⚡️ K’s COLUMN 053 : 目的は何だ！？
妹が母と一緒に日本舞踊を習い始めたのは彼女が3歳の頃だった。
私もどうかと母に言われ、一緒についていった先が大人の女性の集う場所だった。
それに当時、私はオルガン教室へ通っていた。
何かを察知した私は、その後同行することはなかった。
それから2年後、母は日本舞踊を習いながら茶道も習うと言い出した。
茶道では正座が必須だし、これまた大人の女性の集う場所だ。
しかも車で移動するので、帰宅するのも一人では難しい。
妹は習いたいと言って母に同行することとなった。
私は楽しいそろばん塾だけで満足していた。
家にちょっとした日本舞踊の練習場と、家の離れに茶室ができた。
茶室の雪見障子からは獅子脅しも見えて、なかなか風情のある庭だった。
そして家には呉服屋、デパートの外商など、色々な人が出入りするようになった。
特に茶道具は、変わった茶碗や棗があって、とても美しく目を引いた。
そのうち、着物の着付けも必要だということになり、幼い妹は一人で着物を着ることができるように着付けを習い始めていた。
料理の先生がやってきた。
母が料理を習いたいと言ったからだ。
レストランでも開業するのかといったような、いろいろな調理道具や食器をいつの間にか購入していた。
しかし、下拵えの段階で料理が面倒くさいと言い始め、元々料理に興味のあった私が引き継いで半年だけ習うことになった。
料理は好きだが中学生ともなれば、何かとやることも増えていたのである。
母がお琴を習うと言って琴を買った。
琴は想像以上に大きかった。
譜面を見たら、数字で書かれてあり、ピアノより簡単そうだった。
実際に爪を付けて弾いてみると、とても簡単だった。
しかし結局母は面倒だからと練習を辞めてしまい、妹が習うこととなった。
私は正座が嫌で初めから乗り気ではなかった。
そしてある日、家の中に乗馬服とヘルメット、鞭などを発見してしまった。
玄関先の隅っこには泥の付いた乗馬靴があった。
変な予感がした。
母は乗馬を習い始めたと言っていた。
驚くべきことに、馬も買ったと言っていた。
しかしそれもすぐに辞めてしまった。
理由は臭いからだ。
どうやら母は、馬が糞をしながら走るとは思っていなかったらしい。
そして私が代わりに習うこととなった。
日本舞踊は花柳流の先生についていたが、藤間流の先生のもとへ通っていた。
それは恐らく大人の女性の間のいざこざがあったからではないのか。
母は茶道具を集めるのが趣味だったのか、練習はその日の気分次第だった。
私は米国留学をするという方針が決定してから、お手前ぐらいはできたほうがいいだろうと、高校2年生になってから慌てて習い始めた。
その頃妹は師範クラスだったが、実際に師範の免許をもらうのは20歳を過ぎてからということだったので、20歳を過ぎてから師範の免許を取得した。
乗馬は中学生から高校生時代の私が通うこととなった。
母の乗馬服や靴などはいかんせん私にはあまりにも小さすぎたので、ジーンズとウエスタンブーツを着用した。
そして、母の友人たちの相手までもしなければいけなくなったのである。
結局のところ、母はどうしたかったのだろうか？
日本舞踊、茶道、料理、琴、乗馬、・・・。
今思えば、母が一番好きだったのは、「習うこと」よりも、「新しい世界へ飛び込むこと」だったのかもしれない。
そして、そのたびに巻き込まれたのは、決まって私と妹なのである。
それにしても不思議なことに、弟だけは一度も母の習い事に巻き込まれなかった。
やはり男の子だったからだろうか。
もっとも、一番喜んでいたのは、出入りしていた業者さんたちだったかもしれない。
いや、間違いない。
🇬🇧 English version below
⚡️ K’s COLUMN 053 : What Was the Goal?
My younger sister started learning traditional Japanese dance with our mother when she was three years old.
My mother asked if I wanted to join them, so I went along once.
The place was filled with grown women.
Besides, I was already attending an organ class at the time.
Sensing something wasn’t quite for me, I never went back.
About two years later, my mother announced that she was going to study the tea ceremony while continuing her dance lessons.
Tea ceremony required sitting in the traditional seiza position, and once again, it was a place where only adult women gathered.
Since they traveled there by car, it wasn’t easy for my little sister to go home by herself, so she happily tagged along with my mother.
As for me, I was perfectly happy going to my abacus school.
Before long, our house had a small practice room for Japanese dance, and a tea room was built in a separate building.
Looking through the yukimi shoji (snow-viewing sliding doors), you could see a bamboo water fountain (shishi-odoshi) in a beautifully landscaped garden.
Kimono merchants and department store personal shoppers began visiting our home regularly.
Among all the tea utensils, I was especially fascinated by the unusual tea bowls and lacquered tea caddies (natsume).
They were truly beautiful.
Eventually, it was decided that learning how to wear a kimono properly was also necessary.
So my little sister began taking kimono dressing lessons until she could dress herself without assistance.
Then a cooking instructor started coming to our house.
My mother had decided she wanted to learn cooking.
Before we knew it, she had bought enough cookware and tableware to make it look as if she were planning to open a restaurant.
However, she declared that food preparation was too much trouble before getting very far.
Since I had always been interested in cooking, I took over and studied with the instructor for about six months.
I enjoyed cooking, but by junior high school, life was becoming busy with many other things as well.
Then my mother decided she wanted to learn the koto, so she bought one.
It was much larger than I had imagined.
The sheet music was written in numbers, and honestly, it looked easier than piano music.
When I actually put on the finger picks and tried it myself, it really was quite easy.
But before long, my mother quit practicing because it was “too much trouble.”
My sister ended up taking lessons instead.
As for me, I had never been interested in the first place.
Anything that required sitting in seiza was an automatic “no.”
Then one day, I discovered riding clothes, a helmet, and even a riding crop inside the house.
Near the front entrance sat a pair of muddy riding boots.
I had a bad feeling about this.
My mother told us she had started taking horseback riding lessons.
To my surprise, she also said she had bought a horse.
That didn’t last long either.
The reason?
“It smells.”
Apparently, she hadn’t realized that horses relieve themselves while they’re running.
So naturally…
I became the one who took riding lessons instead.
Originally, my mother studied Japanese dance under the Hanayagi school, but later switched to the Fujima school.
I suspect there had been some disagreement among the ladies involved.
Perhaps collecting tea utensils was what she truly enjoyed, because her enthusiasm for actually practicing the tea ceremony depended entirely on her mood that day.
Later, after it was decided that I would study in the United States, I figured I should at least know how to perform a tea ceremony.
So, in my second year of high school, I hurriedly began taking lessons.
By then, my sister was already at the instructor level.
However, instructor certification couldn’t be awarded until after turning twenty, so she officially received her license once she reached that age.
From junior high through high school, I continued horseback riding.
My mother’s riding clothes and boots were far too small for me, so I wore jeans and cowboy boots instead.
On top of that, I somehow found myself entertaining my mother’s friends at the riding club.
Looking back, what exactly was my mother trying to accomplish?
Japanese dance…
Tea ceremony…
Cooking…
The koto…
Horseback riding…
Perhaps what she truly loved wasn’t learning these things.
Perhaps she simply loved stepping into new worlds.
And every time she did…
My sister and I were the ones who got pulled in.
Curiously enough, my younger brother was never dragged into any of my mother’s new hobbies.
Maybe that was simply because he was a boy.
As for the people who benefited the most?
Probably all the merchants and salespeople who kept visiting our house.
No…
I’m certain of it.