私の曽祖父は澤田久蔵(1854-1899)といい、明治5年(1872)に学制が発布されて明治７年に多賀小学校ができてから、校長を約１１年間務めていました。当時は多賀のほかに、敏満寺や久徳にも小学校があり、その後統合されて今の多賀小学校になりました。（「多賀小学校百年のあゆみ」より）敏満寺小学校の初代校長は久蔵の兄の澤田醇一でした。醇一、久蔵共に彦根の寺子屋で学んだのちに師範学校を経て教職についたようです。家には久蔵氏が使っていたと思われる書物や書いた物が残っており、明治の人々の教養レベルの高さに驚きます。
さて、私が多賀の実家に帰って色々整理している中に古い書ばかりの掛け軸があり、見ると最後に「一茶O︎OO︎」と書いてありました。えっ？と思ってネットで調べてみると、小林一茶作と言われる勧農詞であることが分かりました。農業の大切さや勤勉さを説く内容で、当時、道徳心を養う教材としても用いられたとのこと。久蔵氏はこれを学校のどこかに掛けて子供達に教えたと思われます。当時は小林一茶作と信じられていましたが、後に原作者は宮下正岑（まさみね）であることが判明しました。
いずれにしても珍しいものなので、眠らせておくのは惜しいと思いましたが、掛け軸の下はボロボロで、書の部分もシミがついて、とても掛けられる状態ではありませんでした。修理にはお金もかかるし、結局そのままにしておいたのですが、昨年、野洲で京表具の仕事をしている辻芳弘さんが横田順さんの墨画展に来られたので、掛け軸を見せて、思い切って修理をお願いしました。そして先日それを仕上げて持ってきてくださいました。シミも綺麗に取れて見事な掛け軸として復活しました。
ネットでは文字起こしはされていますが、現代語訳がないので、私には詳しい内容はわかりません。けれども、美しい文字の流れはいつまでも見ていたい程素晴らしいです。しばらく、我が家の床の間に掛けてありますので、興味のある方は是非見にいらしてください。
My great grandfather is Kyuuzoh Sawada (1854-1899) and he served as principal for 11 years in Taga Primary School since the Meiji government promulgated the school system in 1872. At first, there were three schools in neighboring areas and later they were integrated as Taga Primary School. Junichi Sawada was the first principal in Binmanji Primary School which was one of three and he was the elder brother of Kyuuzoh S., and they both had an education at Terakoya (temple school) and teacher's school after that. Kyuuzoh left several books and papers in my house. I could understand how he was a highly educated person by those books and writings. People in the Meiji era were putting so much effort into learning History, Chinese poetry, Math, etc. They were really amazing.
Well, when I returned my native home ten years ago and cleaned up things which were in the house, I found an old hanging scroll. I saw the name "Issa ....." which is very famous as a Japanese poet in the Edo period. Looking up on the internet, it is "Encouragement of Agriculture" by Kobayashi Issa. It seemed that educators used it as an educational material for developing a sense of morality at that time. People believed that it was Issa's work but actually it was proved later that a different person, Miyashita Masamine, worked for it.
In any case, I thought it was a very interesting and valuable scroll, but I just put it away for years because it was old and ruined the lower part. Last year, Mr. Tsuji, who is a mounting specialist, came to me so I decided to ask him to fix it. He finished the work and brought it to me a couple of days ago. The cloth frame was renewed and many spots disappeared. It appeared totally beautifully.
It was written in beautiful classical cursive Japanese, but unfortunately I can read only a few words.
Even though I understand partially, I am still happy to watch such a beautiful scroll.
