A drop of water 3 – Autumn

「デザインは見たんだけど、どの染め方をするのがいいかしらと思っているのよ」。染めの職人が白生地を手にして言う。細くてシャープな線は、型や糊を使わない自身のスタイルには不向きではないかと悩んでいたらしい。そう言いながら、小さなサンプルを染め上げて航空便で送る。すると、前とは違うイメージが添付されてきた。直線で構成される織のコレクションと対照的に、にじみの特徴を活かしたものになっていた。またそれを見て「どうかなあ」と唸っている。いつもの躍動的な染めに比べて、より厳密な染料の制御が必要になるそうだ。

“I saw the design, but I’m wondering which dyeing method to use”. An artisan dyer picked up the virgin material. She was worried that her dyeing method, without using a stencil or glue, wouldn’t be suitable for what the designer imagined. She dyed a small sample and sent it by airmail.

An image returned, but strikingly different from the previous one. In contrast to the designer’s earlier work, featuring images made up of straight lines, this new image seemed to be more suitable to the characteristics of a bleeding technique. Seeing the new version, she muttered, “I wonder how I’ll do it?”. Compared to her usual dynamic dyeing, it seemed that more strict dye control would be required.

デザインと技法の往復書簡が続き、いよいよ再サンプル制作の日。フリーハンドから板締めという技法に切り替えてのチャレンジだ。ステンレスボウルを火にかけ、いくつかの黒い染料をボトルから数プッシュずつ加える。黒というのは調合が特にむずかしいとのこと。青みの黒、赤みの黒、黄みの黒…果たして彼はどんな黒がイメージなのかしらと考える。細かい指定がない分、余白の大きさが職人の想像力を膨らませていた。

Going back and forth, letters between the designer and the dyer continued, until it was finally the day of the latest sample production. It is a challenge to switch from freehand to using a board-tightened technique. She heats a stainless steel bowl of water and adds some black dyes from different bottles with a few squeezes. Black is especially difficult to formulate. Bluish black, reddish black, yellowish black… she wonders what kind of black he has in mind. As he hasn’t explained precisely his intention, her image broadens.

一旦作業がスタートすると、あれよと言う間に染料が布に吸われてゆく。「それでも奥の方まで入っていなかったりするのよ」。布に染料が染み込みすぎないように、染めるべきところには色が入るように。手と腕の秒単位の操作は、染めという行為の運動性を表していた。

Once the work starts, the dye is absorbed into the cloth but, as she remarks, “It still doesn’t go through the material”. She has to control the soaking of the cloth so that the colour doesn’t dye too much in particular areas, but does dye enough where it is needed. The dexterous and rapid movement of her hands and arms represents the tactile act of dyeing itself.

数枚のサンプルを経て、刷毛を持ちながら突如として声が弾む。「あ！分かった」。どうやって染料のコントロールを効かせるか、ひらめきの瞬間。手を動かさないと、たどり着かない。「ちょっと手間はかかるけど」と付け加えながら安堵の表情が見えた。路上のスピーカーから大音量で音楽が流れる。正午の知らせだ。朝7時、8時30分、12時、13時、17時、ときどき20時。地域によって回数に違いはあるが、メロディだったりサイレンだったりで時を知らせてくれる。

She is holding her brush when, after going through several samples, her voice exclaims, “Oh! I‘ve got it!”. Suddenly, a moment of inspiration as to how to control the dye comes to her. You can’t reach this point unless you’re moving your hand. “It takes a bit more effort”, but I could see her expression of relief. At noon loud music is played from the speakers on the street. It plays at 7:00, 8:30, 12:00, 13:00, 17:00, and sometimes 20:00. The number of times varies depending on the region, but the melody, or sometimes a siren, tells the time.

「職人のデザインは、行為そのものにデザインがあると思うの」。昼食を取りながら何気なく発せられた言葉にビクッとする。職人たちは、ときどきパワーワードを降らせてくる。ものごとの核を捉えた鋭い言葉。身体に蓄積したものづくりの経験は、言葉としても抽出されるようだ。帰りがけに柿と蜜柑を持たされる。機屋に道具を借りに行っても柿やおやつを持たされる。今年は柿の表年だから、富有柿も美濃柿もどっさりと「ぼる」ことができる。「ぼる」は果実をもぎ取る時の方言。軒先に美しく整列した美濃柿を見るにつけ、几帳面な職人の町だと感心するのだった。

“I think the craftsman’s design is in the act itself”. I was struck by her words, casually spoken as we were having lunch. Craftsmen sometimes drop power words. An unambiguous word that captures the core of things, as if the accumulated experience of producing things with the body distills itself in language. On the way home, she gave me some persimmons and mandarin oranges. Even when I went to the weavers to borrow tools, I would be given persimmons and snacks. This year was a good year for persimmons, so both Fuyu and Mino varieties were abundant. “Boru” is a word in the local dialect for picking fruit. When I saw how beautifully arranged the Mino persimmons were, drying under the eaves of the rooves of the houses here, I immediately sensed that this was a town of craftsmen.

ガランと大きな部屋に、ハンモックが浮いている。天井の蛍光灯は何箇所かだらんとぶら下がっていた。「野球チームの練習場に貸していたから、ボールが当たったんだと思います」。元は糸を撚る機械が並んでいたという部屋を通過して、隣の建物へ。地域でいっとう大きな工場には革新織機と呼ばれる機械が並び、高速で織物を製造していた。

A hammock is floating in a large room. The fluorescent lights on the ceiling were precariously hanging off-centre in several places. The owner says, “I think they were hit by baseballs when I lent the space to the team for practice”. I passed through another cavernous room where machines for twisting yarn were lined up, and went into the next building. Machines called “innovative looms” were lined up in this, the largest factory in the area, producing textiles at high speed.

敷地には何棟もの建物が連なっている。軒先には染めの設備や業務用の冷凍庫が置かれ、階段上の倉庫には小料理屋で使っていた座卓や食器が並び、手機の部品も積まれていた。この町が好景気に湧いた頃、いわゆる「旦那衆」が大勢いて、火鉢の番をしながらいろんな商売に手を出していたらしい。この辺りの川にスッポンが自生しているのは、旦那衆の間でスッポン養殖が流行ったから。嘘か誠か、他所で聞いた話だ。「おじいちゃんが何でも始める人だったんです。片付けが大変だし、大きくしたものをコンパクトにするのはとても難しい」。Uターンをして家業に入った若き職人が苦笑いをする。糸に糊付けをする場所、撚りを加える場所、そして織る場所。それぞれの建物を往復するだけでも大変で、なるべく設備を集約したいけれどそうもいかない。動かして調子がおかしくなるリスクの方が高いからと、昔の配置のままにしてあるということだった。

There are many buildings on this site. Dyeing equipment and a freezer for commercial use were placed outside. Tables and tableware used in a small restaurant were in storage up the stairs, as were parts for hand-weaving machines. When this town was booming, there were a lot of gentlemen owners, overseeing various businesses from comfortable positions in front of their charcoal heaters. I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but I heard that in rivers around here soft-shelled turtles can be seen in the wild, because turtle farming was once a popular gentleman’s occupation.“Grandpa was the one who started everything. It’s hard to close the business and it’s very difficult to make a big thing smaller”. This young man, who made a U-turn from the city and joined his family business, makes a wry smile. Where to starch the yarn, where to twist, and where to weave. It’s difficult just to go back and forth between each building, and although he wants to consolidate the facilities as much as possible, it’s easier said than done. Some of the equipment is left in the old layout because it is old itself, and might not work properly if moved.

先代たちの仕事を整理するという大仕事を背負いながら「サラリーマンよりやりがいがあって面白い」と淡々と語る若手が、今日も糸を繋いでいる。デザイナーがこの機場から注目した生地は、30年前に織られていた生地を復刻したものだ。「僕が初めて手がけた製品だったので嬉しい。やっぱり、思い入れがあります」。大きくうねりのある生地に、インクジェットで新しいイメージを乗せて。古いもの、大きいもの、新しいもの、残すもの。いろんな糸がレイヤーとなって、織物となっていく。

This man, who took on the Herculean task of organizing the work of his ancestors simply says, “It’s more rewarding and interesting than working for an ordinary company,” as he continues tying the threads today.The textile that the designer chose from this hataba is a reproduction of a textile that was woven 30 years ago. “I’m happy because it is the first product I’ve worked on, so I have a special feeling for it”. The new image is made on the large and undulating fabric with an inkjet printer. Old, big, new remain: various threads that together make up layers and turn into a woven textile.

通路に細長い紙が積み上げられていた。整経という仕事をしていた会社が廃業して、「廃棄するくらいなら」ともらい受けたらしい。織物には、織る前と後にもたくさんの仕事があって、どれも高い技術が求められる。高度成長期に、効率を求めて分業化されていった。ひとつの仕事が欠けただけで織物が成り立たなくなるという話は、各地で耳にする。茶色い紙にはいろんな会社の印が押されていた。今ではカタカナ名になっているメーカー、旧漢字使いの老舗、遠い地方の工場。あちこちに張り巡らされた糸の脈が、ここに運んできた紙だった。この土地で、何年の時を過ごすことになるのだろう。次の場所へ流れていくことはあるのだろうか。

A heap of elongated warp-thick paper, curling at the edges, was piled up in the aisle. It was going to be discarded by a warping subcontractor who went out of business. Before and after the actual weaving is completed there are many jobs to be done, all of them requiring highly skilled techniques. During the period of high economic growth, division of labor was carried out in search of efficiency. I hear that now, in many places, textiles cannot be made because just one part of the whole process is lacking. The logos and seals of various weaving companies that had used this paper were stamped on it, revealing a network that stretched all over Japan, with factories in distant regions. Some of them have gone, but some are long-established manufacturers. Their company logos are stamped in old form kanji that are not commonly used anymore; today their names are re-branded in katakana. The warp-thick paper finally comes to rest here, its journey over. How many years will it spend here? Will it ever move to another place?

埃を軽く拭き取って、痛んでいるものは処分して。織物にまつわる道具は、とにかく数が大量に必要となる場合が多い。紙製のものも積み重なるとずっしり重く、スチールの棚に持ち上げるのも一苦労だ。棚の上には、ステンレスの筒がぶら下がっている。ここには鋳物製のダルマストーブが置いてあった。熱源はコークス。冬のはじめに一冬分のコークスを仕入れて、骨に染みる寒さをしのいでいたそうだ。冬支度にと薪を積み上げる家もちらほら見かける。最近では雪も少なくなったが、湿気のせいで寒いというより冷たい冬が、またやって来る。日没はどんどん早くなって、日の暮れた機場に残っていると深夜のように感じられた。

We gently wipe off the dust and dispose of any damaged sheets. A large number of them are required in textile-related tools. These paper items are very heavy when

stacked, and it is difficult to lift them onto the steel shelves. A stainless steel tube is hanging above the shelf. There was a cast iron stove here. The heat source was coke. At the beginning of winter, I see houses where a winter’s worth of coke has been bought by the residents to keep out the cold that permeates their bones. There are also houses piling up firewood in preparation for winter. In recent years there has been less snow, and the damp here brings winter chill rather than dry cold. The sunset is getting earlier and earlier, and it feels like midnight when I am still in the factory.

A drop of water 3 – Autumn

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