Trip to Lukang/鹿港への日帰り

だいたい二週間前、華語中心は皆を鹿港（ルーガン）に連れて呉れた。大きな港が有ったお陰で、昔は鹿港が、当時の台南に次いで、台湾のナンバーツー大都市だった。オランダ人はそこで沢山鹿の革を買ったから「鹿港」って名前に成ったと言う説も有る。

今の鹿港は台中からちょっと離れた小さな町に過ぎないけど、歴史的な風景が沢山残っている、又町の中心がかなりぎしっとしているから、歴史を観る散策には適している。

The Mandarin Center sponsored a trip to Lukang for us a couple of weeks back.  Lukang was historically a major port on the island of Taiwan, dating back to the Dutch period.  One theory on the origin of the name is that because the Dutch bought so many deer pelts there, and because of the large harbor, it was named Lu(deer)kang(port).  The town was the second largest city on Taiwan after Tainan during the Qing period, but it lost importance after that, and thanks to it being a slightly out of the way small town, the historical architecture of the city is really well preserved.  Like most old cities that predate cars, it's also very compact, so it's perfect for walking around in.

 台南から鹿港がバスで二時間くらい離れている。途中でサービスエリアで停まって、ちょうどその時豚を載せたトラックがそこに停まって有った。二色の豚も居った。
We stopped at a rest stop on the way up and saw a bunch of pigs headed for slaughter.

 中華式灰皿

 この女神は観音だと思う。でも媽祖かもしれない。どっちだったっけ？横の二人はボディーガードか。シーサーも前に有るから、この写真はめっちゃ「台湾！」って感じがするのじゃないかと思った。
（ポストして間もなく、台南人の友達に真ん中の銅像が間違いない媽祖だと教えて貰った。隣りの神様は媽祖の仲間、千里眼と順風耳。）
The statue above is of Mazu (or maybe Gwanyin?)  The combination of that statue, the two body guards around her, and the stone lion in the front is all very Taiwan.
(After posting this, a Taiwanese friend of mine told me that the statue in the middle is definitely Mazu.  The bodyguards are gods who often accompany Mazu.  Their names are Qianliyan and Shunfenger.)

 獅子舞の面の目。
The eye of a lion dance mask.

 鹿港のマンホール。デザイン化されている。

 流石、古い町の鹿港にこういう狭い道が沢山有る。これは俺の台湾のイメージにぴったり合っている。狭い道が煉瓦の建物に囲まれている。なかなか日本でも、アメリカでも見掛けない風景だ。
Lots of the streets in Lukang are like this.  You can really tell that the city was built back in the days when people mostly walked wherever they were going.

 昔のお金持ちがこの井戸を作らせた時、近所の人達も使える様に塀の外側と内側に出ている様に作らせた。これは家の塀の外側から見る井戸の公共の部分だ。
This well is well-known because half of it is open on the street side of the wall (in this picture) and the other half is on the house side of the wall.  Apparently, some rich guy decided to be nice and build his well so that his neighbors could use it as well.  Of course, while his efforts are appreciated, he didn't address the root causes of poverty and lack of access to basic necessities in his society--probably because it would have required him to reexamine his entire life of privilege--so he's still bourgeois scum.

 前孔子廟の写真を載せた時、「ここで馬から降りる」と言う石碑も有ったね。この媽祖の神社の前にも有る。しかも、中国語だけじゃなくて、満州語でも書かれている。清朝は現在の満州の民族が立てた国だった。かれらの文字は隣国のモンゴルの文字にちょっと似ている。
I wrote in a previous post about a marker in front of the Tainan Confucius temple showing where one should dismount from one's horse.  This is the same thing in front of a Mazu temple.  The little squirly letters on the left are Qing script.  Modern-day China likes to play down this fact since they base a lot of their territorial claims on Qing-era maps, but the Qing Dynasty wasn't Chinese, it was Manchurian.

 媽祖の神社
Mazu Temple

 この動物を神社の前でよく見掛けるけど、「贔屓」（ビシ）と呼ばれている龍の子だ。強いから、重い物を運ぶのが上手だ。それでいつもこういう重そうな石碑などを担いでいる。
You see these animals all over in front of temples in Taiwan.  They're called "Bishi".  They're the children of dragons, and they're supposed to be very strong, so they're always seen carrying big stone tablets.

 媽祖は女神だけど、昔は一人の女の子だった。現在の福建に住んでいた。誕生日が３月２３日だから、この灰色な石が２３個有る。
The guide told us that there are 23 of these gray stones leading up to the temple.  This is because the goddess Mazu was originally an actual person, and her birthday was on March 23rd.  I'll admit, when I heard the question "Why are there 23 stones here?" I immediately had a flashback to highschool and remember a friend talking about how the number 23 was some significant illuminati number.  The birthday explanation was a bit of a letdown.

Ripley's knock-off

 媽祖の別名。

 途中で辞めたのか？おい、ちゃんと最後まで仕事せろ！
It's like the guy got tired of laying stones and just left with the job half done.

ここは「鹿港辜家」（変な漢字は「グ」と発音する）だ。昔はお金持ちの邸宅だったけど、今は民俗博物館に成っている。昔の台湾の生活用品などが有る。
After exploring the central town, we went to this mansion next.  It belonged to another member of the bourgeois, parasite class back in the day, and has been transformed into a museum of folk culture.  It mostly exhibits items from daily life in Taiwan from the Qing period onwards.

眼鏡ケース。蟹が可愛いと思った。
This is an eyeglasses case with adorable crabs on it.

物差し

これは何かちょっと忘れたけど、陰陽のデザインがいいなぁと思った。
I've forgotten what this was, but I liked the I-Ching design on it.

三弦！凄く綺麗な真珠層が棹に彫られている。
Amongst the instruments was a Sanxian.  The neck had really pretty mother-of-pearl inlaid into it.

日本時代の台湾の地図が有った。
Japanese period maps of Taiwan.

自転車に載っているのは全部薬品とか化粧品とか。

While we should never forget that this building was built thanks to the forced extraction of wealth from the laboring class, it is admittedly really pretty.

これめっちゃウケた。でも実際に尿と屎を中に入れる容器じゃない。結婚する前に、女性が親に上げるプレゼントの入れ物だそうだ。お世話に成ったと言う意味が含まれている。
After the mansion, we also visited a nearby temple.  I wasn't paying much attention to the guide at this point, so I kind of don't know what the significance of this particular temple was.

沖縄と同じく台湾にも石敢當が沢山有る。

From the ceiling of the temple.  I liked the placement of the florescent.

歴史的な建物が沢山残っている地区に、なぜかこの宇宙船みたいなやつがぽつんと落ちている。おい、空気読めよ。
Amazingly enough, in the middle of this district of historic houses was this spaceship-esque monstrosity.  I don't know exactly what the situation is with Taiwan's historic preservation laws, but it looks like the law's not quite strict enough.

不思議なオフィス。全く前の壁が無い。

皆これを見て、うわ、人種差別！（国籍差別か？）と思ったけど、実はここは英語学校で、これは「中国人立ち入り禁止」じゃなくて、「中国語禁止」って意味だろう。
Everyone saw this sign and immediately thought it was some racist, exclusionary thing, but actually this is an English school, so I think it just means "Don't use Chinese past this point."

台南の安平ツリーハウスみたいな感じだけど、ここは観光化されていない。単にぼろぼろな家に過ぎない。
Some people might remember the Anping Tree House in Tainan.  This is like that, except not a tourist attraction and just run-down.

弾いている本人に聞いたけど、学期の名前もう忘れた。あ〜。
I asked her what the instrument is called, but I forgot the name already.

That's Lukang!