著者

漆原 和子

出版者

法政大学国際日本学研究所

雑誌

国際日本学 = INTERNATIONAL JAPANESE STUDIES (ISSN:18838596)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.4, pp.77-103, 2007-03-31

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On the island of Tsushima, situated between the Japanese mainland and South Korea, prevailing northeasterly to northwesterly winds during winter cause more problems for daily life than the typhoons that attack the island only rarely. It has hence been necessary for the inhabitants to find ways to protect themselves from these winds. On the western coast of the island, high stone walls of sandstone or slate have been built around residences. In addition to the main building, they also constructed separate sheds known as itakura for the storage of food, tools, and furniture. Traditionally with slate roofs, these sheds were also a type of insurance against the spread of fire. In recent years, tiles have replaced the slate.The city of Izuhara on the east coast is situated on an alluvial plain well protected from the prevailing winter winds. Since it was an old castle town with a quarter of densely built houses known as bukeyashiki, stone walls were constructed around the houses to prevent the spread of the fires that were common in such circumstances. Several of these fire-prevention walls survive even today. They date back to the sixteenth century or so.Two styles of dry stone wall construction can be observed on Tsushima. The first is what I tentatively call the Ryūkyū style, which is to be found in Ryūkyū and the southern Korean island of Cheju. It uses rounded stones at its corners. The second is what I tentatively call Honshu style, which is to be found on Honshu. It is characterized by sharp corners, curved inwards in the vertical axis, produced by stacking angularly cut stones at 90° angles to one another at the corners, while the remainder of the wall is of natural and cut stones piled in Anō-zumi fashion. The existence of the first type of wall suggests strong cultural influence from Korea.On the island of Okinoshima, further east in the Japan Sea, the seasonal prevailing winds have been warded off with a combination of hedges and stone walls. These stone walls are in the Honshu style; protection from the wind is also accomplished with wooden and bamboo fences. Walls of the Ryūkyū style, however, are not to be found on Okinoshima. The border of the Ryūkyū style is therefore located between Tsushima and Okinoshima, and this appears to represent a border of localization of a characteristic component of Japanese culture.