記憶を辿る 7話
– 河原町のジュリー –
– Julie in Kawaramachi –
正真正銘のバカを突き進んでいた幼稚園時代、わたしはお母さんたちに、「豆タンクちゃん」と呼ばれていたそうだ。豆のように小さくコロコロとして、タンクトップを着ていそうというイメージらしい。
馬鹿にしているのか?
いや、ほのぼのと絵を描きながら、おにぎりを食べてそうな愛されキャラだったのだ。幼稚園というと可愛い盛りである。小学校とは違い、他人の子も自分の子のように可愛く、成長が楽しみに思ってしまう自分がいるからきっとそうだろう。
さて話を当時に戻すと、京都にはジュリーが2人いた。
「勝手にしやがれ」と「勝手にしやがった方」のジュリーだ。
しやがった方のジュリーは河原町がステージ。当時は有名人だったからご存じの方も多いはず。死語で言うと乞食。その類は、放つ匂いやコーディネートで嫌煙されがちなのだが、なぜか京都では愛されていた。
鴨川の橋の下では、まだまだブルーシートの家だけでなく本格的な家があった時代だ。その中で名前が付けられるぐらい有名だったのだから、なかなか稀有な存在だったんだと思う。
そんなジュリーに登園の際、毎朝会った。
噂が噂を呼び、大金持ちだからルンペンを気取っているとか、奥さんに逃げられたからなどと大人達は言っていた記憶があるが、嫌でも寺町三条あたりで毎朝会って、目が合うのだから覚えてしまう。
When I was in kindergarten, I was a true fool, and my mom and her friends called me “Mame-Tank-chan”. They thought I was small and round like a bean, and that I looked like I would be wearing a no sleeve t-shirts.
Are they making fun of me?
No, I was a beloved character who looked like I was drawing a picture in a relaxed manner and eating a rice ball. Kindergarten is a cute time of year. Unlike elementary school, other people’s children are just as cute as my own, and I look forward to seeing them grow up, so it must be true.
Now, back to those days, there were two Julie’s in Kyoto.
There were two Julie’s in Kyoto: “Do as you wish” and ” Did as you wish” Julie.
The Julie who did it all on his own had his stage in Kawaramachi. He was a famous person at that time, so many people must have known him. In the old language in Japan, he was a beggar. Although people tend to be avoided because of the smell they give off and their coordination, for some reason they were loved in Kyoto.
It was a time when there were still authentic houses under the bridge on the Kamogawa as well as blue-sheeted houses. I think he was quite rare because he was so famous that he was named after one of them.
I met Julie every morning when I went to the school.
Rumor followed rumor, and I remember adults saying that Julie was pretending to be a lumpen because he had a lot of money or because his wife had run away from him.
そんなジュリーに、蒸し暑い夏の生祥公園で話かけられた事があった。
生祥公園と会社は走れば30秒ほどの距離。母親がすぐ戻るからと会社に戻り、公園の砂場で遊んでいた時だった。声をかけられた私は、即座にアイドルじゃないジュリーだと認識できた。そしてオープンマインドだったのだろう、友達感覚のように彼から逃げようとはしなかった。
会話はあったのだろうが覚えていない。
そんな彼がおもむろに、抹茶味のチョコレートを私に渡した。
当時、茶道の先生の資格を持つ母がたまに食べていたチョコで、私は苦手な味だった。
父親が使っていた整髪料のような匂い味がしたからだ。他府県の方からみれば、憧れの有名店が軒並みある京都に生まれ育ったが、私は今でもあまり抹茶は好ましくなく、そういった店に行くこともない。
まぁ正しくいえば”抹茶味”や”抹茶風”が苦手なのだが…。
基、ジュリーから渡された抹茶チョコは、毎朝会っているからこそのスキンシップだったのか、私は喜ぶことができなかった。その風態が原因ではない、まるでマジックのようだったからだと思う。
私の反応が薄かったのか、取り上げることはせずに彼はそっと離れていった。
記憶にある蓑虫のような後ろ姿、今はなんだか切ない。
その後しばらくして母親が姿を見せた。
砂場遊びをしていた息子の手に握られている抹茶味のチョコ。
誰から貰たん?
ジュリー
と返答する会話の可笑しさは、今でも笑ってしまう。
有り得ない組み合わせが上手くはまった時、化学反応が起こりイノベーションに繋がるがそれは起きず、以降ジュリーに会えない、会わないルートで登園することになった。
父親は好意的にジュリーを捉えていたと思うが、母親からすればそうだろうと思う。
その後、河原町からジュリーは消え、何年かして天に召されたと聞いた時には、少し寂しくなった。
ちなみに、幼い私が喜ぶ姿を想像して渡してくれた抹茶味のチョコは、封は切られてはいなかったが、夏の暑さでネッチョネチョだった。もはや人に渡すような代物ではないのだが、もしかしたら本人は食べたかったのかもしれない、彼にとっての最大限のオモテナシだったのかもしれない。
Once such Julie talked to me in a hot and humid summer day at Seisho Park.
The park and the company were only 30 seconds apart by running. I was playing in the sandbox at the park after returning to the office because my mother would be back soon. I was approached and instantly recognized Julie, who was not an idol. And I guess I was open minded, I didn’t try to run away from him as if we were friends.
I think we had a conversation, but I don’t remember it.
He suddenly gave me a piece of matcha-flavored chocolate.
At the time, my mother, who was a qualified tea ceremony teacher, used to eat these chocolates from time to time, and I did not like the taste.
It was because it smelled and tasted like the hairdressing product my father used to use. Although I was born and raised in Kyoto, where there are many famous stores that are admired by people from other prefectures, I still do not like matcha and do not go to such stores.
To be more precise, I don’t like “matcha-style” matcha….
I was not pleased with the matcha chocolates that Julie gave me because we see each other every morning, but I was not pleased. I don’t think it was because of its style, I think it was because it was like magic.
Perhaps my reaction was not strong enough, but instead of taking it away, he gently walked away.
The back of my head, like a front in my memory, is somewhat sad now.
Moments later, my mother showed up.
Her son was playing in the sandbox, and he held a matcha-flavored chocolate in his hand.
Who gave it to you? said my mother.
Julie. That I said.
I still laugh at the hilarity of my reply.
When the unlikely combination of the two fit well, a chemical reaction occurs that leads to innovation, but that did not happen, and from then on, I had to go the route of not seeing Julie or meeting him.
I think my father viewed Julie favorably, but from my mother’s point of view, I think it would have been true.
Julie disappeared from Kawaramachi after that, and I was a little saddened when I heard that Julie was taken to heaven some years later.
Incidentally, the green tea-flavored chocolates that he gave me, imagining that I would be pleased with them as a young kid, were not sealed, but they were melted in the summer heat. It was no longer the kind of thing I would give it to someone, but perhaps he wanted to eat it, or perhaps it was his greatest omotenashi.