And now, Ajigasawa
The last in the series to introduce the 4 places I talked about in the "Rabbit's busy day" post is our home of 22 years, Ajigasawa (鰺ヶ沢- of many possible renditions, let's try "Mackerel Inlet" for simplicity's sake).
Ajigasawa is, first and foremost, a port. In the Edo Period (1603-1867), the Tsugaru Lords of Hirosaki had a wide, tree-lined road built the 40 kilometers (25 miles) to Ajigasawa, so they could access the then-busy port which connected them to Kyoto, Edo (Tokyo) and points between. The rise of railroads in the later 1800s, and the advent of the cold war (which made the Pacific-side ports more important) put the town into a shadow. It still had a lot of fishing boats, but declining stocks have put a crimp on that, too. The population peaked at 18,000 the year we moved in (1985), and has declined to 14,000 since then. The town council is so desperate to reverse the decline that they are considering allowing a dump site for low-grade nuclear waste. We hope it doesn't come to that. The mountain in the backround, Mount Iwaki, is a volcano. I don't think the two mix.
What is Ajigasawa famous for? It was "The Town With Two Mayors" for a few days after a disputed election run-off. It got the nickname "Kajigasawa" (substituting the charater "housefire" for "mackerel") in 1985, when they averaged one serious housefire a week (changes in insurance investigation procedures brought the figure down to low single digits in one year!). And, the temple pictured above, Kotakuji, has some famous screen paintings of Hell by an old master. There are many big, impressive Buddhist temples in town.
And many Shinto shrines. This is the entrance gate (torii) to the shrine on the hill behind our house. The local troop of snow monkeys has taken to receiving the offerings the neighbours leave at the stones there.
It's not Ontario, it's not Connecticut, but by now, it's home- warts and all.
Ajigasawa is, first and foremost, a port. In the Edo Period (1603-1867), the Tsugaru Lords of Hirosaki had a wide, tree-lined road built the 40 kilometers (25 miles) to Ajigasawa, so they could access the then-busy port which connected them to Kyoto, Edo (Tokyo) and points between. The rise of railroads in the later 1800s, and the advent of the cold war (which made the Pacific-side ports more important) put the town into a shadow. It still had a lot of fishing boats, but declining stocks have put a crimp on that, too. The population peaked at 18,000 the year we moved in (1985), and has declined to 14,000 since then. The town council is so desperate to reverse the decline that they are considering allowing a dump site for low-grade nuclear waste. We hope it doesn't come to that. The mountain in the backround, Mount Iwaki, is a volcano. I don't think the two mix.
What is Ajigasawa famous for? It was "The Town With Two Mayors" for a few days after a disputed election run-off. It got the nickname "Kajigasawa" (substituting the charater "housefire" for "mackerel") in 1985, when they averaged one serious housefire a week (changes in insurance investigation procedures brought the figure down to low single digits in one year!). And, the temple pictured above, Kotakuji, has some famous screen paintings of Hell by an old master. There are many big, impressive Buddhist temples in town.
And many Shinto shrines. This is the entrance gate (torii) to the shrine on the hill behind our house. The local troop of snow monkeys has taken to receiving the offerings the neighbours leave at the stones there.
It's not Ontario, it's not Connecticut, but by now, it's home- warts and all.
posted by John Elliot | 10:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home