Visiting Kawamata and Iitate, and climbing Mt. Megami, October 27, 2019. （女神山に登り、川俣町、飯舘村に行く 2019年10月27日。）
Today I participated in one-day group tour through Kawamata and Iitate area organized by Environment Restoration Plaza in Fukushima. The tour included climbing Mount Megami (599m) in the morning, having Kawamata Shamo lunch, which was a popular local specialty food, tea break at Chieko teahouse, and stopping at Yamada Cattle Farm. About 20 people participated in the tour from across eastern part of Japan and we had a good exercise climbing the local mountain. Photo above was a view at the top of Mt. Megami in Kawamata.
本日は、環境再生プラザ（環境省/福島県）主催の、川俣町と飯舘村を巡るツアーに参加しました。内容は、川俣地元の女神山（599m）登山、特産の川俣シャモランチ、飯舘のちえこのきまぐれ茶屋と山田牧場、と多彩でした。首都圏含み20人ほどが参加し、最初は登山で汗を流しました。写真は、女神山山頂です。
The mountain trail started from Akiyama community center as shown above. This was located not far from the famous Akiyama Komazakura cherry tree.
登山道は、写真の秋山集会所からスタートです。有名な、秋山の駒ザクラに近いです。
Although it was not a very high mountain, a first order triangulation point was placed at the summit, as shown above, due to its fine surrounding view.
女神山は低山ですが、周囲が見渡せるので一等三角点が置かれています。
We enjoyed autumn leaves along the trail as shown above. I measured radiation exposure during the mountain trekking. Although mountain trails have not been decontaminated since Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant accident, the resulting accumulated radiation was 3.26μSv, which was just normal and negligible compared to natural background radiation.
写真のように、一部紅葉も鮮やかでした。道中、放射線量を測りましたが、山は特別な除染をしていませんが、積算線量として3.26μSvと自然放射線の中で誤差の範囲でした。
There were a couple of shrines at the top: Otehime Shrine and Hebi (or Snake) Shrine, as shown above in the back and in the forefront. Both were based on a legend which dates back to 6th century. A couple of elderly local volunteer guides led us climbing the mountain and they also told us importance of mountain, water, and woods. Many of us were impressed by the powerful talk.
山頂には、小手姫神社（写真後ろ）とヘビ神社（写真手前）の2つが置かれ、6世紀頃の伝説に因みます。地元の年配の山のガイドさんの導きで登り、ガイドさんは山、水、森の大切さを良く話してくださり、その迫力に感動しました。
We found a rare wild edible plant called Gonboppa as shown above. The leaves are used to make Shimimochi, a local specialty rice cake made from glutinous rice and leaves of wild plants.
また、「ごんぼっぱ」と呼ぶ写真の珍しい野草も沿道にありました。この葉っぱを餅米に入れて凍らし、特産の凍もち（しみもち）を作ります。
At lunch time, we stopped at a restaurant “Shinkawa” in the city center of Kawamata. We had a local specialty menu of Kawamata Shamo chicken and egg bowl which was juicy and excellent.
ランチは、川俣町中心部の割烹新川で、特産の川俣シャモの親子丼をいただきました。柔らかく極上でした。
In the afternoon, we stopped at Chieko’s teahouse, as shown above, which opened on the 1st of this May, which was the first day of Reiwa Era. Gramma Chieko in her 70’s was born and lived in Iitate Village. She had hard times before and after the Great East Japan earthquake with her cancer treatment, evacuation, her husband’s death and difficulties starting up her new business. But she started producing local specialty shimimochi and finally reopened her antique style cafeteria for serving shimimochi dessert dish. She told us her story of hardship as well as success of reopening the teahouse, while we tasted the excellent shimimochi dessert with home-grown vegetables. Many of us were moved by her resilience.
午後は、飯舘村の写真の「ちえこのきまぐれ茶屋」に寄りました。今年5月1日（令和初日）に再オープンしました。70代のちえこさんは、飯舘生まれ飯舘育ちですが、震災前後から色々な困難（ガン治療、避難、死別、起業の苦労など）に出会いましたが、凍もち作りなどを始め茶屋の再オープンにもこぎつけました。写真のように、アンティーク風の茶屋では、ちえこさんの話を聞きながら凍もちと自家野菜を大変おいしくいただきました。ちえこさんのパワフルな生き方に皆さん感動しました。
The final stop was Yamada Cattle Farm in Iitate Village, as shown above, which raises quality beef cattle. Due to the entire village evacuation caused by the nuclear plant accident in 2011, the farm was once forced to close, but it restarted this July with new cowsheds. Iitate beef was quality brand beef before the accident and we felt the family’s powerful momentum toward the revitalization of the region.
最後は、飯舘村の山田牧場です（写真）。高品質の黒毛和牛を飼育しています。2011年の原発事故に伴う全村避難で一時中断しましたが、今年7月に再開しました。事故前は、飯舘牛はブランド牛でしたが、地域の復興に向けてその勢いを感じさせるお話でした。
Finally, we came to Kikori Hall, as shown above, which was Iitate Village community center as well as accommodation facility. We had 1.5hr discussion on how we felt meeting and hearing from three local residents, all of them were tough, powerful and resilient toward the future of their life and regional revitalization. On the other hand, it might be difficult to tell the actual reality to other people. Maybe the best way to understand the right situation in the region is to go and see firsthand the reality and communicate with local people.
最後は、村のコミュニティホール兼宿泊施設の写真の「きこり」に集まり、1時間半ほど本日のまとめをしました。本日は、女神山ガイドさん、ちえこさん、山田さんの3名から多くの話を聞き、将来の復興に向けての力強い思いとその粘り強い姿に感動しました。一方で、これを他人に伝えるには限界があり、やはり直接来て見て話してみる大切さを認識しました。
I visited Iitate and Kawamata in 2012, 1.5-year after the disaster, when Iitate was still restricted access area as shown in the 2012visit. This time I could see more and more people actually returned to the town and could feel much vitalization than before.
飯舘と川俣は、震災の翌年の2012年にも訪問しており（参照）、飯舘はまだ居住制限区域でした。今回は、住民帰還も進み復興の息遣いを実感できました。
The exact route and locations are shown in the map below. The map can be scaled up and down with a click and scroll.
ルートと場所は、下の地図を参照ください。地図は、クリックとスクロールで、拡大・縮小が可能です。
- 関連記事
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- Akiyama-no-Komazakura, original scenery of Fukushima, April 7, 2021. （秋山の駒ザクラ 福島の原風景 2021年4月7日。） (2021/04/07)
- Visiting Kawamata and Iitate, and climbing Mt. Megami, October 27, 2019. （女神山に登り、川俣町、飯舘村に行く 2019年10月27日。） (2019/10/27)
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