羊角湾の財宝（創作）

羊角湾の財宝（創作）
私の名前は南濱、中天草市の市役所に勤めている。
所属は「財宝発掘課」、課長とはいっても、課員は私だけ。
財宝発掘課とは奇妙な名前だと思われるだろう。
天草市の財政逼迫を一発逆転するために市長の鶴の一声で今年新設されたばかりだ。
その最初の仕事が、羊角湾という場所の難破船調査だった。

羊角湾、読んで字のごとく、羊の角の様に入り組んだ湾である。
最も羊角湾の名付け親は遠く海外から崎津の港に入るバテレンの人々で、羊の角の様に海中に連立する大ケ瀬、小ケ瀬などの小さな島を航海の目印にしたことからだそうだ。
天草は16世紀後半にキリスト教が広まった土地で、湾奥の河浦地区には天草コレジヨ（大学・学林）が建てられて神学・哲学・語学教育が行われた。
またグーテンベルク式印刷機によって『平家物語』『伊曾保物語』『羅葡日辞典』等の印刷物（天草本）も刊行されるなど、天草キリシタン文化の中心であったとされる。

河浦の漁師たちの間ではある言い伝えがある。
羊角湾のある場所に南蛮船が沈んでいて、五月の大潮の時には今もそのマストが海面から見える、というものだ。
風雲急を告げる、島原・天草の乱の中、軍資金を満載した船が嵐で難破したと言う。


羊角湾の水深は最大でも２１ｍだから、スキューバダイイングで充分調査できる。
実は、簡単に自分で出来るものを、わざわざ課まで作り大仰にやるというあきれた役所のやり方にうんざりしていた。
早速市長に申請し、ダイビングの免許を取り、漁師の教えてくれた場所に潜ってみる。
南蛮船はほとんど無傷のまま沈んでいる。
積み荷もほとんどそのままの形で乗っているではないか。
甲板には千両箱の様な箱が数十個整然と積んである。
はやる心を押さえ、バールを持ち、さらに潜って行き、船の周りに散らばっている財宝とおぼしき箱をこじ開けてみる。
箱の中身は鉄砲だ。
鉄砲は海水と時間によって無残にもほとんど元の形を留めていない。
さらに、黄金の入って居そうなものを探す。
壺だ。中を覗くと、財宝は入っていないようだ。
今日の調査はこれまでだ。
とりあえず鉄砲と壺を調査船に引き上げる。

一週間後に壺の鑑定結果が届く。
壺の中身の正体は硝石だったようだ。

そう、この頃の南蛮貿易では硝石を輸入し銀を輸出していたのだ。
硝石は当時、中国の様な乾燥した風土でしか、天然に採取されていない火薬の原料で、輸入されていたのだった。
つまり、南蛮船が鉄砲で使う硝石と鉄砲を現物で積んで河浦の港に入港する途中で難破したのだった。
漁師たちの言い伝えではいつのまにか軍資金、黄金と間違えて伝わってしまったのだった。
これが、せめて日本からの帰りの船であれば銀を満載して沈んでいただろうに。

しかし、歴史に「もし」は存在しないが、もし、この船が難破せず、無事鉄砲弾薬が天草四郎の元に届いていれば、歴史は確実に違っていただろう。市長にその事を話すと、「市の財政には関係のないことだ、見なかったことにしろ。」といったきり、発表はうやむやになってしまった。


あれから10年が経つ。
中天草市では羊角湾をダイビングスポットとして整備し、そのパンフレットには難破船の事は一言も出てこず、私は「財宝発掘課」で相変わらず働いている。
但し、業務内容は大きく様変わりだ。
その後、何度も調査は続けられたが、財宝らしきものは発掘されず、結局「発掘されないのなら作ってしまえ」ということで、地元の焼酎会社と共に深海貯蔵焼酎を「財宝発掘」と言う名前で売り出すことになったのだ。
焼酎を南蛮船の近くの海に３年以上貯蔵してから、古酒として販売するのだ。
古酒の容器は硝石の入っていた壺の形をかたどったものだ。
現在の私の名刺には「財宝発掘課」課長、という肩書が印刷してあるが、「財宝発掘課」の前に小さな文字で古酒と言う２字が加わっている。

The Treasure of Yokaku Bay　（an original writing）

My name is Minamihama, and I work as a bublic servant at Naka- Amakusa City.
I belong to the Treasure Excavation Division, and although I am the division chief, I am the only member of the division.
You may think that the name of the devision,” Treasure Excavation Division” is so strange.
It was newly established this year at the behest of the mayor in order to immediately reverse the Naka-Amakusa City's financial crisis.
My first task was to investigate the shipwreck in Yokaku Bay.

Yokaku Bay (Antler‘s Bay), as the name suggests, is a bay shaped like a antler‘s horn.
It is said that the people who named Yokaku Bay were those people who came from far overseas to enter the port of Sakitsu, and they used small islands such as Ogase and Kogase, which are located in the sea like antler horns, as landmarks for their navigation.
Amakusa was a place where Christianity spread in the late 16th century, and the Amakusa Collegio (University and Forest) was built in the Kawaura district at the back of the bay, where theology, philosophy, and language training were offered.
It is also said to have been the center of Amakusa Christian culture, with the Gutenberg-style printing press publishing books such as "The Tale of the Heike," "The Aesop's Fables" and " Latin-Portuguese-Japanese Dictionary " (Amakusa-edition).

There is a legend among the fishermen of Kawaura.
It is said that a Portuguese ship sank in a certain part of Yokaku Bay, and its masts can still be seen from the sea surface during the spring tides in May.
It is said that during the Shimabara/Amakusa Rebellion, a ship full of military funds was wrecked in a storm.

The depth of the water in Yokaku Bay is at most 21 meters, so it can be fully investigated by scuba diving.
In fact, I was fed up with the government's ridiculous approach of creating a division and exaggerating things that I could easily do myself.
I immediately applied to the mayor, got a diving license, and started diving at the places the fishermen had told me about.
The Portuguese ship sank with almost no damage.
The cargo is on board almost exactly as it was!
On the deck, dozens of boxes shaped like Senryobako, a box for storing 1000 ryou, were neatly stacked.
In my eagerness, I grabbed a crowbar and dived deeper again, trying to pry open boxes that appeared to be treasures, which were scattered around the ship.

Inside the box were guns.
Unfortunately, due to seawater and time, the guns have barely retained their original shapes.
Furthermore, I also looked for things that seemed to contain gold.
There are jars.
When I looked inside, there didn't seem to be any treasure inside.
That was all for today's investigation.
For now, I took the guns’ box and the jar to the research ship.

The results of the examination of the jar would arrive in a week.
It seemed that the true nature of the contents of the jar was saltpeter.

Yes, the Nanban trade at that time involved importing saltpeter and exporting silver.
At that time, saltpeter was a raw material for gunpowder that could only be found naturally in dry climates like China, and was imported.

The trade between Portugal and Japan at that time consisted of importing saltpeter and exporting silver.
In other words, the Portuguese ship was shipwrecked on its way to the port of Kawaura, loaded with saltpeter and guns.
Saltpeter was imported as a material for gunpowder.
According to the fishermen's legend, the story was wrongly told that the cargo was gold instead of weapons.
If this had been a ship returning from Japan, it would have sunk full of silver.


There are no "what ifs" in history, but if that ship had not been wrecked and the guns had arrived safely in the hands of Amakusa Shiro, history would certainly have been different.
When I told the mayor about this, he replied, "`It has nothing to do with the city's finances, just pretend you didn't see it.''.
And then the announcement became nothing.

10 years have passed since then.
In Naka-Amakusa City, Yokaku Bay has been developed as a diving spot, and there is not a single mention of the shipwreck in the brochure, and I am still working in the “Treasure Excavation Division.''
However, the nature of the work has changed greatly.
After that, the investigation continued many times, but nothing resembling a treasure was found.
Finally, we thought, “If it won't be excavated, why not make it?
Together with a local shochu company, we created a deep-sea storage shochu called “Treasure Discovery.''
And we I decided to put it on sale.
The shochu is stored in the sea near the wrecked ship for more than three years before being sold as the aged shochu.
The container for aged sake is modeled after the jar that once held saltpeter.
My current business card still has the title “Treasure Excavation Division '', “Devision Chief” printed on it, but in front of “Treasure Excavation Division '', there are two small words that say “aged sake.''