Introduction

制作者や制作年代をはじめ、その出所や帰属先が不明である民具や社寺彫刻などに代表される地域に残る歴史的な造形物の存在価値を明確にすることを目指しています。従来の研究では、これらの造形物の形態情報や造形方法、材料の使い方に焦点を当ててきましたが、さらに一歩進んで、その形の造形傾向（作風）や造形背景（制作時の自然および人的環境）までを読み解こうとしています。 研究者や地域ごとに実施されてきた歴史的造形物の維持・公知活動により、それぞれの造形物の価値が再確認され、支持されることで、これらの造形物の保存と継承が促進されます。そこに潜在する造形知、アイデア、工夫が顕在化し、現代のデザインにも影響を与えることで、地域に残る歴史的な造形物が現在にいたることの意義が明解なものとなってきます。

Although the phrase “learning from the past” has been overused, it is still not a dead expression. In fact, the significance of this phrase seems to be becoming more influential than ever before. In this project, I will examine the ideas and devices latent in “ancient artifacts,” such as forms excavated from archaeological sites, forms depicted in drawings and plans left behind today, historical folk forms, folk tools, and folk art forms, which were created by human hands in ancient times and were used by people in those days, as the accumulation and traces of design knowledge applied to help people live in comfort physically, physiologically, and psychologically. The purpose of this project is to understand the latent ideas and innovations in “ancient artifacts,” forms that were created by people in ancient times and that were with people at that time, as an accumulation of design knowledge and traces that can be applied to our daily lives in the future. While engineering viewpoints and methods will be used as a basis for clarification, the design knowledge of ancient artifacts will be presented in a way that requires as little specialized knowledge as possible and allows the viewer to perceive the design knowledge with a physical sensation. Most of the artifacts to be introduced here are still in the process of being researched, so I will introduce them little by little, but I intend to introduce them in a timely manner, since many of their forms are being lost, containing the “design for living” that our predecessors left behind and passed on.