寄る年波のさなか、大阪市中央公会堂周辺から、一気に中部地方・長野県飯田市まで長躯移動。
　ある個人的な探究テーマを深掘りすることに没頭しております。これまでの住宅領域での経験に立脚しながら、自分自身の興味分野が拡大して、という状況にいるのですが、そうすると取材対象がいろいろに展開していくことになる。
　先日は関西地域にいくつかの訪問先があったところに南信州・飯田市に行く要件が持ち上がってしまった。片道では300kmで往復では600kmを超えることになる。北海道で言うと札幌から釧路までの往復と同距離ということ。まぁ北海道ではそこそこあり得る行動半径ではある。っていうか、住宅取材などでそれくらいの行動半径では動き続けていた。
　しかし年齢的にはもうそのころとは20年近い隔絶もある。そもそも大阪発時間は夕方５時ころなので、途中、岐阜県のあたりで宿泊して翌朝早くに出発して飯田市入りを目指した。
　でも今度は引き返しの長距離移動もある。普通は公共交通手段を利用してと考えるところでしょうが、この目的地間には適当な移動交通手段がなかった。一方でモータリゼーション世代ではあり、生まれた頃から自動車の移動感覚がネイティブのようなわたしなので、こういう移動交通に数寄もあるようですね。
　すっかり日没時間も午後７時くらいにまで長くなっているので、180kmほどの宿泊地点には余裕で到着。さっさと寝るのは得意なので、若干の用務を片付けてすぐに就寝。あ、晩ごはんは途中の大津の琵琶湖あたりPAで済ましてしまう。
　で、翌朝、早くに出発して山道の「中央道」を約120kmひたすら東上。
　写真は目的地・飯田市の「長野県天然記念物・長姫（おさひめ）のエドヒガン」樹。別名「安富桜」。
　〜幹と根張りが雄々しく、均整の取れた樹形は古木の風格をもち、エドヒガンの特性が良く現れた県下の名木である。飯田城主・堀氏の家老「安富」氏の邸宅近くにあったため、俗に安富桜と称される。〜
　来て見て、飯田市とわたし自身の「未遂の関係性」ということもアタマのなかにたくさん群がり興ってきていた。地域と言うよりもこの地が出身地域である多くの人たちとの「関係性」が、想起されてしまったのですね。ちょっと早めに到着したので、この安富桜にしばし見とれながら、そんなことに気持ちが奪われる時間を過ごしていた。
　ひょっとすると、少し人生選択が違っていたら、自分はこの街と深く根がらみの人生時間を過ごしていたかも知れない、そんな不思議な余韻に浸っておりました。たまたま要件が発生しての大往復だけれど、なにかの人生時間「因果」がそこに絡んでいたのかも知れません。

English version⬇

Traveling by car from Osaka to Iida, Nagano Prefecture and back.
An old tree in the area that soothes the fatigue of an elderly person traveling 300 km. Its majestic and powerful appearance encourages us to keep going strong. ….

In the midst of the passing of the years, I moved from the Osaka Central Public Hall area to Iida City, Nagano Prefecture, in the Chubu region of Japan, in one fell swoop.
　I have been immersed in digging deeper into a personal theme of exploration. I am in a situation where my own field of interest is expanding while building on my past experience in the housing area, and in doing so, the subject of my coverage is developing in various ways.
　The other day, when I had several places to visit in the Kansai region, the requirement to go to Iida City, Minami-Shinshu was brought up. The one-way trip would be 300 km, and the round trip would be over 600 km. In Hokkaido, this is the same distance as a round trip from Sapporo to Kushiro. Well, that’s a reasonable radius of travel in Hokkaido. In fact, I have been moving around within that radius for housing coverage and so on.
　However, it has been almost 20 years since then. Since the departure time from Osaka was around 5:00 p.m., we stayed overnight in Gifu Prefecture on the way to Iida City, and left early the next morning.
　But this time, there was also a long-distance trip back. Normally, one would think of using public transportation, but there was no suitable means of transportation between these destinations. On the other hand, I am of the motorized generation, and since I was born, I have a native sense of automobile transportation.
　Since the sunset time has completely lengthened to about 7:00 p.m., we arrived at the lodging point, about 180 km away, with plenty of time to spare. Since I am good at going to bed quickly, I took care of some errands and went to bed right away. Oh, and dinner is served at a PA around Lake Biwa in Otsu on the way.
　The next morning, we left early and headed east on the mountainous “Chuo Road” for about 120 km.
　The photo shows the “Nagano Prefecture Natural Monument Osahime no Edohigan” tree in Iida City, our destination. It is also known as the “Yasutomi cherry tree.
　〜The tree is a famous tree in the prefecture with a magnificent trunk and root system, and its well-proportioned form gives it the appearance of an old tree, and the characteristics of the edohigan are well represented. It is commonly called “Yasutomi Cherry Blossom” because it was located near the residence of “Yasutomi,” a retainer of the Hori family, lords of Iida Castle. ~.
　After visiting Iida City, my own “attempted relationship” with Iida City also began to crowd my mind. I was reminded of the “relationship” I have with many people who are from this area, rather than the region itself. Since I arrived a little early, I spent a lot of time admiring these Yasutomi cherry blossoms, and my mind was taken by such things.
　Perhaps, if my life choices had been a little different, I might have spent my life time deeply rooted in this town, and I was immersed in such a mysterious afterglow. Although it was a big round-trip due to an accidental requirement, there might have been some kind of life time “cause and effect” involved in it.

Posted on 6月 6th, 2024 by 三木 奎吾
Filed under: 出張＆旅先にて