回想の魚野川

私はこの川の少し上流の地域で育ちました。幼い頃の遊び相手は、山や川の自然、そして冬の雪でした。当時は、今のようにお金で何でも手に入る時代ではなく、遊びといえば屋外で自然相手にできることばかりでした。魚野川やその支流の沢、せせらぎには、今でも色濃く思い出が残っています。

今でこそ堤防で固められた魚野川も、私が子供だった頃は、早瀬があったり、森に囲まれた大きな淀みがあったりと、秘密や謎に満ち満ちた場所でした。冬になると鮭の群れが遡上し、私は川とはこういうものだと信じて疑いませんでした。友達と遊んでいても、いつの間にか石ころや虫、魚が遊び相手になっていたものです。

やがて、魚野川に限らず、川は子供たちの遊び場ではなくなり、かつてたくさんいた水中の生き物も、今ではほとんど見かけなくなりました。最近では「親水性護岸」といった人工的な川辺も作られていますが、人の手が入らないとすぐに荒れ果て、ドブのようになってしまう場所も多く見かけます。やはり、川は生き物が住んでこそ、健全な環境なのだと感じます。

魚野川を通るたび、ひとつの悲しい出来事を思い出します。子供時代によく遊んだ向かいの家の子も成長し、大学一年の冬休みに実家へ戻ったその夜、飲み会の後に行方不明になったと、知人から聞きました。約三ヶ月後、下流の小千谷市の信濃川で見つかり、新聞の小さな記事で初めて川に流されたことを知りました。親がとても真面目で厳しかったこともあり、その子と一緒に川で遊んだ記憶はありませんが、身近な自然が時に脅威となることも実感しました。開発された自然は、人との距離を遠ざけてしまいます。川や山での怖い体験もまた、自然からの大切な学びでした。

私の郷土の歌人が堀之内簗場に一晩逗留した時に詠んだ歌をご紹介します。

「川の水掬えば寒しおのづから早く逝きたる一人をおもふ」
―宮柊二

I grew up in an area a little upstream from this river. When I was a child, my favorite places to play were the mountains, the river, and the snow in winter. In those days, when money did not buy you everything you wanted, the only things to do for fun were outdoors with nature. I still have strong memories of the Uono River and its tributaries and streams.

Nowadays, the Uono River is fortified with levees, but when I was a child, it was a place full of secrets and mysteries, with fast rapids and large stagnant pools surrounded by forest. In winter, schools of salmon would come up, and I had no doubt that this is what a river was supposed to be like. When I played with my friends, before I knew it, pebbles, insects, and fish were my playmates.

Soon, rivers, not just the Uono River, were no longer playgrounds for children, and the many underwater creatures that used to abound were now rarely seen. Recently, artificial riversides such as “hydrophilic seawalls” have been built, but without human intervention, the rivers quickly become desolate and ditch-like in many places. I feel that a river is a healthy environment only when it is inhabited by living creatures.

Whenever I pass by the Uono River, I am reminded of a sad event. I heard from an acquaintance that the boy from across the street who used to play with me as a child had grown up and went missing after a night of drinking after returning to his parents’ house for winter vacation during his freshman year of college. About three months later, he was found downstream in the Shinano River in Ojiya City, and I first learned that he had been washed into the river through a small article in the newspaper. I don’t remember playing in the river with the child because his parents were very serious and strict, but I realized that nature close to us can sometimes be a threat. Developed nature can distance us from people. Scary experiences in rivers and mountains were also important lessons from nature.

When I scooped up the water of the river, it was cold and I thought of the one who had passed away early.
–Miya Syuji

PENTAX67 105mm

©️photo by Nakamura Osamu