The Goodness In The Old-time

It was a sunny winter day. The temperature was slightly below freezing point and the roads were very slippery, though the sunlight was charming enough to induce me to go out. And I went for a drive. I set my destination on the old house called "Shayokan" where an author who is considered one of the foremost fiction writers of twentieth century Japan, Osamu Dazai, was born. Shayokan is in Gosyogawara city that is at the very center of Tsugaru Plain in Aomori: as known for an area of extremely heavy snowfall. The old house is now opened to citizens as the memorial hall of Mr. Dazai after some twists and turns.

An important cultural property, "Shayokan"

Mr. Dazai was born in this house on June 19th, 1909. His father was a great landowner during the Meiji era and built this huge house (the building area is about 2,200 square meters including a courtyard and warehouses), but Mr. Dazai's relatives parted with this house after the Second World War. Then a proprietor of a hotel purchased this house and ran it as a Japanese-style inn for 46 years. During that time this house was named "Shayokan" after the title of Mr. Dazai's most famous masterpiece "Shayo" ("The Setting Sun" in English). Running it as a hotel did not end up a success, so the hotel owner disposed of the property by selling it to the city. Thus this palatial residence has belonged to the city ever since.

The living room

The room for the family Buddhist altar

Fusuma (the left pic) and Ranma (the above)

The skylight in the kitchen

Every part of the house has been well maintained.  The space that used to be used as a kitchen has a unique ceiling. You can see several beams made of wood but no ceiling board. This makes the room possible to get sunshine directly from the skylights. The floor and pillars are well polished and they reflect the sunshine coming through the skylights. It is quiet now but I imagine the many women who worked hard to prepare each and every meal for the family members. I myself can hardly imagine how to cook in a kitchen without the existence of tap water and a gas cooker.  

The hearth and old cooking stove

While I was touring the house, I could not resist staring at the outstanding parts that are the only Western style room and the stairs leading us to this uniquely styled room. Japanese style rooms have, so to speak, aesthetic sense emphasizing quiet simplicity and subdued refinement. On the contrary, the Western style room has graceful ambiance in its fancy interior. The furniture still looks stylish. I assume that it used to be the emblem of wealth in its best days .  

From the window facing the fancy room, I found a pretty courtyard covered with pure white snow. It was a breathtaking view. As I was looking at the white yard, I remembered that the house guide told me that the couch at the corner in the Western-style room was a place where Mr. Dazai loved to spend his time with books. And I envisaged that Mr. Dazai might have seen the same wintry scene and recalled the loveliness of snow when he wrote about winter in his stories. 

The epitome of wintry landscape

"..., and on the way I opened my eyes wide to let in all the lovely, pure white scenery around me, and by the time I reached our house I felt as if the snowy images were not only imprinted in my eyes, but in the depths of my heart, too."

This excerpt from a short story "One Snowy Night" of Osamu Dazai may express how a person who encounters the beauty of snow for the first time. I suppose that I could have the same feeling about snow for three days after I catch the sight of the first snow every winter, but I am sure it is impossible for me to keep such a sweet feeling for the entire winter period.

Thinking back to Mr. Dazai's birth house, the owner and the usage changed throughout the many years, but the traditional Japanese style residence keeps its nostalgic ambiance. In particular, it reminded me of the days when people lived together with their relatives under the same roof and cared for each other with sympathy. As time changes, human nature also changes. It is not easy to keep things the same, nevertheless, this is something that we should keep in our mind; the good old days of Japan.