006.与路島 01.サンゴ石の集落
005.Yoro Island 01.Village with coral stone walls (Japan)

2021年3月8日

Daigo Ishii (Future-scape Architects)

与論島でなく与路島。サンゴ石の石垣で有名な島です。

Yoro Island is famous from the beautiful village with coral-stone walls.

与路島は、奄美大島の南端の港から、フェリーで２時間の離島の離島のような場所。昭和30年に1000人近くいた住民も、今は100人程度。海に囲まれているので、漁業の島と思っていましたが、実は、江戸時代からさとうきび栽培が主産業で、今は、肉牛、特に子牛の飼育が中心。

島の目玉は、サンゴ石の石垣の美しい集落。奄美諸島の多くで、サンゴ石垣がブロック塀に置き換わり、これだけの規模が残るのは与路島のみ。強風を防ぎながら、石の空隙が、微風を通し、湿気が籠るのを防ぐサンゴ垣は優秀な環境装置。植物の床として、地被類の寄せ植えのような垣もあれば、植物の気根と一体となったものもあります。

開発至上主義の20世紀、不便なため開発から取り残された島だったのが、21世紀に潮目が変わると、場所に根付いたローカルな環境や景観が、持続のあり方を示す好例となりました。

この規模のサンゴ垣が生まれた背景には、ふつう裕福な家だけがつくれたサンゴ垣を、与路島では共同でつくる習わしがあり、一般の島民も作れたため。共同体のあり方も先進的。

Yoro Island is a place like a remote island of a remote island, 2 hours by ferry from the southern end of Amami Oshima Island. The population, which was about 1,000 in 1955, is now about 100. I thought of it as a fishing island since it was surrounded by the sea, but, since the 17th century, sugarcane cultivation has been the main industry, and now beef cattle, especially calves, are mainly bred.

The attraction of the island is the beautiful village with coral-stone walls. In many of the Amami Islands, coral-stone walls have been replaced by block walls. Yoro is the only island where it remains on a large scale. The coral-stone wall is an excellent environmental device that prevents strong winds while allowing stone voids to pass through the breeze and prevent moisture from filling. It is also a bed for plants like ground cover plants or the roots of a tree are integrated with the wall.

In the 20th century of development supremacy, the island was left out from the development due to inconvenience, but in the 21st century, the local environment and landscape rooted in the place turn into a good example to show the way of sustainability.

The background of coral-stone walls of this scale has been that, in Yoro, the residents jointly built coral-stone walls and ordinary people could have them, meanwhile, in other islands, only wealthy families could usually build. This community was also advanced.