrigation canals, houses that have carefully inherited the characteristics of the cypress and chestnut trees nurtured in the history of the imperial forests are dotted with lush greenery and shade. The research architects, while dealing with the beautiful local design of the surrounding area, are also conducting several practical activities in collaboration with local communities such as Namie, Matsuyama, and Naha, and have begun to work with children and university students to learn about local culture and new mobility. Please stay tuned for more information on the “Tsukechi Territorial Design Museum”.
Eiji Hato
Director of Tsukechi Territorial Design Museum (Professor of the University of Tokyo)