Long Living Tortoise's Walk in Tokyo
Chichibu's late spring
Yoshie Iimori
April 30, 2001
Date: 24th and 25th March 2001
In this mountainous area, Chichibu welcomes late coming spring now. Almost one month after the Tokyo plum trees start to blossom, those trees open their blooms at the end of March here and cherry blossoms will start in the second week of April. I visited a small village Ryokami-mura in a valley of this quiet countryside. The weather was fine and warm. I indeed realised that spring has come even here at last. It was a perfect season to feel the nature. There are always many people wearing hats and heavy boots with rucksacks flocking to Chichibu to enjoy hiking in the mountains or making their pilgrimage to 34 scattered temples in the area and have a bath in a hot spring.
However spring is a gloomy season for some people, especially for those who have hay fever. When I got out of the train at Seibu Chichibu station, I felt there was a high pollen count, although I do not usually suffer from hay fever. There are many cedar trees in the mountains and they started to pour their magic powder to make people sniff throughout the area. If one has hay fever, one should visit Chichibu later.
My friend and his family live in Chichibu and I often go there accepting their invitation. They invited me again in this flower season. We usually have a walk near their village and sometimes in the summer we swim in the pool which they make in the nearest river to their cottage for their daughters. I would have liked to explore this time as well, because everything in countryside is attractive to a city dweller. So I got up early enough to have a morning walk. My friend and I left their cottage about 10 o'clock and we started our walk along a road which started by the entrance of his cottage.
This road has been under construction for more than five years. The road-making seemed never to end. Every time I come here, it has been stretched beyond up the village into the mountain, besides some spots have landslide because the soil was cut and the concrete was not able to hold it. It would be very difficult to get through with the work to dig up a road in a steep mountain. The construction might provide local people with jobs, but it could not contribute anything to the area. I have not seen even a single person walking there except for us. Instead, we saw steel structures, wires and abandoned rubbish. One of the wells of the village was near the road and people are afraid of the pollution. The project has completely destroyed this beautiful nature and the ugly concrete and wired earth make the view awful. Although these materials were placed in order to prevent landslide, they could not hold the land. The pressure of the mountains exceeds these artificial protections.
The view of the roadside yet seemed natural and wild for me as a Tokyo person, but my friends already noticed that no animals have appeared in the village since the construction started. They guessed that big noise by cutting the mountain or dumping the soil, and lorries frightened deer, monkeys and many other smaller animals. They are easily afraid of human beings and they go away. It has happened all over Japan, sadly to say. We have to watch out those kinds of civil projects carefully and we should decide what is necessary or not.
After we walked down to the village, my friend guided me to the old original main street. It was absolutely cosy comparing with the new road, because it was not very wide and it was meant developed mainly for residents and it fit the geography of the area. There also are several narrow roads which are not paved. I stepped on the dried leaves, feeling the soft soil. That was much better than an asphalted road to walk in a fine day.
When one drops into a Seibu Railroad station, one will notice many posters on a billboard to encourage people to visit Chichibu. Some companies prepare several plans in the area. It is one of the best destinations of a one-day trip near Tokyo. As they promote tourism, there is famous spot in the Ryokami village, too. It is a field of Setsubunso which has tiny flowers in February and March when Japanese traditionally celebrate to welcome spring. Many tourists visit the site to see the pretty flowers. We saw them outside of the quarter and took a rest having a sweet hot drink made of rice and sat on the step of the entrance. When we went back to my friends' cottage, we wandered along a river and crossed three times. We waded through the cold water. The depth of the river was just below my knees. It was quite an adventure. I used a thick stick to keep me from falling down.
It was about a three-hour walk and it refreshed me, although my friend's daughters said to me that it was pity to be taken to walk such long time. They sounded they did not appreciate this lovely countryside. Probably they took it for granted as if I was accustomed to live in convenient but dirty environment. Anyway I usually get up early and love to walk therefore I did not have any problem of the excursion.
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