Aug 30, 2012

日原で思ったこと What I thought at Nichihara

津和野に行ってきました。
山陰の小京都として有名な観光地ですが、今回の私たちの旅の目的は少し変わっていたかもしれません。
それは旧日原町へ行ってみること。(2005年に日原町は津和野町と合併したので現在日原町という町はありませんけれどね。)
津和野駅から北東に10キロくらいのところです。

We visited Tsuwano, a town known as a little Kyoto in San-in.
It's a famous tourist site, but what we wanted to do there was somewhat different from the other tourists.
We wanted to visit Nichihara-town (actually there is no town called Nichihara any more, as it was merged into Tsuwano town in 2005.)
It's about 10 kilometers northeast of the Tsuwano Station.

日原町は夫が小学校時代に3年間を過ごしたところなのです。
どんなにきれいなところだったか、そこでの思い出がどんなに豊かだったか、長年ずっと聞かされてきました。

Why did we want to visit there?
Because my husband spent three years there when he was a school kid, and kept telling me all these years how beautiful it was, what a wonderful childhood he had there.

というわけで、日原町に行ってきました。
夫は大興奮。小学校へ行ったり、遊び場のひとつだった発電所に行ったり、よく遊んだ広場の痕跡を探したり…。最初私は、なんとなく手持無沙汰だったんですが、やがてこの町が大好きになってしまいました。

So, we went there.
My husband was very excited.  We went to HIS elementary school, HIS power plant, and looked for HIS playground.  I wasn't so excited, in the beginning.  But soon, I realized what a wonderful treasure this place holds.

山の上から見た町です。

This is how it looks from a hilltop.

かわいらしいでしょ?ほとんどの家が赤い瓦屋根です。この付近で作られる石州瓦というんだそうで、寒さに強く、雪の降る地帯には最適な瓦なんだそうです。

Lovely, isn't it?  Most of the houses are roofed with red roof tiles called Sekishu-gawara.
Sekishu-gawara is made in nearby towns.  It is resistant to cold, so it is good for the area where they have much snow in winter.
石州瓦のおうち a house with Sekishu-gawara
日原は津和野川と高津川の合流地にあります。高津川は水質日本一に何度も選ばれている清流です。

Nichihara is where the Tsuwano River and the Takatsu River meet.  Takatsu River is one of the cleanest rivers in Japan.

さすが日本一 Beautiful water
川で泳いでいる子どもたちがいました。Children were swimming.
アユ釣りの人もたくさんいました。なんかみんなもくもくと釣っていました。

You can catch ayu (sweetfish), the fish that live only in the cleanest water. 

土地の人の優しさも印象的でした。
みんなにっこり挨拶をしてくれます。感心なことに中学生までも。

People were friendly.
Everyone we met there, even middle school students, smiled at us and greeted us.
In the end, I was greeting everyone. 

そして星!日原は本州で一番星がよく見えるところだそうで、75センチの反射望遠鏡を備える天文台があります。

And the stars!
Nichihara is one of the best places to watch stars in Honshu.
It has this observatory, equipped with 75 cm telescope.

日原天文台 Nichihara Astronomical Observatory

私たちは天文台横にあるペンション北斗星で二泊しました。

We stayed two nights at the pension next to the observatory.
天文台とペンション北斗星 Pension Hokutosei
最初の夜はペンション前の広場でバーベキューの夕食。
太陽が沈んで、だんだん暗くなってきます。

On our first night, we had a barbecue in the front yard.  
The sun set and the sky grew darker.


食後に天文台へ向かいます。

After dinner, we walked to the observatory.


天文台で約2時間、星空観測会をしてくれました。
月、土星、海王星、それからたくさんの星々や星雲。星の名前も星座の名前も覚えられませんでしたが、とにかくきれいで感動しました。

For about two hours, they showed us the moon, Saturn, Neptune, and many stars. I couldn't remember the names of the stars or the constellations, but they were beautiful and I really enjoyed it.

ダイアモンドみたいな恒星。A star that looked like a diamond
夜空を見上げると満天の星!
天の川もよく見えたし、流れ星もいくつも見えました。

本当にきれいな、きれいな夜でした。(耳元で蚊がブーンブンっていうのだけちょっとね。)

The sky was full of stars.  I could see the milky way over my head.
I saw several shooting stars, too.

It was a beautiful, beautiful night (except that mosquito buzzing around my ear.  brrr).

で、思いました。
夫はこの町の川で泳いだり、釣りをしたり、森の中を探検したり、満天の星を眺めたりして育ったんだなあ。
それは幸せなことだったなあ。

And I learned something new about my husband.  He once was a happy boy who swam and went fishing in the river, marched in the woods, and gazed at the starry skies.
How fortunate he was! 

たくさんの子供たちがそんな風に育ってくれているといいな。
少なくともこの夏休み、そんないい思い出をたくさん作っていてほしいな。
そんな気持ちになりました。

I hope many children spend their childhood that way.
Or at least, I hope they are making such fond memories during this summer vacation.
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5 comments:

Rurousha said...

兎追いし 彼の山
小鮒釣りし 彼の川
夢は今も 巡りて
忘れ難き故郷

(^0^)

I wish I could visit that observatory. I really miss night skies ...

Merry Witch said...

Oh, "Furusato".....a beautiful song(^^)

The sky there is so beautiful. They have such friendly staff, too. Also, it isn't crowded. In fact, we were the only guest at the pension the first night. So relaxing! I wish you could visit there sometime.

Merry Witch said...

PS: I wish I were a good photographer like you! They look a lot more beautiful than they look in my photos. (>_<)

Rurousha said...

You were the only guests? I didn't think that was possible in Japan!

I take 1000s of photos whenever I go out. There has to be at least one OK-ish one in there somewhere! ^^

Merry Witch said...

Yes, it seldom happens. But in fact, we were the only guests.\(^o^)/

Maybe thanks to the Magatama necklace I got at Izumo Taisha?