第七日 唐津 - 長崎

 

有田

今日も朝から日差しが強い。日に焼けることこの上なし！３日の徒歩旅ですでに手の甲、顔はかなり焼けて褐色になっている。１日８－９時間屋外なのだから農家の人にも負けないだろう。

午前中、唐津の洲の部分である虹の松原をドライブしてから、駅近くにある旧唐津銀行本店を見る。銀行が今のように薄っぺらくない（？）まだ重厚さのある時代の建物で、それなりに外部も内部も美しい。

辰野金吾さんという人の設計によるものだが、彼の「作品」は現代まで数多く残っている。有名なところでは東京駅、日本銀行。建築家という職業が確立したのも彼のお陰であるらしい。

唐津焼の展示と唐津くんちというお祭りの際に曳かれる山車の展示も見る。年季が入っているはずの山車であるのに手入れが良くて、その様にはとても見えない。

好印象の唐津を後に、磁器の町―大川内山、伊万里、有田を通過しー様々な磁器を見るが、これが同じ伊万里？

これが同じ有田？と思うほど、作家さんによって違うので、判別が私には難しかった。何しろ実家の片付けで、大量の磁器、陶器を捨てたばかりの私。とても買う気になれずに、見るだけになった。

土曜日で道が混むかもしれないからとワルターは西の端の海辺の道を選んで長崎にむかうことにしたが、小さな島が浮かんでとても風光明媚なところだった。五島列島までが見える視界もあった。途中フランス人の神父さんが建てた小さな教会の近くにあった珈琲店で店主（女性）と話したところ、彼女は東京の出身だそう。冬も薪ストーブ一つで十分凌げる寒さで、氷が張ったりすることはなく温暖な気候だそうだ。近辺には現在もカトリック信者がとても多いという話だった。

今日明日は長崎泊。中華街にあるホテルで、夜はさっそく長崎ちゃんぽんと皿うどんを試す。スープがどちらもコクがあり、私がこれまで食べていた長崎ちゃんぽん、皿うどんは何だったの？と思うほど一味も二味も味が違う。やはり本場のせいか！？

Before we leave Karatsu, we visit an old bank building from the beginning of the 20th century. It was built by the "Father of Japanese architecture", a certain Mr. Kingo Tatsuno.

He was allowed - or forced - to study architecture in London for three years in 1880, became a professor in Tokyo and founded the first Japanese architects' association. At some point, however, he was probably fed up with being a civil servant and built many large buildings with his own office, including the Japanese Central Bank.

Right next door, in a more modern building, 14 ceremonial floats (dashi) are on display, which are paraded through the city every year at a big festival (kunchi matsuri). Depending on the float, 150 - 300 (!) men have to manoeuvre the house-sized monstrosities through the narrow streets. In the process, something probably gets broken from time to time, because trolley No. 4 is missing. They have to refurbish it by November. There are also plenty of injured people!

From Karatsu we drive further south to a remote village known for its excellent porcelain factory (Okawachiyama). The production of the goods was so secret that the village was hermetically sealed off from the outside world. Anyone who wanted to enter or leave was subjected to a "security check" by soldiers of the daimyo. 

Today the village consists mainly of shops. A few artists have probably survived. However, the prices for their art are well above the limit we would expect to pay to buy a "piece of art".

A few kilometres further on is Arita, another town famous for its porcelain.　We have already seen enough porcelain today. So we look for and find the famous "stone walls" of Arita. They stretch around the part of the town where the factories existed and where hundreds of hard-working women were employed. Their husbands toiled in the nearby quarries from which the material for production was extracted. I ask a local about the purpose of these walls. His answer: "It's waste from the production. Too expensive to dispose of. So we built walls with it. There's no point, but it looks nice!"

To round off the day, we drive along the coast to Nagasaki. There we take a short walk to Dejima, the artificial island where the Portuguese had their first trading centre. After falling out with the Shogun, he threw the Portuguese out and settled the Dutch. 

They were more interested in trade than in proselytising the Japanese. In their wake, five doctors from Germany also came to Japan, which established the Germans' long-standing good reputation in Japan. A quick trip to "China Town" to finally eat the original of my favourite dish (katayaki soba). It should taste just like that in Amagi!