BOGEN > B-SIDE > 普遍と不変

普遍と不変

Roots and Routes

B-SIDE

2018.11.17 by

どういった経緯でそうなったのかはよく覚えていないけれど、僕はスキーヤーなのになぜか日本のスノーボード第一世代の人たちに親しくしてもらっている。70年代にその原型のようなものが生まれて、80年代後半に現在の板やバインディングのシステムにたどり着き、90年代に入ってついに人気が爆発した、というのがスノーボードの歴史のものすごく大ざっぱな流れなのだけれど、時を経て、だいぶ脚色された「スノトレがバインディングから抜けないようにガムテープでグルグル巻きにして滑っていた」とか、「ハイバックが発明された時の感動といったら、、、」などという当時のエピソードは、何度聞いても興奮する。ある決まった型にたどり着くまでに試行錯誤している時期の熱量には、何かしら魅力があるからだろうか。
今50代の彼らは、日本にスノーボードムーブメントが生まれた当時から今までずっと滑り続けている。そして彼らは共通してスノーボードの歴史を、納得できる形で残そうという意識が高い。昨年、あるスノーボード雑誌が廃刊になるということで、編集部にある大量のポジが廃棄される前に残す価値のあるものを引き取ったという話をしていたが、十数年前に同じようにスノーボード雑誌が廃刊になった時にはカメラマンや関係者に知らされずに貴重な資料がたくさん破棄されてしまったらしい。記録なんて儚いものだ。

今やキーボードで単語を打ち込めばだいたいのことは調べがつくと考えがちだけれど、そうして手に入る情報の大半はロクなものではない。しかるべき人が、しかるべき経験や資料を基に作成した情報はごくわずかだし、良くも悪くも歴史は語る人の主観に大きく左右されてしまう。そうした視点で見ても、つい先日発売された”いろいろ掘り下げよう”という趣旨のスノーボード雑誌のニセコ特集は、的確な掘り下げ所と、多少の偏りはあるもののバランスのとれた視点で、スリリングで読みごたえのあるものだったように思う。また、最近完成したという日本におけるサーフィンのルーツを探る映像作品も、しっかりと作り込まれた良作という噂だし、スケートボードもしかり。最近のものに限らず、古い時代に何かを見出そうとする横乗り文化圏の人たちは、総じて歴史を大切にする傾向があるのかもしれない。
僕たちスキーヤーはどうだろうか。もちろんしっかり取り組んでいる方もおられるのかもしれないが、意識が希薄というか、あまり得意でない傾向があるように感じるので、横乗り文化圏のそうした一面は羨ましくもあり、またとても新鮮だ。
 
数年前に昭和9年(1934年)に刊行されたツアースキー指南書を題材にしたプロジェクトに関わる機会があった。現代においてもなじみの深い場所について、「青森の一つ前の浦町駅から荒川沿いに歩き出して、一日かけて歩いて酸ヶ湯に至る」とか「湯田中からバスに乗って上林で降りて、そこから熊の湯や発哺まで一日足らずの行程」など、現代からするととても過酷な、滑る場所にたどり着くまでの行程が平然と説明されているのを読むと、80年間のインフラの進歩を知り、その時代のスキーに対する情熱を感じることができる。この本に限ったことではないが、古い時代の好きモノ具合にふれると、今も変わらない普遍で不変な何かに気づかされる。はたして現代の僕らが作っている道具や本や映像からは、数十年後の人たちに何が伝わるのだろうか。
その本の序文には「殊にゲレンデスキーから山スキーへの転向は最近の最も著しい現象であらう。」とある。度を超えた懐古主義はどうかと思うけれど、歴史を掘り下げるのも悪くないかもしれない。

 

I cannot recall the exact sequence of events that have led to this, but for some reason I, a skier, have been kindly embraced by the first generation of Japanese snowboarders. Snowboarding has a fascinating history with the first prototype of a board being born in the 70s, the current board and binding systems more or less being finalized in the late 80s, and then finally leading to a massive boom in the 90s. And yet, I still get excited every time I hear a tale of the ‘good ole days’ of how people would wrap tape around their bindings to prevent their snow trekking shoes from coming out, or how impressed people were when the first high back bindings were released! I find appeal in the passion that took place as people tried over and over in trial-and-error, eventually leading to the equipment we have today.

They started riding from the beginning of Japan’s snowboard movement, and now even in their 50s, they are still riding today. They will continue to ride with a strong will to leave behind a snowboarding legacy and history that everyone can be proud of. Last year, when a certain snowboarding magazine went out of business, they made sure to selvedge the various valuable photo positives left behind in the editing department for prosperity’s sake. However, in a similar incident a decade or so ago, when a different snowboarding magazine went out of business, a lot of precious materials were destroyed before the cameramen and editors could be informed. Memories are a short-lived thing.

 

If you type a few words into the keyboard you can quickly access volumes of content on a subject, however, a majority the information you get back is less than satisfactory. Information based off of proper research, history, and sources, created from capable writer’s is very limited, and a lot of the time the details are influenced heavily by the writer’s own subjectivity. Even when you look at it this way though, just a few days ago there was an article in a snowboarding magazine’s Niseko feature issue I read that was written with a focus on “digging deep into different topics”. I felt that it was a thrilling read which was well balanced with topics that were both precisely researched and covered, and with others that were written with more of a clear bias. Additionally, a film that was recently completed that captures Japan’s surfing history is said to be extremely well crafted. Skateboarding is also covered well. It is not just recent works either. The people that belong to this sideways board riding culture who continue to try and uncover and learn about the past take great care of maintaining the history.

What about us skiers? Of course there are those who engage with the culture straight on and level headed, but there is this feeling of thin or even weak self-awareness, even a lack of pride. And because of this, on one hand, I am envious of the board riding culture, and on the other hand, I feel it is still so fresh.

 

A few years back I had the opportunity to participate in a project that was based on a Tour Ski Instruction publication that was released in 1934. I feel “composure” and “calm” when I read about how people would travel great distance to reach a good ski spot, stories that from today’s standards would only be thought of rigorous and severe, stories like “walking an entire day along the Arakawa river from Uracho station near Aomori to arrive at Sukayu,” or “taking the bus from Yudanaka, getting off at Kanbayashi, and then walking a days length to Kumanoyu or Hoppo.” It allows me to feel the passion people had for skiing 80 years ago and it helps me to understand the overall progress that has been reached. It is not limited to just this book, but when you come in contact with someone who is a sensualist of the previous generations, you tend to feel something that is both ubiquitous and unchanging. It is almost as if the gear, books, or movies that we are creating are being created for teaching something to the people that will revisit them decades later.

The book’s Preface is titled “The transition to a mountain skier from a ski slope skier is in particular, the most remarkable phenomenon.” Putting aside having an excessive principle of nostalgia, it is not bad to try and dig deep to discover more about our history.