旅立ち Tsuchida san’s new journey

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2015.04.27 Mon

旅立ち　Tsuchida san’s new journey

今日は私の人生を変えてくれた、そして誰よりも巻のことを考えていた方が
とても勇気のいる決断をして巻から離れることになったのでお話しします。

One
of the founders in our project has decided to leave Maki. He has
changed my life in many ways, and he’s been always thinking about
Maki.

私は10年前に大学の卒業制作で鯛車をつくることになったときに
まずは巻のことを知らなければならないと思い、巻の役場に行きました。
そこで今日の話しの主役「土田さん」に会いました。

Ten
years ago, I decided to make my first Taiguruma for my graduation
work at a unitversity. Around that time, I went to Maki town office
in order to know more about Maki and its culture including Taiguruma.
At that time, I met Him, Tsuchida san, there. I’d like to write an
article about him.

※土田さん＝土田真清さん（出会った当時45歳）巻生まれ、
東京の大学を卒業後、巻に戻り役場に入る。

Tuchida
san’s full name is Masumi Tsuchida. He was forty five years old
when I met him for the first time. He was born in Maki. After
graduating from a university in Tokyo, he returned to Maki and
started working at Maki town office.

初めて会ったとき、古い型のゴルフ（ワーゲン）に乗っていて
ピンク色のワイシャツでノーネクタイ、色黒でさわやか
自分が思い描く公務員とはかけ離れた存在でした（笑）

He
broke my typical image of city servants I had then. His car was the
old type of Volkswagen Golf, he was wearing a pink shirt without a
tie. He was relatively tanned. He was fresh in many ways, and these
were just far away from what I could imagine about typical Japanese
city servants. Japanese typical city servants could mean slimly those
who formally dress up and not like him.

その後、私は大学卒業後、鯛車を巻祭りに出そうと実家で作っていた時に、
土田さんが当時担当していた巻の広報紙に取り上げてくれることになり
取材をきっかけに意気投合しました。
鯛車は亡くなった土田さんのお父さんも作ったことがあり
特に思い入れが強かったようです。

Later
on, after my graduation Tsuchida san knew that I was making Taiguruma
for Maki festival, and put an article for Maki public relations
magazines. Tsuchida san was in charge of Maki public relations
magazine then. When he was interviewing me, we shared a lot of
thoughts and found that we had lots in common. Tsuchida san’s
deceased father made Taiguruma. So, Tsuchida san must have had a
special feeling towards Taiguruma.

その土田さんがつくった広報誌がとても斬新で
表紙は私が鯛車を作っている写真をどーんと載せて
中身は鯛車の歴史から、作り方、町で鯛車を作っている人など
巻の全世帯に配る広報誌が鯛車一面に（笑）
あのよく区ごとに配られている広報誌ですよ。
すごくないですか！？

His
edited Maki public relations magazine was outstanding. In the front
cover, there was a huge picture of Taiguruma I made, and in the other
pages, there were articles about Taiguruma’s history, instruction
to make them, people who make Taiguruma. That magazine contained full
of information about Taiguruma. It’s thrilling that Taiguruma
focused magazines were distributed to each household in the entire
ward.

その後、大勢の人たちから、あの広報誌は大事にとってある、
あの広報誌を見て鯛車のことを知った、鯛車をつくりたくなったなどなど、
町の人たちにとっても衝撃だったに違いありません。
あの広報誌で鯛車に興味を持ち、
今教室の先生になっている人もいるくらいです。

After
the publication, I’ve often heard that quite few people have been
keeping that magazine since that time. There is a fact that a lot of
people got to know Taiguruma because that magazine interested them.
Some of our current Taiguruma instructors got interested in Taiguruma
then and became instructors later.

それから2004年に町に眠っていた鯛車を集めて商店街で展示した「鯛車展」、
2005年からは鯛車を町の人たちにおしえて、
作り手を増やしていこうと「鯛車教室」を一緒に企画しました。

In
2004, we gathered Taiguruma from anywhere in Maki and held an
exhibition, “Taigurumaten”, in Maki shopping district. Since 2005
we have started Taiguruma workshops to teach residents how to make
Taiguruma and increased the number of people who could make
Taiguruma.

そこがきっかけで２人で立ち上げたのが鯛車復活プロジェクトでした。
年は20歳以上離れていたので親子みたいな感じですが、
今まで私を同じ目線で観てくれていました。

This
is the start of Taiguruma Revival Project. Tsuchida san and I started
the project. The age difference between him and me was more than 20
years, and we were like a father and a son. However, he always tried
to understand what I thought and felt.

一軒一軒巻のお店へ連れていってもらい、巻の人たちと繋げてくれて、
私が町を好きになれたのは間違いなく土田さんのおかげです。

He
took me every single shop located in Maki and connected me with
people in Maki. He made me realized positive aspects of Maki and
definitely started loving Maki more than ever because of him.

そして土田さんのすごいところは、口に出した目標を必ず実現させること。
お盆に鯛車がたくさん出るようになったのも、拠点となる鯛の蔵ができたのも、
ティファニー賞も、ガルベストンも全て実現しました。

Tuchida
san was amazing in a way he always realized what he said which means;

Recently,
in summer we can see a lot of Taiguruma everywhere in Maki.

There
is a building called “Tainokura” which functions as the head
quarter of the project.

We
won 2011 Tiffany Foundation Award.

We
see people coming in and out between Maki and Galveston in recent
years through Taiguruma workshops.

Everything
was achieved because of Tsuchida san.

それは全て偶然ではなく、土田さんがいつも努力をしてきた結果なんですね。
私が何の不自由もなく活動できていたのは
いつも私の裏で地道に活動の流れを作っていてくれたからです。

Everything
was not accidental. Everything was achieved because Tsuchida san made
countless efforts to realize them. I could do what I wanted to do
since he always supported me. Behind me, he was always next to me and
led me to right tracks.

土田さんからよく言われたのが、
お世話になった人たちに感謝の気持ちを忘れないこと。
単純に聞こえるかもしれませんが、
人と人を繋げていく私たちの活動の根底にある最も大切なところです。
今でも何かを成し遂げた時には、必ずこの言葉が頭の中に浮かびます。

He
always told me that I should thank people who supported me. It may
not sound special at all. However, this is the most important factor
to connect people with each other. Even now, whenever I achieve
something, his words are always in my mind.

昨夜、初めて土田さんに会った頃に連れて行ってもらった
巻の喫茶店「万茶亭」に行きました。
そこのお店のママが話してくれたのが、昨年のママの誕生日
しばらくお店に来ていなかった土田さんから
日が替わるギリギリに「まだ間に合うかな」というおめでとうメールが
着たそうです。これが土田さんなんです。

Last
night I went to a coffee shop, “Bansatei(万茶亭)”.
When I met Tsuchida san for the first time, he took me to this shop.
The owner shared a very interesting story about him with me. When her
birthday last year was to about to end just before 12:00pm, she
received a birthday e-mail from Tsuchida san saying “It’s still
your birthday, right? Happy birthday!”. This story shows what
Tsuchida san is all about. He is really kind to everyone.

そんな土田さん、昨日で市役所を早期退職して
明日から三重県の大学に通うことになりました。
以下土田さんがfacebookで揚げていた言葉です。

Yesterday,
he retired from Niigata city hall earlier than his official
retirement age, and left for Mie prefecture. Tomorrow he will be a
university student. Let us share what he said on his recent post in
his Facebook account below.

土田さんがどんな想いで巻を離れるのか、
鯛車のメンバー、そして巻のみんなにも知ってもらいたいので
掲載させてください。土田さん、私のワガママをお許し下さい。

I’d
like for the project members and all people in Maki and other places
to know his statements on Facebook.

今まで本当にありがとうございました！
三重でもたくさんの人たちを繋げてきてください。
そして巻に帰ってくるのを楽しみに待っています！

Tsuchida
san, thank you for supporting me all the time. I’m sure he will
connect more people in Mie prefecture too. Then, we really look
forward to seeing him in Maki when he’s back in Maki.

——————————————————————————————————————
私は社家ではありませんが、
この10年間ほど、仕事に関しては地域コミュニティのこと、
プライベートでは地域振興に関係することを行ってきました。その結果、
地域コミュニティの再生には、地域共通のテーマが必要であると考えました。

I’m
not from a family of Shinto priests serving a shrine on a hereditary
basis. However, what I realized after working on local community
about 10 years in my full time job and community-development related
activities in my spare time is that a common theme is required among
local people in order to activate local community.

日本人は古来より、自然に対して畏敬の念を抱き、
民族としての思想や哲学を形作って来たと思います。
それが基になって、「いたわり」や「思いやり」など、
日本人の特徴である「優しい心」が生まれたのではないでしょうか。

Since
ancient times Japanese people have been having a feeling of reverence
or awe for nature and formed own idea and philosophy as Japanese
races. Based on this fundamental mindset, I think Japanese people
started sharing consideration for others in a way that we always try
to be kind to each other.

そういった意味で神道は、自然崇拝の源であり、
これを抜きに私たち日本人の本質を理解できないものと考えます。
地域コミュニティの再生には、そこに暮らす人々を結ぶ「何か」が必要です。

In
this sense, Shinto is a resource of nature worship, and without
Shinto I think it’s not possible to understand the texture of
Japanese people. For the regeneration of local communities we need
“something in common” among local residents.

日本の歴史上、その最大公約数が地域の「神社」であり、「祭り」であったと思います。
人と人とのつながりを再構築すること以外に、地域コミュニティの再生はありえません。
その大きなテーマが「神道」にあるのではないかと、自分なりに解釈した次第です。

We
could see this “something in common” in “shrines or festivals
at shrines” as sort of greatest
common measures in each local
community. The regeneration of local communities would never be
achieved without connecting local people.

In
this way, I felt the common theme exists in “Shinto”. This is my
assumption.

一年間の勉強で、その答えが見つかるかどうか分かりませんが、
新しい出会いや知識の中に、自分なりの気づきがあり、
今後の進むべき道が見つかるものと信じています。

I
will study about it for one year at a university. I’m not sure if I
can find an answer for that in one year. However, I believe that I
will find something new in learning new things and meeting new people
ther. So, I believe this new step becoming a university student will
lead me to right ways to proceed in the future.

これまで、お世話になった皆さん、本当にありがとうございました。
立場は変わりますが、「志」は変わりません。
今後も、どうぞよろしくお願いします。
3月25日に伊勢へ旅立ちます。

I’d
like to thank everything and people who’ve supported me very much.

I
will be in a new position as a university student. However, my will
never change.

I’m
looking forward to working with you again sometime in the future. I
will leave for Ise in Mie prefecture on the 25th of March
2015.

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