四国徳島にはブランコが設置された神社がある。そこには小さなお社と少しばかりの背の高い木々が立つ。人は常駐していない。そんな地方の小さな神社は公園の機能を持つ。神社境内の公園化が進んだのは明治30 年頃からで、敷地の狭い神社にはブランコが置かれることが多かった。また神社は地域の集会所でもあり、かつては親が寄り合いをしている間、子供たちが境内のブランコで遊んでいたことも想像できる。

だが今や、子供たちがそれで遊んでいる気配はない。ひっそりと立つブランコに興味を覚えた私は、2013 年から10 年間にわたり、徳島県全域の神社を周ってブランコを探し撮影した。すべての神社にブランコがあるわけでなく、また10年の間に撤去されたものも少なくない。

ご由緒は多々あるにせよ、地方の小さな神社の原型は自然崇拝であろう。飢饉や自然災害、疫病などの禍から身を守るために、大木や岩、山や滝を神として祀ったのが始まりで、それが時代を経て地域周辺を守護する神社となった。

鳥居をくぐり、大昔から神聖であったその場所に入るとき、自ずと身は引き締まり、心は鎮まる。三脚を立ててよいものかとも思う。やはりここは普段の生活領域とは異なる場所だと肌で感じる。そんな神や祖霊の依り代たる所にブランコはある。誰に揺らされることもなく、静かに佇んでいる。

In Tokushima, Shikoku, there are Shinto shrines with a swing. There is a Yashiro (small shrine) and some tall trees, and are no people stationed there. Such modest shrines in rural areas are used as parks. The transformation of shrine grounds into parks began around the 30th year of Meiji (1897), and swings were often placed in shrines whose premises are small. Shrines are also community meeting places, and you can imagine that children used to play on the swings while their parents joined a gathering. Small shrines were often built because of unfortunate events in the distant past, such as natural disasters or epidemics. People prayed for peace and tranquility by enshrining a deity at each location. In such places, swings stand quietly and unused.

However, there is no presence of children playing on the swings today. Intrigued by the silent swings, I traveled around shrines throughout Tokushima Prefecture for 10 years starting in 2013, looking for swings and photographing them. Not all the shrines have swings, and not a few have been removed from the shrines over the past decade.

Despite their many origins, the primitive form of small local shrines is probably nature worship. The original shrines were built to protect people from famine, natural disasters, epidemics, and other calamities by enshrining large trees, rocks, mountains, and waterfalls as deities, and over time, became the shrines that protected the surrounding area.

When you enter the Torii gate and step into the place, which has been sacred since ancient times, your body naturally becomes tense and your mind calms down. I hesitate to set up my tripod there. I feel in my bones that this place is different from the realm of everyday life. The swing is located in a place that serves as a Yorishiro, where gods and ancestral spirits are summoned. It stands there quietly, not swung by anyone.