かつて本社の2階には、生地を裁断する台があった。

テーブルとかそんな類ではなく、幅は約2m、総長5mぐらいか。かなり大きかった。裁断台ではガチャコンガチャコンと生地がいったりきたり。裁断士が2階で生地と格闘してくれていた。

裁断士の休憩時間は分かりやすかった。

ガチャコンの大きな音が消えるのだ。

無邪気だった私は、音が消えると2階へ上がり、裁断士に遊んでもらったり色々な話をしていた。誕生日が近くなると、今は跡形もない三条の本屋で強請ったりした記憶もある。後で母親にこっぴどく叱られたが。

There used to be a fabric cutting table on the second floor of the head office.

It was not a table or anything like that. It was about 2 meters wide and 5 meters long. It was quite large. On the cutting table, fabrics came and went with the sound clatter clatter clatter clatter. The cutter was working on the second floor, struggling with the fabric.

The cutter’s break time was easy to understand.

The loud sound of the clattering would disappear.

As an innocent child, I would go upstairs when the sound went away, and the cutter would play with me and talk with me about various things. When my birthday came around, I remember begging for money at a bookstore in Sanjo, where there are no longer any signs of the bookstore. I was later scolded strongly by my mother.

京都で行っていた裁断も、私の小学校低学年くらいまで続いたと思うが、大分工場に裁断工程が全て移った。裁断士の高齢化と、それまで荷物を大分工場へ運んでいた父親の移動手段が、フェリーから飛行機にかわったからだった。

飛行機にかわったのは、工場から10分ほどのところに大分空港ができたのも大きかった。時代的に物流が整備されだしたのもあると思う。

時代が切り替わった瞬間だった。

住み込みの縫製工がミシンを並べ、祖父や祖母、父親と一緒に同じ釜の飯を共にしてきた昭和。裁断士が私のオムツを変え、お守りをしてくれた日々。様々な人間の思いや願いを背負ってきた館。

令和の時代では、騒音問題にもなりかねないあのガチャコン音

今や私の中で、かけがえのない音となって胸の奥でいつも響いている。

The cutting process in Kyoto continued until I was in early elementary school, when the entire cutting process was moved to the Oita factory. The reason for this was the aging of the cutters and the fact that my father’s transportation from the ferry to the Oita factory had changed from ferry to airplane.

The switch to airplanes was due in large part to the opening of Oita Airport, about 10 minutes from the factory. I think it was also due to the fact that logistics were being improved at that time.

It was the moment when the times changed.

In the Showa period, live-in sewers lined up their sewing machines and shared the same pot of rice with my grandfather, grandmother, and father. The days when cutters changed my diapers and babysat me. The building has borne the thoughts and wishes of various people.

In the Reiwa period, that clanging sound that could have been a noise problem.

Now it has become an irreplaceable sound that echoes deep in my heart.