A hunter and his wife in Akiyama-go: village deep in mountains 1/5 (published in 1983＆1992) 、 秋山郷に生きた猟師とその妻 (part 1)
Author: Yamada Kametaro, Yamada Harue (speakers), Shimura Shunji (editor)、山田亀太郎・山田ハルエ述、志村俊司編
Findings of fun things in lives、人の楽しみの発見度：Excellent
★★★
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| Koakazawa in Akiyama-go at present、今の秋山郷（小赤沢） |
The two books depict unwealthy life in the remote mountains—and the very essence of living there during the mid-20th century, based on interviews with the elderly couple.
The motivation to persevere through the life
of the hardship is the inherited strong spirit to survive together with family; the
means of living and the happiness found in such a poor life are also depicted.
We can know, "Without cars or
smartphones, and with only meager entertainments, it is possible to possess
a purpose for living and a sense of happiness. On top of that, it is also
possible to look back on our life ultimately with the feeling that it was a
good one." These are two books well worth picking up.
２冊の本には、大正から昭和前半の山の暮らし、山での「生きざま」が、老夫婦へのインタビューをもとに書かれている。苦労を重ねる生活の中で生き続ける動機（＝家族を支えること）とその手立て、生きる幸せが鮮烈に伝わってくる。
車やスマホがなくても、ささやかなエンタメしかなくても、生きる動機と幸せがあり、「よかった」と人生を振り返えられることを示してくれる。ぜひ手に取っていただきたい２冊だ。
Contents 目次
１．Lived in mountains and Brought up children
山で生きた、育てた (part 1, this article)
（２）Clothing、衣服
（３）Housing、住居
（２）Think through how to make a living and try it、食い扶持を考える、やってみる
（１）Harue’s background、ハルエの生い立ち
（２）Housework and slash-and-burn farming after marrying Kametaro、亀太郎に嫁いでからは家事と焼畑
（３）Taking the eldest son for a hot spring cure: the couple’s unforgettable memory、長男の湯治は夫婦最大の思い出
（４）Winter migrant works、出稼ぎ（冬働き）
（２）Gambling—another Kametaro’s pleasure、バクチも亀太郎の楽しみ
（３）Harue’s pleasures、ハルエの楽しみ
（２）Current life、今の生活
（３）Harue’s evaluation of Kametaro、ハルエの亀太郎評
（４）Life ahead、これからの生活
山田亀太郎・山田ハルエ述、志村俊司編[1983]『山と猟師と焼畑の谷』白日社
山田ハルエ述・志村俊司編[1992]『山の女 秋山郷・焼畑の谷に生きた女の一生』白日社
１．Lived in mountains and Brought up children 山で生きた、育てた
Akiyama-go is a remote mountain village in
Nagano Prefecture of central Japan. Today, popular ski resorts are just over
the mountains. It is here that the elderly couple, who were born in 1912 and 1917, live
and raised their three children.
The hamlet where they live have almost
no flat land; they owned no rice paddies when they got married.
Instead, they went into the mountains to
cultivate foxtail millet and proso millet using the slash-and-burn method;
those were served as staple food. They also gathered horse chestnuts.
People traditionally lived on flat land suitable for rice paddies, expanding into mountainous areas only as populations grew. In the era before bulldozers, creating water-filled rice paddies on mountain slopes was an immense challenge. Few locations were suitable for growing rice which are the most delicious grains for Japanese. Consequently, the villagers subsisted on hardy grains and nuts that could be cultivated or planted on the mountainsides.
Kametaro (husband) also engaged in hunting and sawyering to earn cash income. Even with that income, a year of bad weather and meager harvests meant a hard time to keep foods for the family.
Moreover, accessing medical care was always difficult.
With neither electrical appliances nor a
car, it is no exaggeration to say that their standard of living was
virtually unchanged from the Edo or Meiji periods (from 17th to
19th century), sorry to say it.
Harue (wife) said, "When we descended
the valley to go to Ohwarino town near the Shinano River, we were called 'Akiyama
folk' and taunted with '30% human, 70% monkey' or simply 'Akiyama monkeys.'"
It wasn't just their meager foods; their
appearance was poor, too. Their clothes were made from used fabrics of
towners. They spent the snowy winter months making these garments. They wore these even after holes appeared, and finally putting them into futon (bedding).
Yet, their lives were not defined only
by hardship. They hunted bears and celebrated their catches; they enjoyed
annual events such as festivals and the Ebisu-kou celebration
like people in other regions.
Ultimately, however, I could say that their
joy and happiness lay primarily in living together as a family. There were
tears and laughter; it was an inescapable bond, even it sometimes caused great
struggle. It is an essential relationship of unconditional mutual aid.
Kametaro had the option of leaving home for
seasonal work, but he has chosen to live in Akiyama-go with his family.
For us living today, if we strip away the
non-essentials from our daily pleasures, many of us also find that what remains
is the joy of time spent with family, I think.
Let's look at the way they lived. (The two
books describe their lives in detail and with concrete examples—often in their
own dialect. I highly recommend reading them.)
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| Yamada Harue (left) and Kametaro (right) from the book |
秋山郷は長野県の山奥、苗場山の向こうは新潟県で、有名な苗場スキー場がある。志賀高原の北麓でもある。ここで、大正生まれの老夫婦は、３人の子どもを育てあげた。
彼らが住んだ集落には平地がほとんどなく、彼らが所有する田圃もなかった。山に入って焼畑で粟（アワ）や黍（キビ）を育て、栃（トチ）の実を拾って主食にしていた。
人々は、田圃（たんぼ）を作れる平地で暮らし、人口が増えると山地を切り開いて暮らしてきた。ブルドーザーがない時代、斜面に水田を作る時間的余裕を生み出すことは極めて困難だった。味がよい米を育てられる場所は少なく、斜面で育てられる雑穀や木の実を食べて暮らしてきた。
夫の亀太郎は現金収入が得られる狩猟や木挽きもした。彼らは「金とりの仕事」という。
金とりをしても、気候が悪く収穫が少ない年は、食うや食わずの生活。治療を受けるのも容易ではなかった。電化製品も車もなかった時代は、心苦しいが、江戸時代・明治時代とほぼ同じ生活水準といっても過言ではなさそうだ。
谷を下りて、信濃川沿いの大割野へ行くと、“「ああ 秋山が来た 秋山の人間 人間三分サル七分」、「秋山のサル サル」ってばかにされた”と妻のハルエは言う。食べものだけでなく、身なりも悪い。町で買った古着をばらして服を仕立てていたのだ。冬のあいだに時間をつぎ込んで作った服は、ボロボロになるまで着て、あとは布団にした。
そんな彼らだが、苦しいだけの日々を送っていたわけではない。熊を獲り、獲った祝いを行い、他の地域と同じように、祭りやエビス講などの年中行事も楽しんだ。
しかし、彼らの楽しみ・幸せは、ほぼ家族と暮らすことだった。涙あり笑いあり。逃げられない関係で、時に大きな苦労をともなった。それは、無条件に助け合う関係だ。
亀太郎には、出稼ぎに行く選択肢があったが、彼は家族がいる秋山郷での暮らしを選んだ。
現代に生きる私たちも、日々の楽しみのうち、なくても耐えられるものを削ぎ落としていくと、家族との楽しみに行き着く人も多いと思う。
それでは、彼らの生きざまを見ていこう。（２冊の本には、詳しく、具体的に、彼らの言葉で記述されており、読むことを強くおすすめする。）
Previous post (Diary of a village head in 19th century, part 26（千葉県流山の名主日記）): A year spent without major issue (September to December,
1807)、この年もつつがなく（文化４年９～12月）
Next post (Part
2 of this article): Life in Akiyama-go: an innermost mountain villages、秘境の里・秋山郷の暮らし (coming soon)
Akiyama-go community hall (2/2)、秋山郷総合センター・とねんぼ（その２）
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