あとがき

私がかかしと出会ったのは写真を始めて間もない頃。
18歳のときに母を突然亡くし、その後、住んでいた実家を借金により失った。私は毎日が嫌になり、一生懸命やっていこうと思って就いた義肢装具士の仕事も辞めてしまった。笑顔も消えて感情も薄れ、満身創痍で生まれ故郷を飛び出したけれど、何が出来る訳でもなく、将来に漠然とした不安を感じながら悶々と日々を過ごしていた。
そんなとき私は、村人よりもかかしの方がはるかに多いへんてこな山奥の村に迷い込んだ。

村の中で畑仕事をしたり軒先で井戸端会議をしているかかし達。話しかけるとそれはかかしだったというほど、立ち姿や仕草が人間そっくりで顔をよく見ると表情も愛らしかった。普段は人も車も殆ど行き交うことのない静かでのどかな村に、そんな無数のかかしが点在している。そのなんとも不思議な状況がたまらなく面白く、荒んでいた私の心を和ませた。とっさに「私もかかし達の中に混じりたい！」と思い私とかかし達のセルフポートレートを撮り始めた。それが「村シリーズ」の始まりだ。

次第に、かかしが私の日常生活の中に居たら面白いのではないか、かかしと一緒に生活したい！と考えるようになった。2017年の春、村でただ一人のかかし制作者に直談判して弟子入りをし作り方を教えてもらった。 それは思っていたよりもはるかに大変な作業で、骨組みを作るときは力仕事、顔を作るときは細かい作業が必要だった。しっかりと2本足で自立するように考えられており、元義肢装具士の私も納得の人体構造に基づくものだった。 少しずつ出来上がっていったかかしは、私が千夏<チカ>だから読み方を変えて<チナツ>と名付けた。男兄弟の中で育った私は、幼少の頃からずっと双子のような妹が欲しかった。チナちゃんとの珍道中はそうやって始まった。

私の出会ったかかし達は過疎化や高齢化が進んだ村を少しでも盛り上げようと作られたものだ。何度も村に通い村人と交流するにつれ、愛らしいかかし達の表情の裏には日本の社会問題が潜んでいることを知った。様々な理由で多くの人が自分の故郷を離れて生活している。時代が進み便利になり家族の形も多様化してきている現代、過疎化や高齢化といった現象は抗うことの出来ない事なのかもしれない。でも確かにそういった問題はこの日本に「ある」ということをかかしの存在が可視化してくれているように思う。そして、それを悲観するばかりではなく、ちょっと視点を変えて明るく楽しく捉えてみること。いかに日々を彩り、心豊かに生きるのか。撮影やかかし作りを通して村人の村おこしに対する熱意を知り、チナちゃんとの珍道中で様々な人と出会い交流してきた私が感じたことだ。

これは、かかしに魅了されたひとりの女性の空想セルフポートレート作品だ。
それでも、私がかかしに出会って救われたように、目の前がぱっと開けて明るむような誰かの心の琴線に触れるものになれたらと願って制作を続けている。たとえ一時でも、難しい事は考えずにケセラセラと私とかかしの世界を楽しんで頂けたら嬉しい。

Afterword

I met scarecrows for the first time in my life soon after I started photography.
Back then I suddenly lost my mother at the age of 18, and then my family and I lost our home in a foreclosure. I got fed up with my own life and quit my job as a prosthetist and an orthotist, although I originally got this job with great enthusiasm. I completely forgot how to smile and gradually lost my emotions, totally worn out body and soul. Then I got out of my hometown I was born and grew up, but I didn’t or couldn’t do anything. So I spent everyday agonizing about my future.
One day I got lost in a strange village deep in mountains, where I found way more scarecrows than villagers.

Those scarecrows literally “lived” in this village; Some of them were working in their fields, and some of them were chatting to their neighbors. At first I thought they were human beings; They stood and behaved just like us. It was until I directly talked to them that I noticed they were scarecrows. Upen taking a closer look, I thought their facial expressions were adorable. Many scarecrows scattered within such an idyllic and quiet village with few people or cars, Such a strange situation was irresistibly humorous to me, which melted my disturbed heart. Then suddenly I thought, “I wanna join them too!” So I started taking self-portraits of me and those scarecrows. That was the beginning of this “scarecrow village” series.

Gradually I started to think “What if those scarecrows were in my daily life?” I thought that would be fun, so I got eager to live with them. In spring 2017 I directly talked to the one scarecrow artisan in the village and asked him how to make scarecrows. Making one scarecrow was much harder than I had expected; I needed heavy physical work to make its framework, and very detailed work was required to create its face. His scarecrows were designed to stand on their own with their two legs, which were based on concepts of human anatomy I also knew as a former prosthetist and orthotist. Throughout such twists and turns, my scarecrow was built up little by little. Eventually I named this scarecrow “Chinatsu,” another way to read Chinese characters of my name “Chika (千夏).” I only have brothers in my family, so since I was small, I wanted a little sister like a twin. That was the beginning of the travel story with Chinatsu, also called “China-chan.”

Those scarecrows were made in order to put new lives into this desolate village caused by depopulation and aging. As I visited this village and interacted with its villagers over and over, I realized that such adorable smiles of the scarecrows also implied today’s social problems in Japan. Now that everything gets more convenient and there are more diversed styles of families, depopulation and aging might be irresistible. However, I also think those scarecrows visualize those problems and tell us that we do have the problems. Instead of just being pessimistic over those problems, we can switch our lenses to take the situation in a fun and positive way; We can think about how to spice up and enrich our everyday lives. Throughout this project, I got to know  the villagers’ enthisiasm for boosting development of this village using scarecrows. I also met and interacted with various people throughout my journey with China-chan. And these are what I felt throughout the process of this project.

This piece is an imaginary self-portrait of one woman who got enchanted by scarecrows.
I continue to work on this project hoping to touch a string in someone’s heart; I also hope that it will provide the sunshine to someone in darkness, just like I was saved by those scarecrows.
Hopefully you’ll also enjoy the world of me and scarecrows at least for a short period of time without thinking too deeply, just like we say “Que Sera, Sera.”