In the Pines

On the way to my job at Otaki's combined elementary/junior high school I stopped to take a shot of this buckwheat ( soba ) field. It was a beautiful morning. Today marks the 25th anniversary of the nagano-seibu-jishin 長野西部地震--Western Nagano Earthquake . The magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck at 8:48 AM on the morning of September 14th, 1984. The epicenter was located about 5 kilometers from the center of Otaki village. The jolt caused a section of earth from Mt. Ontake's southeastern slope to dislodge and it roared down the mountain and into the Otaki Valley at a ferocious pace. 29 people lost their lives in the quake. This morning, at 8:48 AM a siren rang out in the village and we all hung our heads in silence to remember the dead. On the southeastern slope of Mt. Ontake, a mountain that is beloved and revered by village residents, there remains an enormous wound of crumbling rock, which serves as a reminder of the unpredictible power of the natural world. As the siren ran...

Good Evening Ontake-san!! Today I visited a section of Otaki called Takigoshi 滝越, which is located about 10 kilometers from the village center at the back of a canyon that rolls out from Ontake-san's southwestern slope. This section was the hardest hit by a landslide caused by a large earthquake in 1984. A section of the hillside that had collapsed and carried a house away with it was pointed out to me, as was a statue that commemorates the site where a mother and her child were buried and killed. My neighbor had invited me out to Takigoshi to visit a small park called Suikouen 水交園. The park is run by a man and his wife, both of whom are in their thirties and have lived in Otaki for a decade. Both were very fascinating to talk with. They live nearby the park in a minshuku 民宿, which is like a Japanese B&B, that was built about fifty years ago. The house is heated by a wood burning stove and they bath in a home-made tub that is also wood-burning--It's also open-air. ....

Today, the wifey and I had a chance to look around Otaki a bit. However, before I get into that, allow me to give some orientation as to Otaki's location in Japan. The village is located a little over 200 kilometers west of Tokyo, in the southwest of Nagano prefecture, along the border with Gifu Prefecture. Otaki lays at the southeastern foot of Mt. Ontake 御嶽山. This volcanic mountain is revered by many who come to make pilgrimages and worship at various shrines and spots of natural wonder. In 1984 a strong earthquake caused a section of the mountain to crumble and flow into Otaki, killing several people. Ontake is definitely alive and well, greeting us with a small tremor on our first night in the village. Here's a depiction of Ontake showing the various shrines and pilgrimage stages. So, that's where I'm located. Next, a few photos of the new bungalow. The house is located a bit west of the village center, below a "children's forest", where kids used t...