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家に対する新しい見方
家に対する新しい見方
長年、日本に暮らし、
日本人の考え方に親しんできた筆者も、
最近の家相ブームには驚いている。
健康や幸せが家相で決まるという考え方が
不思議に思えるからだ。
A Fresh Look At Housing
By DAVID ZOPPETTI
Real estate prices in Japan are on the decline. Interest rates for housing
loans are at all-time lows, and the government recently introduced
attractive mortgage-related tax cuts. As a result, land purchase and
housing development are increasing significantly.
What surprises me is how many people still believe in "kaso."
This intriguing science of house physiognomy or orientation beliefs has
to do with the proper geographical orientation of your house and the
disposition of the rooms in it. Good kaso will bring your family good health
and happiness, whereas ignorance of or disregard for these rules will invite disaster and bad fortune.
For instance, if your toilet is on the northeast "kimon" side, someone
will suffer from an incurable disease, and any type of enterprise is
bound to fail. Having the main entrance door on the east brings money,
friends and good luck into the house, but a kitchen on the southern side will
negatively influence your promotion in life.
To the average Westerner, all this sounds about as convincing as the
far-fetched messages in cheap fortune cookies. However, a survey showed
that one out of two Japanese still relies on kaso when buying or building a
house. Housing exhibits often offer kaso counseling services and books on
the subject sell as well as diet video tapes in the United States.
To my knowledge, there are no such beliefs in my home country of
Switzerland. There might have been housing-related superstitions in the
remote countryside in the past, but rationalistic Cartesian thinking has long since banned them from our common subconscious.
So why is kaso still so big in Japan?
First of all, although Japan appears to be a highly Westernized society, I
believe that deep inside it still has strong emotional ties with its Asian
identity. Secondly, owning one's house ("mai homu") in this country is a
dream that goes far beyond what the average Westerner would imagine. It is
not surprising therefore that people should wish to seek all possible
guarantees for their happiness and safety once this dream is fulfilled.
Is kaso mere superstition? I wouldn't dare to make a final judgment, but
two things come to mind.
A) Kaso requires space. Drawing out a plan for a house that respects
all the kaso parameters in a city like Tokyo is close to impossible. Why not
use this as an excuse to move out from the crammed cities to the
countryside and learn how to enjoy another kind of lifestyle?
B) I feel that a lot of problems youth face in this country (school
dropout, bullying, juvenile suicide, violence, etc.) are related to a lack of
communication between parents and children and to an absence of basic family
ties. Kaso is fine with me. But I think we should mostly emphasize building
houses where there is more communication between all members of the family.
And this is not a question of room disposition...
Real estate prices in Japan are on the decline. Interest rates for housing
loans are at all-time lows, and the government recently introduced
attractive mortgage-related tax cuts. As a result, land purchase and
housing development are increasing significantly.
What surprises me is how many people still believe in "kaso."
This intriguing science of house physiognomy or orientation beliefs has
to do with the proper geographical orientation of your house and the
disposition of the rooms in it. Good kaso will bring your family good health
and happiness, whereas ignorance of or disregard for these rules will invite disaster and bad fortune.
For instance, if your toilet is on the northeast "kimon" side, someone
will suffer from an incurable disease, and any type of enterprise is
bound to fail. Having the main entrance door on the east brings money,
friends and good luck into the house, but a kitchen on the southern side will
negatively influence your promotion in life.
To the average Westerner, all this sounds about as convincing as the
far-fetched messages in cheap fortune cookies. However, a survey showed
that one out of two Japanese still relies on kaso when buying or building a
house. Housing exhibits often offer kaso counseling services and books on
the subject sell as well as diet video tapes in the United States.
To my knowledge, there are no such beliefs in my home country of
Switzerland. There might have been housing-related superstitions in the
remote countryside in the past, but rationalistic Cartesian thinking has long since banned them from our common subconscious.
So why is kaso still so big in Japan?
First of all, although Japan appears to be a highly Westernized society, I
believe that deep inside it still has strong emotional ties with its Asian
identity. Secondly, owning one's house ("mai homu") in this country is a
dream that goes far beyond what the average Westerner would imagine. It is
not surprising therefore that people should wish to seek all possible
guarantees for their happiness and safety once this dream is fulfilled.
Is kaso mere superstition? I wouldn't dare to make a final judgment, but
two things come to mind.
A) Kaso requires space. Drawing out a plan for a house that respects
all the kaso parameters in a city like Tokyo is close to impossible. Why not
use this as an excuse to move out from the crammed cities to the
countryside and learn how to enjoy another kind of lifestyle?
B) I feel that a lot of problems youth face in this country (school
dropout, bullying, juvenile suicide, violence, etc.) are related to a lack of
communication between parents and children and to an absence of basic family
ties. Kaso is fine with me. But I think we should mostly emphasize building
houses where there is more communication between all members of the family.
And this is not a question of room disposition...
Shukan ST: May 28, 1999
(C) All rights reserved
- Real estate prices
- 不動産価格
- are on the decline
- 下がってきている
- Interest rates
- 利率
- are at all-time lows
- 今までになく低くなっている
- mortgage-related tax cuts
- 住宅ローン関連の減税
- land purchase
- 土地購入
- significantly
- 大幅に
- intriguing
- 興味深い
- science of 〜
- 〜 学
- house physiognomy
- 家の相(physiognomy は人相、地相、外観などの意)
- orientation beliefs
- 方位に関する信仰
- has to do with 〜
- 〜 に関することである
- proper geographical orientation of 〜
- 〜 の正しい方位
- disposition of the rooms
- 部屋の間取り
- ignorance of or disregard for 〜
- 〜 を知らなかったり、無視したりすること
- kimon
- 鬼門
- suffer from 〜
- 〜 にかかる
- incurable disease
- 不治の病
- enterprise
- 仕事、事業
- is bound to 〜
- 遅かれ早かれ 〜 する
- promotion
- 出世
- sounds about as convincing as 〜
- 〜 と同じぐらいの説得力しかない
- far-fetched
- ありそうもない
- fortune cookies
- 中華料理店のデザートなどとして出る、占いクッキー。折り畳んだ薄い軽焼きのお菓子で、中に運勢や格言などを印刷した細長い紙片が入っている
- survey
- 調査
- one out of two Japanese
- 日本人の2人にひとり
- exhibits
- 展示会
- books on the subject
- 家相についての本
- superstitions
- 迷信
- remote countryside
- 片田舎
- rationalistic
- 合理主義的な
- Cartesian
- デカルト学派の。あらゆる不合理を批判検討する態度を持った
- has long since banned them from 〜
- ずいぶん前から、そのような考え方を 〜 から締め出してしてしまっている
- common subconscious
- 普通の人の意識
- goes far beyond what 〜 would imagine
- 〜 の想像をはるかに上回る
- seek
- 求める
- guarantees
- 保証
- is fulfilled
- 実現する
- wouldn't dare to 〜
- あえて 〜 しようとは思わない
- Drawing out a plan for 〜
- 〜 の間取りを考えること
- respects
- 守る
- parameters
- 要素
- excuse
- 口実
- crammed
- ぎゅうぎゅう詰めの
- school dropout
- 中途退学
- bullying
- いじめ
- juvenile suicide
- 青少年の自殺
- absence of 〜
- 〜 の欠如
- emphasize
- 重要視する