4月に入り蒸留所の改修工事もいよいよラストスパート。
毎日たくさんの職人がやってきては入り混じって忙しそうだ。職人さんは一人一台の車に乗ってやってくるので、敷地内のスロープには軽トラックとトヨタの商用車、プロボックス（またはサクシード）が交互に並ぶことになる。不思議なもので毎日見ていると、なんてことないプロボックスがカッコよく見えてくる。車体は決まって白色、黒色のプラスチックバンパーがいいアクセント。
内装もそっけなくていいし、後ろの荷台も広く色々ものが詰めそうだ。毎日の移動に、荷物の運搬に、昼の弁当を食べる場所として（そしてその後の昼寝も）、多用な使い方と無色透明な存在が完璧に合致している。
収穫した果樹や加工したものを運ぶためのバン的な車をそろそろmitosayaでも買わないといけない。プロボックスもいいけれどちょっと背が低い。この間行ったバンコクのシダ農園で活躍していた、日本では見かけないダイハツのCARRY BOYなる車が、名前もサイズもちょうど良さそうだった。
改修工事は派手な作業（床にコンクリートを流す、楕円形のホールを作ったり、アーチ型のドアを作るなど）はすでに終わり、今やっているのは塗装や調整など仕上げの部分。
同時にやっているのが、完了具合のチェックで、そこは主に中山英之建築設計事務所の担当だけど、僕も一緒に見て回ることもある。
例えばペンキが塗れていないところがあるなんてことは僕にもわかるが、見えない部分は当たり前だけどわからない。ところが設計事務所はそういう部分こそチェックする。例えば「ドアが閉まったときのノブの角度が地面に対して平行じゃない」ことや、「壁のスイッチと柱との距離が左右で異なる」ことなど。言われなければ気づかないが、言われてみればこれこそが使い勝手や見た目の印象を左右するところだ。
この間読んだ「あるノルウェーの大工の日記」という本にこんな一節があったことを思い出す。
「この職業において、良質な仕事と悪質な仕事の差は、わずか1ミリしかない。」
それは大工に限ったことではないし、もっと言うなら、正確イコールいいものかというとそうではないところが人間の感覚の不可思議さだったりもする。
休日、近所のお寺に行く。寺の裏に大きな竹林があり、昨年から春になると筍を掘らせてもらっている。筍にはこれだと細身のクワを貸してもらい竹林に入る。単なる雑草が生い茂った斜面でしかないが、案内してくれる住職さんは「ここにも、ほらここも」と次々に筍を見つけていく。わずか1,2センチ地面から先端が出ているだけなのにどうしてわかるのだろう。よくよく観察していると、どこにでも筍は生えてくるわけではない。
斜面の登りきったところ、または途中の窪みになっているところ、そんなところによく生えてきている（ような気がする）。根拠はないが、根拠のようなものが自分の中にできると、徐々に筍を見つけることができるようになってくる。
掘る方でいえば、筍は地下からまっすぐに地面に突き出ているように見えるが、実は地下を走る根から斜め上に生えている。だから筍を掘るときは、根のある方を掘り進み、最後に根とつながっている部分に鍬の歯を入れて切り離すと完全な形で掘り出せる。しかしこれこそ言うは易しで、土に隠れているものがどのような形をしているかなんて、掘ってみないとわからない。地下に走る竹の根の姿を想像し、鍬を振り下ろす。と、たいてい無残にも途中で折れた筍が残る。円筒形の美しい筍を掘りあげる達成はまた来年の春に持ち越し。
帰りに住職さんが、竹はどんどん生えてくるからどんどん掘って取らないと竹林に日が入らなくなって、結果、竹林がどんどん拡大する。と言っていた。
それで思い出したのが、大多喜の山間にある竹の加工場のこと。以前に訪れた時にはおびただしい数の孟宗竹を畑用のアーチ支柱などに加工していた。工場の一角にはホコリをかぶった加工機械があり、以前はこれらを使って竹を割き、鋤いて、かごやざるを編んでいたこともあったという。
竹が伸びて困るという人がいて、一方で使っていない竹の加工機械がある。酒造免許がなかなか取れずもやもやしている蒸留家もいる。
何かやれることがある気がする。
その日、蒸留機がついにやってきた。1990年代頃に作られた、ドイツKOTHE社製の連続式蒸留機だ。蒸留機そのものについては稼働したところで詳しく書くつもりだけど、今回は移動の話。埼玉県川越にあるCOEDOブリュワリーの旧工場の片隅に保管されていた蒸留機を、千葉県大多喜町のmitosayaまで運ぶ。どこにお願いすればいいんだろうかと悩んでいたら、COEDOの朝霧さんが「関本組に任せれば何の問題もありません。」と言う。
聞けば工作機械や重量物の輸送や設置を専門にする業者なのだそう。関本組。名前からしていかにも運びそうだ。彼らは下見に来て一通りチェックした後、言った。
「何の問題もありません。」
当日、2台のトラック、6名のスタッフで現れた彼らは、まずは蒸留機から外せる部品を外すと、鉄棒を組み鳥居状のものを組み立てはじめた。組みあがるとホイストと呼ばれる小さなクレーンを横棒にぶら下げ、チェーンを蒸留機にくくりつけ蒸留機を横倒しにする。蒸留機の下に台車を敷くと、蒸留機を外へ運び出す。トラックに積んだクレーンで蒸留機を持ち上げると、横にしたままトラックの荷台に運び込まれた。
搬入後すぐにmitosayaに運ぶ。
着いたら、今度は積み出しとは逆の作業。クレーンで持ち上げて建物内に入れると、蒸留室まで台車で運び、鉄棒を鳥居状に組み、ホイストを付けて蒸留機を立てていく。
おさまった蒸留機の水平を調整して、ガスや水道とのつなぎ込みは後日行うがとりあえず搬入は終了。
立ち上がった蒸留機を眺める。ストレートの円筒形、ステンレスが鈍く光る外観も美しい。
上手く使いこなせるかはこれからの話だけど、蒸留をまるでマジックかのように誇示する大仰な蒸留機が最近多い中、「液体に熱を加え、発生した蒸気を冷却する」という蒸留のシンプルな工程そのものが形になったようなこの蒸留機はとても好ましい。
見えないものをどうやって見るか。
円筒形を横にしたり縦にしたりしながら考えた4月の蒸留家でした。
It's April and the renovation of the distillery is in its final stretch.
Every day, many craftsmen come and go, and they seem to be busy. Each craftsman comes in his own car, so the ramps on the premises are lined up alternately with light trucks and Toyota Probox (or Succido) commercial vehicles. It's a strange thing, but seeing them every day, the ordinary Proboxes start to look cool. The body is predetermined white, with a black plastic bumper as a nice accent.
The interior is not too plain, and the back cargo bed is large enough to hold a lot of things. It's perfect for daily transportation, hauling cargo, and a place to eat lunch (and take a nap afterwards), with its many uses and colorless existence.
It's time for mitosaya to buy a van-like vehicle to transport harvested fruit trees and processed goods. The Probox is nice but a bit short. The Daihatsu Carry Boy, which is not available in Japan, was working at a fern farm in Bangkok that I visited the other day, and its name and size seemed to be just right.
The fancy renovation work (pouring concrete on the floor, making oval halls, arched doors, etc.) is already done, and what we are doing now is the finishing touches such as painting and adjustments.
At the same time, I'm checking on the completion of the work, which is mainly the responsibility of Hideyuki Nakayama's architectural design office, but I also go around with him.
For example, I can tell if there is a part that has not been painted yet, but of course I can't tell what I can't see. The design office, however, checks those parts. For example, "the angle of the knob when the door is closed is not parallel to the ground," or "the distance between the switch on the wall and the pillar is different on each side. If you don't ask, you won't notice, but if you do, this is the part that affects the usability and appearance of the place.
I remember a passage in a book I read the other day called "A Norwegian Carpenter's Diary".
In this profession, the difference between good work and bad work is only a millimeter.
This is not only true for carpenters, and moreover, it is a wonder of human senses that accuracy does not equal good work.
On my day off, I went to a nearby temple. There is a large bamboo grove behind the temple, and since last year I have been allowed to dig up bamboo shoots in the spring. I was given a slim stag beetle to use for digging bamboo shoots, and entered the bamboo grove. It was just a slope overgrown with weeds, but the priest who guided us found bamboo shoots one after another, saying, "Here, here, and here. I wondered how he could tell when the tips were only an inch or two out of the ground. Upon closer observation, I realized that bamboo shoots do not grow everywhere.
They often grow at the top of a slope or in a hollow in the middle of a slope. I don't have a basis for this, but once I have a basis in my mind, I can gradually find bamboo shoots.
In terms of digging, bamboo shoots look like they are sticking straight out of the ground from underground, but they are actually growing diagonally up from roots running underground. Therefore, when digging for bamboo shoots, you should dig in the direction of the roots, and finally insert the teeth of a hoe into the part that is connected to the roots to separate it. However, this is easier said than done, and it is impossible to know the shape of what is hidden in the soil until you dig. I imagine the bamboo roots running underground, and swing down the hoe. In most cases, I am left with a broken bamboo shoot. The achievement of digging up the beautiful cylindrical bamboo shoots will have to wait until next spring.
On the way home, the priest told us that bamboos keep growing, and if we don't keep digging and removing them, the bamboo grove will not get enough sunlight, and as a result, the bamboo grove will keep expanding. The bamboo grove will expand rapidly.
This reminded me of a bamboo processing plant in the mountains of Otaki. When I visited there before, they were processing a large number of moso bamboo into arch supports for fields. In one corner of the factory, there are dusty processing machines, which used to be used to split and plow bamboo to weave baskets and colanders.
There were people who said that the bamboo was growing too long and they were in trouble, and on the other hand, there were bamboo processing machines that were not being used. There are distillers who are frustrated because they can't get a sake brewing license.
I felt like there was something I could do.
That day, the distiller finally arrived, a continuous distiller made by KOTHE in Germany around the 1990s. I'll write more about the distiller itself when it's up and running, but for now, let's talk about the move. The distiller was stored in a corner of the old factory of COEDO Brewery in Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture, but now it needs to be transported to mitosaya in Otaki, Chiba Prefecture. When I was wondering where to ask for help, Mr. Asagiri of COEDO said, "Leave it to Sekimoto-gumi, and you won't have any problems. He said that they specialize in transporting and installing machine tools and heavy objects. Sekimoto-gumi. From the name itself, they sounded like they could handle it. They came for a preliminary inspection and after checking everything, they said, "No problem.
There's no problem.
On the day of the event, they showed up with two trucks and six staff members. First, they removed the parts that could be removed from the distillation machine, and then began to assemble the bars into a torii-like structure. Once it was assembled, a small crane called a hoist was hung from a horizontal bar, and a chain was attached to the distiller so that the distiller could be overturned. After placing a dolly underneath the distiller, he carried it outside. A crane mounted on a truck lifted the distiller and carried it into the back of the truck, still lying on its side.
As soon as it was brought in, it was taken to MITOSAYA.
Once we got there, we had to do the reverse of the loading process. A crane was used to lift it into the building, and then a cart was used to carry it to the distillation room, where iron bars were assembled in the shape of a torii, and a hoist was attached to set up the distiller.
After the distillation machine was installed, we adjusted the level of the distillation machine and connected it to the gas and water supply later, but for now, the installation was finished.
I looked at the distiller that was up and running. It's a straight cylindrical shape with a beautiful stainless steel exterior that shines dully.
It remains to be seen whether I will be able to use it well or not, but I really like this distiller, which seems to be a form of the simple process of distillation itself, "adding heat to a liquid and cooling the vapor generated," as opposed to many of the ostentatious distillers that show off distillation as if it were magic.
How do you see what you cannot see?
I was a distiller in April, thinking about this as I turned the cylindrical shape horizontally and vertically.
