紫陽花のスカイギャラリー

弥彦山（標高634メートル）の駐車場付近では、ガクアジサイの花が佐渡を望む梅雨空の下、ちょうど見頃を迎えています。標高が高く風も強いため、平地よりも見頃が半月ほど遅れて訪れるのが特徴です。特に梅雨の時期には、稜線沿いが雲に包まれ、頂上付近の森が幻想的な風景へと一変します。この時期は、訪れる人々にぜひおすすめしたい季節です。

弥彦山は標高こそそれほど高くありませんが、内陸の山とは異なる気象条件があり、時には激しい天候に見舞われることもあります。逆に言えば、それが写真撮影においては、他ではなかなか出会えないドラマチックな瞬間をもたらしてくれます。

この山が海と陸の境界に位置していることも、気象の変化を受けやすい理由の一つです。私が20代の頃、テレビ局が設置するアンテナ用の資材を運ぶ「歩荷（ぼっか）」のアルバイトを頼まれたことがありました。仲間たちと40キロもの背負子を背負い、何度も山道を往復していたある日、突然生暖かい風が吹き始め、空を見上げると、山を囲むように稲光が走り始めました。驚いて足を速めたあの時の光景は、まるで焼き物の釉薬に生じる貫入模様のようで―と表現しても、その迫力はなかなか伝わらないかもしれません。真っ暗な空が稲妻で裂け、まるで空の破片が降り注ぐのではないかと思うほどの凄まじさでした。

その後も40キロの荷を背負いながら急坂を駆け上がり、レストハウスのひさしの下に飛び込んだ瞬間、すぐ目の前の茂みに雷が落ちました。もし運が悪ければ、自分たちにも落ちていたかもしれません。あの時の体験は、今でも鮮烈な記憶として残っています。

At the parking lot near Mount Yahiko (634 meters above sea level), hydrangeas are in full bloom under the rainy skies overlooking Sado Island. Due to the high altitude and strong winds, the flowers bloom about half a month later than in the plains. During the rainy season, the ridgeline is often shrouded in clouds, transforming the forest near the summit into a fantastical landscape. This is a season that I highly recommend to visitors.

Although Mount Yahiko is not particularly high in elevation, it has different weather conditions than inland mountains and can sometimes be hit by severe weather. On the other hand, this brings dramatic moments that are hard to find elsewhere when it comes to photography.

The fact that this mountain is located at the boundary between sea and land is also one of the reasons why it is susceptible to weather changes. When I was in my twenties, I was asked to do a part-time job carrying materials for antennas installed by a TV station. One day, while carrying a 40-kilogram backpack and repeatedly walking back and forth along the mountain path with my colleagues, a warm breeze suddenly began to blow, and when I looked up at the sky, lightning began to flash around the mountain. The scene of us rushing forward in shock was like the crackle pattern that forms on the glaze of pottery—but even describing it that way, the intensity of the moment is hard to convey. The pitch-black sky was split by lightning, and it felt as though fragments of the sky were raining down.

Even after that, while carrying a 40-kilogram load, I rushed up the steep slope and darted under the eaves of the rest house. At that moment, lightning struck the bushes right in front of me. If we had been unlucky, it might have struck us instead. That experience is still vividly etched in my memory.

EOS5DMarkⅣ+24mm  1/50秒 f：10

©️photo by Nakamura Osamu