文化財に住む｜Living in a Cultural Property｜2021/05/12

雨戸をガラガラと開けるところから一日がスタートする。障子を開けて縁側に座って庭の緑を眺める。ここは幕末の萩の商人の梅屋七兵衛の旧宅だ。明治時代にお茶やお花を楽しんだ隠居屋で、文化財として保存されていたが、萩市がお試し住宅としてリノベーションしたそうだ。今回ワーケーションで２週間滞在しているが、萩の心豊かな生活をまさに体感している気がする。文化財をお試し住宅にするとは萩市も大胆だなぁと感心してご担当者にお聞きすると、町内の同意を得るのが大変だったという。梅屋七兵衛は地元では名士で、その旧宅をお試し住宅にするなんて！という反対の声を、利用してもらうことによってより梅屋七兵衛を知ってもらうことができると説得したそうだ。確かにボクも初めてその名前を知ったが、オンライン会議の度に説明して少しはPRの役に立てたかもしれない。（絵と文：サカキテツ朗）

The day starts from opening the shutters in the house. I open the shoji and sit on the porch to look at the greenery of the garden. This is the old residence of Umeya Shichibei, a merchant of Hagi at the end of the Edo period. It was a retired house where he enjoyed tea and flowers in the Meiji era, and it was preserved as a cultural property. Hagi City has renovated it as a trial house. I have been staying at workation for two weeks this time, and I feel that I am experiencing the rich life of Hagi. I was impressed that Hagi City was bold to use cultural properties as trial housing, and when I asked the person in charge, she said that it was difficult to obtain the consent of the town. Umeya Shichibei is a celebrity in the local area, and they did not want to make his old house a trial house. She persuaded them to get to know Umeya Shichibei more by using. I knew his name for the first time, but I explained it at every online meeting and it might have helped a little with PR. -Text and illustration by Ted Sakaki