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Foundation Newsletter Tamagawa

No. 122 “Shukugawara Weir”

Reports from our Seasonal newsletters
Special Edition on the Annual Report about the Foundation’s Projects
No. 122 “Shukugawara Weir”
The Foundation Newsletter, Tamagawa (English Version)
Wildlife around the Tama River

Shukugawara Weir
About ten minutes on foot from Noborito Station, where the Odakyu and the Nambu lines intersect, one sees a broad riverbed stretching out downstream from the Odakyu Line railway bridge. This is the location of the state-of-the-art Nikaryo Shukugawara diversion weir, consisting of six gates that can be operated individually, lined up across the weir, which measures approximately 220m.
Due to the fact that fishways have been installed on both sides of the weir, many fish go upstream, so one sees a lot of people enjoying fishing.
The view of the evening sun from here is said to be so beautiful, so I would like to visit it again, timing it to coincide with the time just before sunset.

 

 

Photo & Text Hidehiko Endo

Opening Article
Rivers and Trains

Ken Noguchi Alpinist

 

 

When I was a university student, I lived in Koganei in Tokyo. It is a “dormitory town” located beside the Chuo Line. The term “dormitory town” in Japanese is “beddotaun” (from the English “bed town”), and because it is a loan word from another language, it might perhaps somehow sound urban and cool. However, at that time, more than ten years ago, (and even now, in fact, to quite an extent), there were still a lot of fields. In the morning, I awoke to the sound of chickens from the nearby poultry farm.

 

In April each year, the new students entering my university, who came from the countryside to“ Tokyo, dreaming about life in the city would say things like, “Is this really Tokyo” I’ve never seen so many fields, not even in the countryside where I come from!”

 

Every day, I would leave my lodgings in Koganei and go running in this area. I would cut through the avenue of cherry trees along the Tamagawa Josui Canal and head north to reach the forest in Koganei Park. I could also run through Nogawa Park and head south to reach the green banks and broad river terrace of the Tama River.

 

On weekends, I often took the train to the Okutama area. Vast boulders have fallen in the riverbed near the head of the Tama River, and I used to practice rock-climbing here. Sometimes I would go deep into the valley and climb the river gorge to reach the ridgeline.

 

Thus, I spent my days training, while enjoying the nature around the Tama River.

 

Working up a sweat amidst scenery that changes throughout the four seasons may well have been the very essence of my youth. However, unfortunately, at that time, I did not take any joy in the scenery. While I was running, my head was full of thoughts of the Himalayas. What would be the risks involved in the next peak that I would tackle? Would I be OK with this training? I need to run faster, if only just a little, in order to increase my strength. This was all I thought about.

 

However, strangely enough, when I actually went to the Himalayas, thoughts of the natural environment of the Tama region kept coming to mind. In the world of rocks above 5,000m, where even alpine plants do not bloom, the ordinary plants that I should have grown tired of seeing every day formed a strong image in my memory.

 

Consequently, immediately after I return home, the greenery in the town looks truly beautiful. Nevertheless, after about a week I become used to it as something around me every day, and so my head is filled once more with thoughts of the Himalayas.

 

I believe that, just as I have the Himalayas, so everybody has their own aspiration in their life. It might be a job that they want to get or a school that they want to go to, or a qualification or certificate they want to obtain; it might even be a car or electrical appliance they want to buy, or a place they want to go…. These days, with diversifying values, it is becoming difficult to share one’s own aspirations with others. Amidst a city interwoven with numerous different desires, the greenery of the parks, rivers and avenues exists quietly as a “common” joy.

 

I believe that even those people who have no interest in nature whatsoever (like myself in my student days) are definitely aware of nature in their subconscious. This is only natural, given that even humans are inherently a part of nature. In Tokyo, where values have become increasingly diverse amidst progressive modernization, the Tama River continues to flow, cutting across the activities of people with completely different lifestyles, interests and ideas.

 

Amidst the varying daily lifestyles, the Tama River and its surrounding natural environment will doubtless continue to exist as a location for a brief, casual moment of relaxation.
Finally, hopefully, the beauty of the nature of this river will give rise to the nurturing by humans of a common environmental awareness.

 

 

 

Special Article
Tama Sakura One-Hundred-Year Tales Forum


Tsutomu Tsuji
Steering Committee Chairman, Tama Sakura One-Hundred-Year Tales Forum
Tachikawa Branch Chief, Yomiuri Shimbun

 


On 7 March this year, which was a cloudless day, even though the skies had been threatening rain until the previous day, the Fifth Cherry Tree-planting Festival was held by the Tama Cherry Blossom Tales of a Century Forum (Chairman: Koichi Saito, Film Director) on land at the foot of hills in the Otaba area of Okutama Town. Around 60 people gathered to plant a total of 32 seedlings, including Korean mountain cherry and Ezo mountain cherry. Held in collaboration with the Otaba Local Residents’ Association, which wishes to create a village of flowers and increase the number of tourists who visit, participants were charged just the actual cost of the food, and, with great hospitality, the Local Residents’ Association prepared for participants a feast that included venison stew and festive red rice. Participants included a family of three generations who were celebrating the 40th day since the birth of the newest grandchild in the family, and a man who said, “I will soon retire, so I want to contribute to society through such activities.” Each time I come into contact with the hearts of people that have been put into each cherry tree, I get a warm feeling inside that blows away all the exhaustion that I felt after the preparations.

 

The Forum was organized in May 2004, to carry out a project in the Tama region to commemorate the 130th anniversary of the establishment of the Yomiuri Shimbun. It is a voluntary organization established by the Yomiuri Group in the Tama region, including the Yomiuri Shimbun’s Tachikawa Branch, with special cooperation from the Tama-shinkin Bank, Keio Corporation, the Tama Branch of Tokyo Electric Power, the Tama Branch of Tokyo Gas, Orion-Shobo and Kinoshita Circus. With the planting of cherry trees as its main symbolic activity, the Forum undertakes activities that make a contribution to the region, in collaboration with various experts and local citizens.

 

The Tree-planting Festival has now taken place on five occasions, being held previously in Inagi North Green Park in Inagi City, Yuyake-koyake Country Park in Hachioji City (on two occasions), and the Showa Aircraft Industry Green Belt in Akishima City.

 

With regard to our other major activities, we organize Sakura Yugakujuku (Field Trip Academy) about ten times each year, which involves hiking and having fun while learning about the importance of nature and the environment. A photography contest is held once a year, based on the theme of the nature and people of the Tama area. The Field Trip Academy has attracted applications to participate from more than 150 people. The photography contest last year attracted almost 600 entries, and the photographs were displayed at the Tachikawa branch of Takashimaya department store, thanks to the cooperation of that company.

 

 

In addition, we are one of the groups participating in the Riverhead Forest Region Conservation Project, which aims to gather seeds from trees growing wild in the natural forests in the Okutama area, such as mountain cherry, Mongolian oak and horse chestnut, then sow the seeds, cultivate seedlings, and plant those seedlings in rundown areas of the Okutama Forest, in order to regenerate the forest. The project receives a grant from the Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Environment Fund; members of the Mitsui Volunteer Network Center, the Giant Tree Society, the Okutama Town Nippara Local Residents’ Association and JA Tokyo Tree-planting Cooperative work up a sweat about twice a month and have cultivated around 10,000 seedlings. Of these, approximately 6,000 have been returned to dilapidated mountainsides by means of tree-planting by groups such as forestry cooperatives.
The seedlings planted at the Fifth Tree-planting Festival were cultivated under this project and are the first of our own seedlings to reach around 2 meters in height. This added greatly to the deep emotions felt by our staff.
Having said that, there are quite a few issues to be resolved and the Forum certainly is not a large organization. There is no full-time secretariat or staff. Around 10 volunteers, who are aged in their 60s and 70s, gather for the regular meetings held at the Yomiuri Tachikawa Building once a week; in addition, they are kept busy with other meetings and tasks several times a month. They are supported by the goodwill of many people, including our Chairman, Mr. Saito.

 

Our tree-planting and afforestation activity faces the same problem as the Japanese forestry industry itself does, which is not economically viable, with forests still suffering from dilapidation and damage from deer who feed on the bark of the trees. We cannot carry out our activities without a certain level of money and goodwill. It is also not simple to secure land on which we can plant trees.
The Forum was established on the ambitious principle of “Nurturing a culture that honors the public good in the Tama region, aiming to regenerate the forests and plant cherry trees on fallow land over the course of a century.” Now we are striving “to steadily implement realistic activities.” At the same time, we are entering the sixth year of the Forum’s activities and our network of relationships has also expanded.
Viewers and subscribers of the Forum’s website and the Tama edition of the Yomiuri, which reports on the Forum’s activities, sometimes ask for the provision of seedlings for planting or our know-how and advice. The Forum’s staff often use the phrase, “Our activities are for the sake of our grandchildren and their children.”

 

 

 

 

The Fifth Cherry Tree-planting Festival /Field Trip Academy

 

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