九品仏商店街
Kuhonbutsu Shopping Street

NPO団体玉川まちづくりハウスの皆さんのご協力をいただき、世田谷を巡るまち歩きを企画しました。ここ数週間、安全に、分かりやすく、親しみやすいかたちで「声の記念碑」と触れ合ってもらうにはどうすればよいか、地元の町内会や商店街をはじめとする地域の皆さんと話し合いを重ねてきました。オリンピック開催が１ヶ月後に迫り、コロナウイルス蔓延がいつまで続くのか誰もが心配する中で、安心感のある企画を実現させる為には、話し合いを重ねることが非常に重要なことでした。


商店街の通りでまち歩きを行うことに、地域関係者の皆さんから了承いただきました。この地域のルールに従って「声の記念碑」まち歩きに関する情報を、掲示板や回覧板を通じて近所の方々へお知らせしました。

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Building on our relationship with community organization Tamakawa Machizukuri House, we designed several walks in our Setagaya neighborhood. We’ve spent the past few weeks strategizing with neighbor elders, town council members, community organizations and local businesses to develop safe, accessible, and welcoming ‘koe no enin hi’ interactions. This is especially important now:  everyone is concerned about the persistence of COVID-19 one month before the start of the 2021 Olympics.

From the stakeholders, we received permission to use several commercial streets for neighborhood walks to meet and engage with many people. Following neighborhood protocol, our walks are announced to residents on area bulletin boards and via the neighbor-to-neighbor flyer-sharing system.

九品仏商店街は、世田谷区に残る昔ながらの貴重な風景の一つです。代々受け継がれてきた個人商店が多く立ち並び、この町の人々の日常生活を今も支えています。午後には歩行者天国となり、近所からの買い物客で賑わいます。こぢんまりとした食料品店や、美味しそうな香り漂うパン屋さん、夫婦経営の魚屋さん、お花屋さん、お薬屋さん、そして毎日丁寧に手造りをつづけるお豆腐屋さんなど、町の人々と触れ合うにはうってつけの商店街です。

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Kuhombutsu Shoutengai is one of the few remaining traditional shopping streets in this area.  Independent businesses, many in operation for generations, support the local community’s needs. The shopping street is closed to traffic in the late afternoon, transforming it into a lively, pedestrian-friendly thoroughfare. It’s a wonderful place to meet neighbors while shopping at small groceries, delicious bakeries, a husband-wife fish market, florists, pharmacies, and a shop that makes incredible tofu daily.

「 ここは、下町的な温かい雰囲気が残っている場所です。人の繋がりがあってね。 」

“This neighborhood still has that warm, *shitamachi feeling. People know each other, you know.”

*Shitamachi refers to lowland areas in Tokyo that are mostly commercial and industrial where the working class resides.

“In the summer, we have a matsuri (festival) where people walk around carrying a huge snake made of straw. In fall, many shop owners in the shotengai give out Halloween candies to kids in costumes. Sadly, we couldn’t do either last year because of Covid, but we have these homely and fun events in the neighborhood.”