Local fieldwork allows one to develop interests not only in plants and animals, but in folklore and amateur history as well (being retired also helps). Rainy day time and high summer afternoons spent in city libraries and small history museums can enhance one’s appreciation for the local landscape. For Hokuso enthusiasts (only in Japanese), I heartily recommend the late Edo Period regional geography Tonegawa Zushi, written in 1855 by Sotan Akamatsu, a country doctor living in Tone Town, just across the Tone River from Inzai.
In six very thin volumes, the Zushi covers both sides along the lower reaches of the Tone River, from Koga City in westernmost Ibaraki Prefecture to Choshi Port, where the river empties into the Pacific Ocean. The descriptions record not only local nature, history and industries but also customs, folklore and folk beliefs. Kunio Yanagida, considered to be the founder of modern Japanese folklore studies, praised the Zushi as a superb example of Japanese regional geographies deeply steeped in local nature, history and culture.
The original 19th century Japanese is too difficult for an amateur to read, but fortunately, there is an excellent translation into modern colloquial Japanese, edited by Masamichi Abe and Michiari Asano, and published in 1978 by Ron Shobo, a local publisher specializing in regional history and folklore. These books may be a bit hard to find online, but are readily available at most libraries.
ぼくは歴史の専門家ではないが、地域のスモールヒストリーが大好きで、雨の日や真夏の猛暑日では、市立図書館の郷土資料室や小さな歴史・民俗資料館に籠って夢中に勉強する。また、古墳や山城、馬土手、石塔、旧街道の道しるなどの史跡は今も原風景の一部として残り、資料ベースの勉強だけではなく、フィールドワークも盛り立ててくれる。
北総のフィールドをもっと楽しむための歴史資料として高く推薦できるのは、幕末（１８５５年）に成立した『利根川図志』（とねがわずし）という地誌。この本は茨城県利根町に住む医師の赤松宗旦（あかまつそうたん）によって纏められ、利根川の下流域、現在の茨城県古河市から銚子の海岸までを対象に、自然、歴史、産業、社寺、名所、風物、伝承文化、民衆の生活などを面白く紹介している。日本の民俗学の創設者である柳田国男は利根川図志を愛し、幕末の日本の自然と文化を知るための資料として、高く評価していった。
The Tonegawa Zushi is illustrated with excellent line drawings. In the fourth volume, which includes a section covering the modern day Usui district of Sakura City, there is an incredible sketch of a truly immense tree. The top of the tree is lost in clouds, and the broad trunk dwarfs visitors who marvel at its size and grandeur. To the right of the main trunk a heavy branch has touched the ground and taken root by itself. The inscription on the drawing notes that the tree is about five jo in circumference; a jo being a traditional measure of length equivalent to about 3 meters. This makes the tree approximately 15 meters in girth!
『利根川図志』には素晴らしい挿絵が多く含んでいる。ぼくは一見で脅かされたのは、第４巻の臼井界隈の記事に伴う大きなクスノキの挿絵。太い幹は廻りを歩いて楽しむ人々を圧倒して、挿絵の右上に「臼井 大樟図 周囲五丈余り」と書かれている。「丈」（じょう）というのは、伝統的な長さの単位で、約３メートルにあたる。５丈といえば、幹の周り１５メートルの巨木！
This was clearly a tree ideally suited to a kodama tree spirit such as Totoro. My only concern was whether or not the tree described in 1855 still existed. There was only one way to find out!. Just bike over to Usui and look for myself!
この挿絵に描かれている大クスなら、トトロなどの木霊もきっと気に入れるだろう。ぼくはとりあえず、詳しく調べに行こうと思って、チャリのペダルを踏んで臼井を目指した。
