古田織部：乱世のエネルギーをもって、茶を革新した男 Furuta Oribe: The man who channeled the turmoil of the age to revolutionize the tea ceremony

*この記事は元々「Pen」雑誌の2009年の9月号に掲載された記事です。英文は数年前に拙僧が翻訳したものです。また、記事の最後にある注釈は拙僧が作成したものです。

This article originally featured in the September 2009 issue of the Japanese magazine “Pen”. The English is a translation I did a few years back. I also wrote the footnotes at the end of the article.

昨今は、マンガの主人公「へうげもの」(1)として、すっかり名を知られるようになった古田織部。千利休(2)亡き後、茶の湯の天下一宗匠として名を馳せるも、家康に謀反の嫌疑をかけられ非業の死を遂げた(3)武将茶人である。利休が死して伝説となったことに比べ、織部は残された資料が少ないこともあり、長らく忘れ去られていた存在だった。

Thanks to being portrayed as the main protagonist in the currently running manga Hyougemono (1) , Furuta Oribe’s name has been resurrected from the lost annals of history. Following the death of Sen no Rikyuu (2), Furuta rose to prominence and became the preeminent tea master in Japan. However, upon being suspected of conspiring against Ieyasu Tokugawa, samurai and tea aficionado Furuta met a rather ignominious end (3). While Rikyu went on to achieve legendary status following his own death, few records remain documenting the life of Furuta, leaving his name to be lost to history for hundreds of years.

だが、「茶の湯は人まねではなく、自由な創意こそ大切だ」という利休の思想を、最も生き生きと体現していたのは織部だろう。アヴァンギャルドな美学を思う存分、表現していった織部の芸術性は、もっと評価されていいのではないだろうか？
Though clearly overshadowed by the figure of Rikyuu, the claim could be made that Furuta succeeded in surpassing the genius of his master. Among the numerous disciples that Rikyuu had, none more vividly embodied the philosophy he espoused than Furuta: “the tea ceremony is not merely rehashing the precedent set by someone else, but rather the essence lies in liberating one’s creative energy”. Driven by a desire to release his own avant-garde driven aesthetic, Furuta’s artistic sense deserves much more credit than it has been given.

利休のストイックさと、対極にある大らかさ。
Juxtaposition of Rikyuu’s stoicism and Furuta’s open-minded approach

武人としての織部は、勇猛果敢な武将というよりは、ネゴシエイターとしての活躍が光る。敵方の武将を説得して味方に引き入れることに幾度も成功し、信長や秀吉の信任を得ていた。その巧みな交渉力は、織部のストレートで大らかな人柄によるところが大きいと言われている。
Furuta’s true acumen as a warrior lay not in his daring exploits on the battlefield, but rather in his skills as a negotiator. On numerous occasions he succeeded in persuading enemy generals to change sides, earning him the staunch trust of Oda Nobunaga and later Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Many believe that Furuta’s deft negotiating abilities were largely the product of his open-minded and tolerant disposition.

 

そうした大らかさは、茶の湯においても遺憾なく発揮された。師である利休の侘び茶と対極の、渦巻くようなエネルギーは圧巻だ。利休が静であり引き算なら、織部は動であり足し算。
Nowhere is this more evident than in the tea ceremony style that Furuta created. In stark contrast to austere aesthetic that pervaded the style of his master Rikyuu, Furuta unleashed an overwhelming flood of energy as virulent as a whirlpool. If Rikyuu embodied the ying, then Furuta was most certainly the yang.

織部好みの焼き物は、そうした個性の表れだ。自身の名を冠した織部焼の茶碗は、強い歪や現代アートのように大胆な文様など、自由闊達な魅力に溢れている。懐石用の器も、六角形や八角形、扇などの具象形、奇抜な不整形など、従来の形から大きく逸脱した造形だ。織部ンお実際の政策にどこまでタッチしたかは不明だが、アートディレクターとして現場の自由な創造を促したことは間違いないと思われる。
Furuta’s unique sense is perfectly reflected in the earthen vessels that he favored. The ceramic creations that bear his name, Furuta-yaki, are bursting with unbridled charm. These works are characterized by their exaggerated deformation and bold designs that are in the same vein as contemporary art. The formative style of Furuta-yaki left standard designs by the wayside and aggressively pushed the bounds of artistic expression with its ambitious forms, ranging from geometrically based hexagonal and octagonal shapes to fan-shaped representations and outlandishly misshapen creations. It is not entirely know how involved Oribe was with the actual production of each vessel, but there is little doubt he was on site as the artistic director, the driving force propelling the creative energies of each artisan.

井戸茶碗「十文字」は、織部の並外れた美意識を物語る品の一つ。名器とされていた高麗茶碗を、大ぶりすぎると4つに割り、寸詰めして十文字に継ぎ合わせたというから驚かされる。
A telling representation of Oribe’s eccentric aesthetic eye is the Ido tea vessel “Juu monji” (literally “the cross”). Oribe defied logic by taking a Goryeo (4) tea vessel, regarded to be a masterpiece in its own right, and smashing it into four pieces. After breaking the vessel apart, he scaled down the size and put the pieces back together to create a cross-based design.

茶室に関しても、織部の相違は留まることを知らない。極端に狭く、ほの暗い小宇宙だった利休の茶室に対し、織部は空間を広くとり、窓もたくさん設けて明るさを採り入れた。京都の藪内家燕庵は、伸びやかな織部らしさが表れた代表的な茶室である。

In addition to his avant-garde approach to tea vessels, Oribe’s creative vision for designing tea rooms was equally unbounded. While Rikyuu preferred dark and enclosed spaces that seemingly transported guests to outer space, Oribe enlarged the size of the room and incorporated a number of windows to allow light to flood the interior. The Yabunouchi Ennan in Kyoto is a representative example of Oribe’s tea room style.

コンセプチュアルな侘び茶が難しすぎると感じていた当時の人々は、明快でポップな織部の茶を大歓迎。彼の押しも押されもせぬ茶人になっていた。こうして振り返ってみると、織部の直感的で大胆な個性は、戦国時代の武将たちがもつエネルギッシュで豪胆な気風を反映しているとも言えそうだ。太平の世の江戸期になると、個としての我武者羅な活躍は徐々に否定されていく。織部は、乱世的エネルギーをアートに持ち込んだ、最後の残り火なのかもしれない。
Furuta’s interpretation of the tea ceremony was a revelation to the people of his times. Many felt that the conceptual and austere style of Rikyuu was rather difficult and abstract. Furuta’s straight-forward approach and “pop” sense struck a chord with the masses, and propelled him to stardom as the premier tea master in Japan. In retrospect, one could say that Furuta’s instinctive and audacious character perfectly reflected the vivacious and ambitious spirit of samurai generals in the Sengoku (Warring States) period. As the age of internecine warfare gave way to the tranquil peace of the Tokugawa (Edo) era, the hell-bent drive and action born of uncompromising ambition were slowly abandoned. Furuta may well have been the last blazing light of his era, the man that perfectly channeled the turbulent fervor of an age rife with conflict to produce art that still resonates with us today.

(1) 大好きな漫画作品の一つ。完成度の高い歴史的な脚色であり、現代の文化を円滑に取り入れながら（章のタイトルはポップ曲のタイトルにちなんだものにしたりするなど）、大げさにならないようにそのポップ的な要素を巧みに抑える。絵の表現は主人公たる織部の個性を見事に強調し、見事に引き出す。

This is easily one of my favorite mangas. It is a well-written piece of historical fiction that seamlessly weaves references to contemporary pop culture (naming chapters after classic rock songs) without looking clichéd or over-the-top. The art only helps to further accentuate the zany character of the protagonist.
http://hyouge.exblog.jp/

(2) 堺（現在の大阪府）の商人（あきんど）。現代の茶の湯を完成し、その始祖者とされる。

Sen no Rikyuu was a merchant from Sakai (present day Osaka-fu) that is considered by many to be the father of the modern tea ceremony.

(3) 要は、切腹が命じられた。

To put it bluntly, he was forced to ritually disembowel himself.

(4) 高麗は918に創立し、1392まで朝鮮半島の大半を治めた王朝であった。現在の韓国の英語名「Korea」はこの王朝の名前から由来する。非常に洗練された文芸を生み出した王朝であり、その一つは東洋の国に置いて高く評価され求められた焼き物である。

Goryeo is the name of the Korean kingdom (from which the nation derives its name) that ruled over most of the Korean peninsula from 918-1392. One of its most notable cultural achievements was its celadon pottery, which was highly prized throughout the region.