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Hiking Along the Old Hozu River Towpath

August 23, 2011 By Michael Lambe

Last Saturday I joined Stephen Gill and Okiharu Maeda of the conservation group P.T.O. for a hike along the Hozu River. The hike wasn’t purely for the pleasure of getting out into the fresh country air though, Maeda-san and Mr. Gill were making a detailed report, with photographs of the exact location of trees on Mount Ogura that have been affected by a deadly oak disease. Even from a distance now you can see some patches of brown on the mountain (left click on these pictures twice to see them at their maximum size).

These trees are not exhibiting early autumn foliage – they are dead, and the process is quick. Stephen told me that most of these trees looked fine three weeks ago. As we moved closer to the mountain along the river, the full extent of the problem became clearer.

I think during our hike Maeda-san must have counted over 100 dead trees on the mountain. P.T.O. will submit their report to the city office and ask them to act upon it. There are methods to tackle this disease but as you can see from the damage that has already been wrought, these methods need to be implemented fast before this beautiful mountain view is ruined.

Our route took us along parallel to the old Funahiki trail that horses once walked when pulling boats back up to Kameoka. That path hasn’t been maintained at all and in places barely exists anymore so the going was a little hairy at times. Our first barrier however was this: [Read more…]

Clearing up the Mountain

March 28, 2011 By Michael Lambe

Lovely view, isn’t it? Sadly, right below where I stood to take this picture there are piles of rubbish that people have illegally tipped down the wooded slopes of Mount Ogura.

A lot of the discarded trash is domestic; buckets, bicycles, old refrigerators, motorbikes… But in this case a building company seems to have dumped some unwanted bags of cement. Perhaps they didn’t notice the cameras in the area that have been put up to prevent this kind of thing. If they are caught on film, they can be prosecuted…

P.T.O. volunteers collecting discarded trash from Mount Ogura.

I’ve written before about the work P.T.O. (People Together for Mt. Ogura) are doing to tackle conservation problems on the Poets’ Mountain. On Sunday I joined in one of their rubbish clearing days for the first time. I managed to rope in my friend Chris to come along too.

Once you get down there it is shocking how much stuff has been thrown away here. Apparently it was much much worse before the volunteers of P.T.O. started tackling the problem 7 years ago.

The rubbish is collected and then hauled up to the road.

Having been collected it will be taken away to be properly disposed of by the city later.

One afternoon's work - we were clearing a different spot in the morning.

Here we are when the day’s work is done. I’m holding a brass monkey I found underneath some bushes. Stephen Gill was rather taken with it and took it home….

It feels great to get out into nature, have a bit of a hike and then take part in this kind of activity. I always feel super energised by my visits to Mount Ogura and highly recommend it. Here below is the schedule for upcoming P.T.O. activities. If you would like to take part and lend a hand please contact Stephen Gill at heelstone@gmail.com. P.T.O. needs more bodies – and especially on rubbish collection days!

P.T.O. 2011 Hiking Schedule (with Work Content)

Apr. 2 (Sat.) Path maintenance

24 (Sun.) Rubbish clearance

May 7 (Sat.) Path maintenance

Jun. 4 (Sat.) Bamboo preparation

18 (Sat.) Path maintenance

Sep. 3 (Sat.) Bamboo fencing

17 (Sat.) Bamboo fencing

Oct. 2 (Sun.) Rubbish clearance

15 (Sat.) Dead pine felling

Nov. 5 (Sat.) Dead pine felling

19 (Sat.) Dead pine felling

27 (Sun.) Rubbish clearance

Dec. 3 (Sat.) Path maintenance

Useful links and articles:
People Together for Mt. Ogura – (P.T.O.’s English website)
People Together for Mt. Ogura – The Poets’ Mountain (article)
One Hundred Poets on Mount Ogura, One Poem Each (article)

One Hundred Poets on Mount Ogura, One Poem Each

October 22, 2010 By Michael Lambe

朝に夕
眺めし小倉の
山にきて
幼き頃の
山路楽しむ

To Ogura I have come,
the hill I have looked at
every morning and eve:
enjoying again it’s mountain paths
I once walked as a child

(Yoshihiro Tsuchida from the collection One Hundred Poets on Mount Ogura, One Poem Each)

The cover image is by kiri-e (cut paper) artist Yoshio Kawagoe

In a previous post I wrote about the environmental action group P.T.O. (People Together for Mt. Ogura) and the fine conservation work they are doing  in rural Sagano, cleaning up Mt. Ogura and preserving it’s forests. Mt. Ogura is of course most famous as the place where Fujiwara Teika compiled the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. But it is also famous for its associations with a number of other poets including Saigyō, who built his first hermitage there and Matsuo Bashō who wrote his Saga Diary there. Despite this long literary history, the Poets’ Mountain has been neglected and abused in recent years: for decades people have been dumping their trash in its forests; JR railways did enormous damage when they built a tunnel through the mountain in the 1980s; and in recent years Pine Wilt disease has taken an enormous toll on efforts at reafforestation. For the last three years or so the volunteers of P.T.O have been gamely battling all these problems, but much still remains to be done. Now it seems a new generation of poets has arisen to help them and come to the aid of this beautiful mountain. [Read more…]

People Together for Mt. Ogura – The Poets’ Mountain

October 9, 2010 By Michael Lambe

…to feel the presence of this graceful Poet’s Mount, we should go there. If possible, climb up a bit and take in the view. Listen, as the sounds of the city dwindle and those of nature take over. The trail at your feet will soon turn to earth and rock… – Stephen Gill

For the last two weekends I’ve been taking part in conservation work with the environmental action group P.T.O (People Together for Mt. Ogura). I’d heard that P.T.O together with the Hailstone Haiku Circle had brought out a book of poems to raise funds and awareness for their work. Well! Poetry and environmentalism together?! This is precisely the sort of thing I should be supporting, I thought. So I  wrote to the book’s editor, Stephen Gill, and he in turn invited me up to the mountain to help out and to get my hands dirty.

Ogura-yama in rural Sagano has for centuries been closely associated with poets and poetry.  Here Fujiwara Teika compiled the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu; Japan’s most famous anthology of classical poetry and the basis for the New Year’s karuta game. Other poets who have lived and written here are Tōru, Saigyō, Tame’ie, Bashō, Kyorai – some of the most famous names in Japanese literary history! This mountain, that has inspired so many, should certainly be considered a national treasure. I was very excited to be going up there.

Stephen Gill at rest on the mountain

I met Stephen Gill and the other volunteers at JR Saga/Arashiyama station. Stephen is himself a poet and an artist and a charming gentleman who speaks fluent Japanese. From the station he pointed out to me Ogura-yama’s beautiful dome and told me about its problems. It seems the Poets’ Mountain is neglected at best and at worst abused. [Read more…]

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