Since the 1970s, as community participation became central to urban planning, rather than fixing it to a single kanji such as 町 or 街 (both pronounced as machi), people have begun intentionally writing まちmachi in hiragana (one writing system in Japanese language). The hiragana form allows the word to embrace not only buildings and streets but also the lives and communities they hold. Over time, まち came to be used as a gentle, everyday word, one that points to the spaces where people’s culture and daily lives intertwine. Yet, few can really tell the difference between まち, 町 and 街.
According to the Kōjien dictionary:
町→a type of local public entity, smaller than a city but larger than a village. An area where houses are densely clustered and divided by roads. The term also refers to a subdivision within an urban district that forms part of a city or ward.
街→A lively area lined with shops. An urban district.
For me, まち machi is not simply a geographical zone. It is a place where people’s lives and memories overlap. As a dancer, in my search for spaces truly suited to the phenomenon of dance, I often found
myself drawn to vacant lots and alleyways uncharted on Google Maps. In those moments, the word まち machi works as some kind of mediator, bridging dance and people, the everyday and the extraordinary. A space where something like dance can still exist in may be one of the few remaining pockets of openness in a rapidly changing city. Or perhaps it is a place the city has quietly left behind.
The ambiguity of まち machi—a word that can be written as either 町 or 街, yet whose distinction few can explain—is one of its most vital qualities. I see that ambiguity as a creative margin, a space that invites us to reconsider what まち machi means in art and in community. Written in hiragana, まち machi takes on a quality of openness; its gentle form making such conversations possible.
Example of specific usage in work and creation:
1. In the message printed in the programme for my 2025 performance “Hello, I’m Your New Neighbor. / こんにちは、今日からお隣さんです。(Fly Me to the Kyoto )”, I used the hiragana form まち machi. In the English translation, it was rendered as “local area”, but I feel that this phrasing doesn’t quite capture the sensorial or emotional nuance of the original.
2. A friend who came to see the performance later wrote to me using the hiragana まち machi: “Thank you for your hard work in the heat today. It was fascinating. The way you used まち machi in the performance was brilliant.”
This friend lives near my neighbourhood, in Kobe’s Shin-Nagata district. Perhaps the use of まち machi in hiragana may also reflect the language rooted in that area as well.
“Hello, I’m Your New Neighbor.” © Hironari Sakashita.
“The Odoriba Legend” © Hironari Sakashita
Related works by Nakama Ayaka:
“Here, We Call It a Theatre” (2022)
“The Odoriba Legend” (2023)
“Hello, I’m Your New Neighbor / こんにちは、今日からお隣さんです。(Fly Me to the Kyoto ).” (2024)
Nakama Ayaka is a dancer based in Kobe, Japan. She seeks out phenomena that can only be called dance, creating “mechanisms” to share such moments with others. Her works include “Freeway Dance”, a four-hour solo in a garden that reenacts others’ memories, and “The Odoriba Legend”, a project featuring a temporary theatre built on an empty lot, which was later demolished. From 2018 to 2020, she was an
associate artist of Dance Box in Kobe. Since 2022, she has been a fellow of The Saison Foundation in Tokyo.
https://ayakanakama.studio.site/
從1970年代起，隨著社區參與逐漸成爲城市規劃的重點，人們開始有意擺脫「町」或「街」等特定漢字的束縛，轉而廣泛使用平假名書寫「まち（machi）」，以更包容的方式涵蓋日常生活與城市空間的多重意義。「まち（machi）」已逐漸為一種日常用語和柔性的概念，象徵著一個支撐人們的日常生活與文化的場域，而不僅指單純由建築物聚集而成的物理空間。但事實上，似乎很少有人能準確解釋「まち（machi）」、「町」與「街」三者之間的區別。
「町」
公衆地方劃分的一種，行政區劃次於「市」而大於「村」；亦指由道路劃分出的人口密集區域，構成「市」、「區」的城市街區基本單位。（《廣辭苑》第七版）
「街」
商鋪林立的繁華區域，即市區。（《廣辭苑》第七版）
對我而言，「まち（machi）」並非僅指地理上的劃分，而是人們日常生活與集體回憶層層交織的場所。作為一名舞者，在探尋真正適合「舞蹈」這一現象的演出空間過程中，我經常發現自己被Google地圖上未被標註的空地和小巷所吸引。在此過程中，「まち（machi）」一詞成為連接舞蹈（作品）與人群、溝通日常與非日常的橋梁。在急劇變遷的城市中，能夠容許「舞蹈」這類看似無用之物存在的空間，或許是幾個仍保有某種餘裕的角落；又或許，它恰恰是已被主流視線所遺忘的一隅。
儘管「町」與「街」在漢字書寫中已能明確區分，但多數人卻無法清楚解釋其差異⸺這種「曖昧性」恰恰構成了「まち（machi）」一詞的重要特點。我將這種曖昧視為一種「創造性的留白」，並以此為契機，在藝術與社會的交匯處重新思考「まち（machi）」究竟是什麽。或許，正因其以平假名書寫所體現出的柔軟性與開放性，「まち（machi）」才得以成為促成此類對話的詞語。
在作品與創作中的具體使用例子：
引用：「這麼熱的天氣，辛苦你了！演出非常有趣，你在表演中對『まち』的運用實在太出色了。謝謝你！」
《Hello, I’m Your New Neighbor.》 © 阪下滉成
《舞場傳說》 © 阪下滉成
我的相關項目與作品：
《將此處化為劇場》（2022）
《舞場傳說》（2023）
《Hello, I’m Your New Neighbor.／你好，從今天起我是你的新鄰居。》（2024）
出生於日本別府，現居於神戶的舞者，近年來積極投身於個人創作，追求「只能稱為舞蹈」的現象，並致力創造與他人共享這些瞬間的「機制」。作品包括在庭院中重現他人記憶的四小時獨舞《高速公路之舞》，以及在空地搭建臨時劇場並於其後拆除的《舞場傳說》。2018至2020年於神戶DANCE BOX擔任聯合藝術家；2022年起為東京Saison基金會的獎助學人。
https://ayakanakama.studio.site/
