Vol.5 Inlay Lake, Myanmar | ミャンマー・インレー湖

Asia | アジア,Myanmar | ミャンマー

織物の国ミャンマー。
光明媚なインレー湖では、何万人もの人々が湖上で生活していました。水上に高床式の木の家を作り、浮き島に畑を作り、漁をして、船で行き来する。子供のときに、道が水路になってて船をこいで学校いきたい、、と妄想してたのがリアルにありました。

ミャンマー人の友達のエイちゃんにボートをチャーターしてもらって、水上の観光地へ。お寺、レストラン、みやげ物屋、学校、ぜんぶ水上。見たことない景色。。

Myanmar is the land of textiles.
On the scenic Inle Lake, tens of thousands of people lived on the lake. They built wooden houses on stilts on the water, farmed on floating islands, fished, and came and went by boat.When I was a child, I had a real fantasy that the road was a waterway and I wanted to row a boat to school.

I asked my Myanmar friend, Ei, to charter a boat for me and we went to the tourist spots on the water.Temples, restaurants, souvenir shops, schools, all on the water. I had never seen anything like it.

蓮の織物 Lotus fabric

インレー湖ではハスの織物が有名で、織物工房を見学。ハスの織物は通気性もよく軽くて丈夫で高価。お坊さんの袈裟もハスの布で、お布施で作ってもらうそうです。

Inle Lake is famous for its lotus weaving and we visited a weaving studio. Lotus fabric is breathable, lightweight, durable, and expensive. Monks’ robes are also made of lotus cloth, and they are made with an offering.

織物工房には年配女性が仕事しにきており、私たちが見ていると疲れたのかふらっと昼寝に行ってました。これがちょっと自分には目から鱗で。織物工場の歴史は日本の女工哀史や技能実習制度、パキスタンのビルが崩れたとかのイメージが強かったので。こんなに手間をかけて作られるなら、おばちゃん達がお昼寝したり、おしゃべりしたり、のんびり作った布を使いたいなとしみじみ思いましたよ。

An elderly woman had come to work in the weaving studio, and as we watched, she wandered off to take a nap, perhaps tired. This was a bit of an eye-opener for me. The history of textile factories had been strongly associated with Japan’s “Onna Koukou Aishi" (sad history of women weavers), the technical internship system, and the collapse of the building in Pakistan. I sincerely wished I could use the cloth made by the ladies taking a nap, chatting, and relaxing, if it is made with such a lot of time and effort.

エイちゃんに説明を受けながら、布を購入。民族ごとに図柄が違くて、黄色の波の線はビルマ族、黒の縦模様はカチン族、青紫地はアラカイ族、オレンジはシャン族。都会っ子のエイちゃんは他の民族布で仕立てて着たりしてるそうで、日本の着物柄のロンジーも流行ったみたいだし、着こなしは結構自由? 

While Ei explained to us, we bought some cloths. The yellow wavy lines are Burmese, the black vertical pattern is Kachin, the blue purple is Arakai, and the orange is Shan. Ai, a city girl, said that she sometimes wears tailored clothes made of other ethnic fabrics, and that Japanese kimono-patterned longies were also popular.