望岳亭・藤屋を訪ねて / Visiting Bōgakutei Fujiya

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第五話　望岳亭・藤屋 ２．望岳亭・藤屋を訪ねて

望岳亭・藤屋を訪ねて

由比駅から薩埵峠のふもとへ向かう道の途中、街道が上りにかかる手前に、古い建物が残っています。「望嶽亭・藤屋」です。背後に蔵を備えたこの家は、古くからこの地にあり、現在の当主で二十三代になるといいます。

望嶽亭は、約五百年前からこの地に続く家で、もともとは地主の家でした。このあたりではアワビやサザエが多く取れ、それを味わいながら富士山を眺める場所として、室町時代には「望嶽亭」の看板を掲げていたと伝えられています。

江戸時代に宿駅制度が整うと、由比宿と興津宿の間にある倉沢地区は「間の宿」となりました。望嶽亭・藤屋は、茶亭であり、脇本陣の役割も持ち、さらに山の仕事や網元としての仕事も行っていました。当時は、いくつもの仕事を組み合わせながら、多くの人が暮らしていた家だったそうです。

現在残る建物は、かつての六分の一ほどですが、残っている部分には江戸時代の建物が含まれています。母屋の一部は四百年以上を経ているといいます。一方で、この家で一番新しい建物は、十九代が建てた総二階の石蔵で、二百年以上前のものです。

この蔵は、単なる倉庫ではありません。お金や大切なものを火事から守るため、母屋の壁を抜き、家の中から直接行ける「内蔵」として造られました。場所が山裾にあるため、表から見ると一階でも、裏から見ると二階にあたるという複雑な構造になっています。

蔵の二階は座敷につながり、一階は大切なものを保管する場所でした。そのため、そこへ通じる階段は外から分からないように隠されていました。普段は畳が入り、その上に置き水が置かれていたため、そこに階段があるとは想像しにくい造りだったといいます。

望嶽亭・藤屋は、旧東海道と海に挟まれた土地に建ち、間の宿としての役割を担いながら、家業と暮らしを重ねてきた場所です。建物の構造や蔵座敷には、この土地の地形と、財産を守るための知恵が今も残されています。

Visiting Bōgakutei Fujiya

Along the road from Yui Station toward the foot of Satta Pass, just before the old highway begins to climb steeply, stands an old building known as Bōgakutei Fujiya. With storehouses behind it, this residence has remained in the area for many generations, and the current head of the family is said to be the twenty-third generation.

Bōgakutei is described as a family residence that has continued on this site for about five hundred years and originally belonged to a landowning family. The area was known for harvesting abalone and turban shell, and during the Muromachi period the house is said to have displayed the name Bōgakutei, referring to a place where people could enjoy seafood while viewing Mount Fuji.

When the Edo-period post station system was established, the Kurasawa district between Yui-juku and Okitsu-juku became an ai no shuku, or intermediate rest station. Bōgakutei Fujiya served as a tea house and also functioned as a wakihonjin, an auxiliary inn for official travelers. The household was also involved in mountain work and operated as a fishing-net owner. According to the account, many people lived there while combining several occupations.

Only about one-sixth of the original buildings remain today, but parts of the surviving structures date from the Edo period. Part of the main house is said to be more than four hundred years old. At the same time, the newest structure on the property is a two-story stone storehouse built by the nineteenth-generation head of the family, now more than two hundred years old.

This storehouse was not built simply as a warehouse. It was constructed as an inner storehouse connected directly to the main house by opening a passage through the wall, allowing money and valuables to be protected from fire. Because the property stands at the foot of the mountain, the structure has an unusual layout: what appears to be the first floor from the front becomes the second floor when viewed from the rear.

The second floor of the storehouse connects to reception rooms, while the first floor was used to store valuable items. For this reason, the staircase leading there was concealed so that it could not easily be recognized from outside. Tatami mats and containers of water were normally placed over the entrance, making it difficult to imagine that a staircase existed beneath them.

Bōgakutei Fujiya stands on land between the old Tōkaidō road and the sea, continuing the role it once held as an intermediate station along the route. The structure of the buildings and the design of the storehouse rooms still reflect the geography of the area and the methods once used to protect property and daily life.