この場所が出来たきっかけは、東日本大震災です。あのとき、自分たちがいかに大きな社会システムに依存して生きてきたかを認識し、またその脆さ・危うさを実感しました。これから未来のために自分たちの暮らしの基礎をつくれるようになっていたい、そういうコミュニティをつくりたい、と決意したのがこの家の始まりでした。あの経験を経て私たちは今、食べ物・お金・エネルギーなど自分たちの暮らしに関わること・ものをイチからやってみようと日々実験しています。
食べ物
お米は100%自給。近くの畑で好きな野菜を育てたり、海で魚突きをしたり、山で猟をしたり、野草を採ったり、養蜂をしたり。海、山、川、棚田と豊かな自然の恵みを日々いただいています。
お金
生きていくためにキャッシュは必要です。我が家では、田舎暮らしが体験できるツアーやイベントの企画・マルシェの開催・企業合宿の受け入れなど、この場所にある資源や環境・人材を活用して暮らしの中から仕事をつくっています。手づくりの暮らしをする事で生活コストを下げ、ただお金を稼ぐだけの仕事を減らし、自分が本当にやりたい『仕事』に挑戦できる時間・土台づくりに取り組んでいます。
エネルギー
太陽光パネルの発電機をつくるワークショップをしたり、ロケットストーブやアースオーブンをつくったり、薪で床下を温める床暖房オンドルをつくったり。電気をつくるだけでなく、薪を使って調理・暖房することで、自然の中からエネルギーをつくり出し、使っています。
とはいえ、100％自給の生活を目的にしているわけではありません。結果ではなく、”消費するだけ”の立場から”自分たちでつくっていこう”と考えること。暮らしのことを人任せにせず、自分ごととして向き合う姿勢が大切だと感じています。暮らしをつくるプロセスを体験すると、身の回りにあるもののバックグラウンドや本当の価値を知ることができます。そこからもう一度自分の生き方を見つめ直すことも、この生活から得られる貴重な学びです。
いつかはこのシェアハウスも、同じ想いの仲間たちが増え、一緒に子育てをし、様々な世代の人たちが一緒に暮らす小さな村のようになっていったらいいなと思っています。この場が豊かなコミュニティになっていくことを想い描き、今日も”シェア”する暮らしを続けています。
The way of living we create for ourselves
Itoshima Share House is a share house that connects you to nature, with the concept of “creating food, money, and energy on our own.” In a village surrounded by terraced rice fields, men and women with various backgrounds live together, working in rice fields, fields, hunting, and renovating an 80-year-old traditional house. Here, we are experimenting with a lifestyle where we “share” the things we have experienced and created with many people.
The reason this place was created was the Great East Japan Earthquake. At that time, I realized how dependent we had been on a large social system, and recognized its fragility and danger. This house started when I decided that I wanted to create a community where people could build a foundation of our own lives for the future. Since the earthquake, we have experimented every day to try things and things related to our lives from scratch, such as food, money, and energy.
About Food
We are 100% self-sufficient in rice, grow our favorite vegetables in a nearby field, fish in the sea, hunt in the mountains, collect wildflowers, and keep bees. Every day, we are blessed with the blessings of nature, including the sea, mountains, rivers, and rice terraces.
About Money
We need cash to survive. At my house, we create work from our daily lives by utilizing the resources, environment, and human resources available in this location, such as planning tours and events where people can experience rural life, holding marches, and hosting corporate training camps. We are working to lower the cost of living by making things with our hands, reduce the amount of work that we do just to make money, and create the time and foundation that enable us to do what we really want to do.
About Energy
We held workshops to make solar panel generators, made rocket stoves and earth ovens, and made Ondol, which is an underfloor heating system that uses wood to heat the floor. In addition to generating electricity, we also create and use energy from nature by using firewood for cooking and heating.
However, our goal is not to live a 100% self-sufficient life. Rather than thinking about the result, we should think about creating it ourselves and breaking away from mare consumers. I feel that it is important to not rely on others to handle your daily life, but to face it as your own. By experiencing the process of creating a living, you can learn about the background and true value of the things around you. From that point of view, reconsidering your way of life is also a valuable lesson that can be gained from this life.
I hope that someday, this share house will become like a small village where people from all different generations live together, with more friends who share the same passion, and who raise their children together. We envision this place becoming a rich community, and today we continue to live a life of “sharing.”
（translated by Ken Sugihara）