「お茶碗」考 : 江戸における量産陶磁器の変遷（Ⅱ. 食と陶磁器）

私たち日本人は，日常，飯を食べるための碗を「お茶碗」（tea-bowl）と呼び習わしているにも拘わらず，こうした習慣が，どのような理由で，いつから行われていたのかについては，必ずしも明らかではない。日常食器をめぐっては，他にもいくつかの疑問があるが，「やきものの文化」を語る上で，これら日常に深く浸透している器を捨象する訳にはいかないであろう。こうした問題については，民俗や文献史学の分野でも言及されてきた。しかし，時系列上で詳細に把握できるだけの資料を欠いていたため，具体的な様相を提示するに至っていない。これに対し，考古遺物は，各時期毎に，組成の量的変化まで復元することが可能なため，前出資料の空隙を埋めることのできる一級の史料である。例えば，明治時代中期の出土事例をみると，現代と同様のやきものの飯碗・湯のみ碗を主体とする組み合わせが既に成立している。しかし，江戸時代前期の碗をみると，飯・汁ともに漆器碗が占めている。そして，やきものの碗は，大ぶりの陶器碗が主体であること，伝世の「茶碗」との類似性，さらには内面に残る擦痕なとから喫茶碗と推定される。また，陶器の喫茶碗は江戸時代中期頃を境に，小形化の傾向を示し，日常の喫茶が「点てる茶」から「点てない茶」に変化していったことを窺い知ることができる。すなわち，こうした流れを概観するだけでも，従前の解釈とは異なる喫茶習慣のあり方や，肥前磁器の生産・流通のあり方といった問題に言及することが可能である。今後は，より正確な様相の把握を通して，「米」や「やきもの」に対する思いを軸にした「日本人」の心意の特質，東アジアの中での日本の位置付け，日本の内部による文化の地域的様相などの復元に向かうべきである。In spite of the fact that Japanese people usually call the rice bowl the “tea bowl,” it has not been clarified yet for what reason and when such a practice started. There are also several other questions regarding the table ware for daily use, and we should not neglect such ware that has penetrated into our ordinary life when we discuss the “culture of ceramics.”These questions have already been referred to in the fields of folklore and philological history. However, their specific aspects are still too difficult to obtain as we are short of the materials whose details are chronologically identifiable. As it is possible to restore archaeological artifacts to the qualitative change in the composition by each period of time, they are the first-grade material for filling a gap with antecedent materials.Looking at the excavations of the mid-Meiji period, for example, a set of ware based upon the combination of a porcelain rice bowl and a teacup was already established in the same manner as we can see today. On the other hand, with bowls of the early Edo period, most of them were lacquer ware in terms of both rice and soup bowls. Further, it is assumable that they were used for drinking tea, on the ground that the majority of the earthenware bowls were comparatively large ceramic bowls, that they were similar to the “tea bowls” handed down for generations, and that they had traces of friction. In addition, ceramic tea-drinking bowls showed a tendency to be smaller after the middle of the Edo period, and from this fact we can assume that the tea-drinking custom in ordinary life transformed from “the tea that is whipped” to “the tea not whipped.”In other words, a general survey of such a chronological context will enable us to refer to the habit of tea drinking from a point of view different from conventional ones, as well as to the situation of production and distribution of Hizen porcelain.From now on, by understanding various aspects more accurately, we should restore the characteristics of the “Japanese” mind centering on their special sentiments for “rice” and “earthenware,” their stance in East Asia, regional aspects of culture immanent in Japanese society, etc. and those engaged in archaeological studies covering the early-modern period should keep such possibilities in mind and make more efforts