奈良のお茶「大和茶」を発信するイベント『茶良（ちゃら）』。お茶農家さん自身がお茶を振る舞い、思いを伝える場のデザインをさせて頂いた。事業プロデューサーの山本あつしさんからのお題は「思い溢れて大和茶が列車に乗って町にやってきちゃった」というもの。自分も好きな茶畑の風景や農を営む人々の物語を伝える空間づくり。場所は奈良の市街地で、興福寺の五重塔が見える空が広くて気持ちのいい広場。その空を茶畑の風景でいっぱいにしたいと思った。

そして偶然にも以前、奈良の歴史ある茶問屋さんの茶箱を譲り受けていた。近所の壊される町家から慌てて救った茶道具や五徳もある。餅飯殿商店街で一目惚れした銅薬缶もある。茶釜の湯が沸きガタンゴトンと茶箱が走り出す。茶畝の曲線と山の稜線を描き、茶葉がゆらゆら風に吹かれる、霜を防ぐファンがカタカタ廻っている。一日限りの大和茶の風景が出来上がった。イベント後、始発駅へ里帰りすべく、車両は譲受を希望する茶農家へ配られた。大和茶列車はそれぞれの地域で大和茶の発展のために活躍していることであろう。

There is an event called “Chara” where tea farmers growing Yamato tea, a tea from Nara, serve tea and promote their tea. I was in charge of designing the space. The idea for the design given by event producer Atsushi Yamamoto was “The Yamato tea came chugging on the train to town with overwhelming emotion.” This project involved creating a space to tell the stories of the tea plantation scenery and the people who work there, which I am personally fond of. It was located in a pleasant open space wide open to the sky and overlooking the five-storied pagoda of Kohfukuji Temple in the city area of Nara. I wanted to make the sky full of tea plantation sceneries.

By coincidence, I owned tea boxes which was handed down from a historic tea wholesale store in Nara. I also owned tea ceremony utensils and trivets that were saved from a townhouse before its demolition, and copper tea kettles which I fell in love with from Mochiidono shopping street.

The tea boxes start to run when the water in the tea pot starts to boil. The curvature of the tea cup and the ridgeline of the mountain are drawn, the tea leaves sway in the wind and a fan used in the plantation to prevent frost from building up is rattling as it spins. The scenery for a one-day-only Yamato tea event is complete. After the event, the trains returned to its departure station, as it was distributed to farmers who wish to own them. I am sure the Yamato tea train is active in many regions to contribute to the development of the tea.

WORKS