中山伝信録 巻六 - 翻刻

翻刻

　布布満室中入室必脱三板故名脚踏綿自王宮以
　至民間皆然
　屋宇在那霸所見者皆村中民居首里所見官戚大
　家牆垣棟宇皆極華整然亦一行作屋分内外無層
　構複室也
　惟官署始連楹八九作大屋毎屋一間柱礎多至二
　十余所　屋用樫木作梁柱堅潤細理千年不蠧一
　名羅漢杉大島奇界所出尤良価亦甚貴作屋一間
　費至五百金故久米大夫家従宦有年尚多結茅者
　首里大家皆以此造屋鋪地久之光潤可鑑
　壁既用板無粉墁牆多用砑花重粉箋或白色或白
　地緑花者糊之
　竹簾極麤以細竹全幹編之挂屋簷四周
　屋中画軸皆短小不過四五尺屋小故也若首里貴
　家長与中国画軸無異
　屛幅字或用四扇例先書一大字於首如春夏秋冬
　仁義礼智之類下綴詩語三四行亦不必与大字相
　応

現代語訳

布で室内を満たし、室に入る時は必ず履物を脱ぐため「脚踏綿」と名付けられている。王宮から民間に至るまで皆そうである。

建物について、那覇で見たものは皆村中の民家であり、首里で見た官吏や親戚の大きな家は、塀や建物が皆極めて華麗で整然としている。しかし、やはり一列に建物を作り、内外を分けるが、層を重ねた構造や複雑な部屋はない。

ただ官署だけが連続した軒を八九間作って大きな建物とする。建物一間ごとに柱の礎石が二十余箇所にも及ぶ。建物には樫の木を使って梁や柱を作り、堅くて潤いがあり、きめが細かく千年経っても腐らない。羅漢杉という名前もあり、大島の奇界で産出されるものが特に良く、価格も甚だ高い。建物一間を作るのに五百金もかかるため、久米の大夫の家でも長年官職に就いているのに、なお多くが茅葺きの家である。首里の大家は皆これで建物を造り、床に敷けば久しく使ううちに光沢が出て鏡のようになる。

壁は既に板を用いるので漆喰塗りはなく、壁の多くは艶をつけた花模様の重ね紙や、或いは白色、或いは白地に緑の花のものを貼っている。

竹簾は極めて粗く、細い竹を丸ごと編んで建物の軒先四周に掛ける。

屋内の掛け軸は皆短小で四五尺を超えない。建物が小さいためである。しかし首里の貴族の家では中国の掛け軸と長さに違いはない。

屏風の字は四扇を用いるのが例で、まず一つの大きな字を最初に書く。例えば春夏秋冬、仁義礼智の類で、下に詩句を三四行綴る。また必ずしも大字と相応する必要はない。

英語訳

The rooms are filled with cloth, and one must remove footwear when entering a room, hence the name "foot-treading cotton." This is the same from the royal palace to commoner homes.

Regarding buildings, those seen in Naha were all village folk dwellings, while the large houses of officials and relatives seen in Shuri had walls and structures that were all extremely magnificent and well-ordered. However, they still build houses in a single row, dividing interior and exterior, but without multi-story construction or complex room arrangements.

Only government offices connect eight or nine bays in succession to create large buildings. Each bay of a building has over twenty column foundation stones. Buildings use oak wood for beams and pillars, which are hard, smooth, fine-grained, and do not rot for a thousand years. Also called "Arhat cedar," those produced in the extraordinary regions of Oshima are especially fine, with very high prices. Building one bay costs as much as 500 gold pieces, so even the families of Kume officials, despite years of government service, still mostly have thatched houses. The great houses of Shuri are all built with this wood, and when used for flooring, after long use it becomes lustrous like a mirror.

Since walls already use boards, there is no lime plastering; most walls are pasted with burnished floral patterned layered paper, either white in color or white ground with green flowers.

Bamboo blinds are extremely coarse, woven from whole thin bamboo stalks and hung around all four sides of building eaves.

Hanging scrolls in houses are all short and small, not exceeding four to five feet. This is because the buildings are small. However, in the houses of Shuri nobility, the length is no different from Chinese hanging scrolls.

For characters on folding screens, the custom is to use four panels, first writing one large character at the beginning, such as spring-summer-autumn-winter or benevolence-righteousness-propriety-wisdom, with three or four lines of poetry added below. These need not necessarily correspond with the large character.