She stayed in Iwate Pref. from Jun.26 to Jul. 9.
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Tono Story -- A bond by makenai-zou , June 30 (Sat)
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We visited Kiri-kiri district in Otsuchi-cho today. Destroyed land was extended in front of us. Some residents had the earthquake when they stayed at home (and they still live such in a mess). Originally, the word “Kiri-kiri” means “white beach” in Ainu (the people native to northern Japan) language. “Kiri-kiri” is also well known as the title of Hisashi Inoue’s novel, “Kiri-kiri People” in Japan, but the white beach was lost now, and only the broken seawalls were remained there.
On a stone monument of Kompira-shrine, we found below cautions inscribed.
- Be careful for tsunami when you have earthquake
- Run away to a higher place when tsunami comes
- Don’t live in a danger area
They are literally the words of wisdom from our ancestors, and we have to hand it down to our posterity. We never should repeat the same mistakes.
Soon after arriving in Iwate, we visited the people who met the disaster when they were at home. They share their tsunami experience when they see each other, just like Kobe people do. Even after such a long time of 17 years, Kobe people often talk about Hanshi-Awaji Great Earthquake among them and share their hard experiences. Here in Kiri-kiri, they could never stop talking of the tsunami.
“Once we begin to talk about tsunami, there is no break,” said one of the residents. She also told us, “If you meet an earthquake, you really have to run away to the higher grounds. Also you should always pack up your valuables so that you can escape as soon as possible with it.” Another woman said, “When people in western Japan were suffering from Hanshin-Awaji Great Earthquake, I could do nothing but offered some commodities. Thinking back of that time however, those goods were what I suppose to throw away. It was a shame that I really didn’t think of suffering people. Now we’ve got a lot of supports from the volunteers and I cannot thank them enough.”
We tend to think a disaster as “the unexpected happening”, but it is not. Besides it highlights invisible problems we never face up in our daily lives. To break through such difficulties, we need to build up good relationship with our neighbors or friends, helping each other and enabling our creativity. “A friend in need is a friend in deed.”
When we asked about “restoration” to one of the residents, he replied in a scowling face, “Very easily, people say we are recovering from the disaster, but as you see, the seawalls are still remained broken down just as the same when the tsunami came, and nothing is done for our land, where our houses were swept away. We never feel that we are on the restoration.”
One makena-zou maker said sadly, “The other day, we discussed about the restoration of this town. The topics there were like to move to the higher places, or to sell our land and so on, but actually, I can’t imagine myself dong such things. When some unbearable things happen, all I can do is to go the place where my house stood, doing nothing but just sitting on the foundation. I don’t feel like selling my land indeed.” She continued, “I ran away from my house after the tsunami came, and when I looked back on the way, I saw a big wave washed my house away.”
“Mental restoration” of the victims has just started. Some of them even cannot take their first steps. Until they can make a new start, we will just stay beside them.
Even in such hard situation, they keep on making elephants, because the waves of “makenai-zou” are spreading out to the other stricken areas or even to the overseas. “It is our pleasure if our elephants become any help for others,” one of the makers said with a smile.
In the afternoon on that day, we visited temp houses in Kiri-kiri district. Actually we had come here for a several times, and we found some residents made makenai-zou for the first time in a while. With a support from an expert, one of them said, “I will practice again to make makenai-zou so that I can give it to my grandchild.” Another woman who is good at sewing brought her works, cute turtle-shaped wool straps!
An elephant’s face was being made. While making its nose, a singing voice flew, “Oh little elephant, little elephant, why is your nose so long?”
Finally the makenai-zou was completed. At the last stage to put the elephants’ eyes on the faces, every maker smiles. It is a wonder for us why making makenai-sou brings a natural smile to everybody.
Lastly, we had a gorgeous dinner! Gathering sea urchin eggs has just started in this area. Of course the re-start is not easy, but they formed a fisherman’s union and are forwarding their project step by step. The dinner we had was a result of their great efforts, and the sea urchin was so creamy and tasty that we never can have in a big city. We really enjoyed it !!
Tomoko Masujima
A short message from makenai-souA year and 3 months have passed since I had the disaster. Sometime I still feel lonely or disappointed, but my days became brighter since I began to make makenai-zou. Thank you very much!
（2012/4/27, female (70’s), Tsutsumigaoka temp house in Otsuchi-cho）
