An unrelenting sense of unease

In the Noto Peninsula, people are spending their time crawling on the ground, trying to recover and rebuild from the earthquake on New Year's Day and the heavy rains in September. Furthermore, at the end of November, the earth shook violently for the first time in about six months, and crustal movements in this area continue to be active.

People are trying to mend the broken wounds in their hearts by applying medicine and sticking bandages on them, but it will likely take some time for the indescribable sense of sadness that permeates this peninsula to heal.

A fruitful autumn awaits

The autumn of 10 has been warmer than usual. At the beginning of October, when the scent of osmanthus drifts in the air, the fields are filled with quiet flowers, and the mountains are filled with mushrooms and acorns. As the days get shorter, the deep green of the trees gradually fades, and blue jewel-like fruits begin to shine at the tips of the vines of wild grapes entangled in the branches.

In November, butterbur and camellia flowers bloom along the roadside, signaling the arrival of winter. As dawn breaks, dew falls on the plants and trees, and the vivid scenery of the rural woodland, colored like brocade, leaps into your eyes, making you feel enchanted and lose track of time.

Walking across the carpet of fallen leaves is like a cleansing to the soul. The air is clear throughout the year at this time of year, and from the top of the hill you can see the outlines of ships passing by on the horizon and distant islands.

Fishing resumes at Wajima Port

The table is decorated with colorful potatoes, shoots, wild mushrooms, ginkgo nuts, ginger, root vegetables, and more. Apples harvested in the region and small kiwi-like fruits called sarunashi are also available. Recovery work has progressed at Wajima Port since the earthquake, and fishing has resumed for the first time in a long time. Female snow crabs, called "koubako crabs," are lined up in front of shops.

It gets completely dark around 5pm. As the air gets cooler, hotpot and stewed dishes taste even better.

When I lift a bowl of piping hot soup with both hands, not only do I feel the warmth in my hands, but my mind also becomes warm and calm. I feel like finding the season of the moment and engraving the atmosphere in my heart is what encourages me to live each day.

Kuroshima's winter preparations

When walking through the town of Kuroshima, you can see persimmon curtains hanging from the eaves of houses covered with blue tarpaulins. The town's fathers and mothers hang the persimmons that they have peeled one by one, and take great care to prepare them into dried persimmons. I remember being fascinated by the careful way they worked when I moved here exactly one year ago.

While many collapsed buildings remain untouched or have only been temporarily repaired, some houses are undergoing repairs to their tiled roofs and fixtures in preparation for the wind, rain, and snow that will come with winter. Because Kuroshima Town is a traditional buildings preservation district, the demolition of collapsed buildings at public expense, which had been progressing slowly, has begun in some places.

Following the first in late April, a local information session on disaster recovery was held in early November, and discussions are continuing regarding future town development. Efforts are also underway to rebuild Wakamiya Hachiman Shrine.

Finally moving

My daily life, which has been a wandering one for the past year, is changing with the arrival of autumn after the scorching hot summer. "How have you been?" I can't replace the connections I have with other people every day. In situations that I can't do on my own, I have received help from local people, volunteers, and other people of my own accord, and unexpected encounters have occurred.

After I finished the paperwork to scrap my car that was damaged in the earthquake, I was given a loaner car. My neighbors, who I had been staying with for four months from late May, decided to move into temporary housing and a temporary workshop in Wajima City, and I was able to borrow their space to store the belongings that didn't fit in the temporary housing.

They cleared away a storehouse that had collapsed after being damaged in the disaster, creating an access road for transporting belongings. They also fixed a door that had become tilted and could no longer be opened.

As time passed, like the pieces of a puzzle coming together, the conditions were right for us to move our belongings out of our damaged homes while still living in Wajima City, and we are now in the process of moving, distributing our belongings to three locations. Although we live every day living side by side with danger, we are breathing life here now, feeling saved by everyone's generosity and the warm connections we have made.

"Let's walk this path at the same pace as the turtle"

The exteriors of Kuroshima's traditional houses are characterized by black tile roofs and exterior walls made of overlapping wooden boards called clapboards. The base of the walls is made of split bamboo lattice weaving vertically and horizontally, and then coated with layers of soil mixed with natural materials such as straw, and the surface is finished with plaster and new building materials.

Looking at the walls that collapsed in the earthquake, I feel a sense of sadness welling up inside me, but I am also fascinated by the amazing structure and handiwork. The architectural style and plastering techniques are the crystallization of the wisdom of the ancestors who lived here, but the belongings of the damaged houses are covered in collapsed mud walls. Some things are still usable, some are no longer usable, some are moldy and rusty... The task of checking and selecting the condition of the items takes more time than I thought.

A rainbow that hangs in the clear sky after a shower. It is a colorful ray of hope.

Each item brings with it a feeling that makes me feel different, and tears of various flavors won't stop. I want to resume my lacquer work as soon as possible, but things aren't going as I'd hoped, and the repetitive work of tidying up and cleaning makes me lose track of what I'm doing. Sometimes I feel the urge to load all my belongings onto a big truck and go somewhere far away to escape reality.

As we go back and forth in the town to rebuild our lives, autumn deepens. Typical of the Japan Sea coast of Hokuriku at this time of year, the sky is covered with gray clouds, and thunder suddenly rumbles and rain showers fall. When we see a rainbow in the clear sky, a colorful ray of hope slowly shines into our hearts, making us think, "Let's continue on this path," even as we are at the mercy of the rough weather.

“Wajima News ~While looking up at the starry sky~” is…

Yukiko Akiyama, a lacquer artist who lives in Wajima, writes ``Wajima News ~While looking up at the starry sky~''. 30 minutes by car from the center of Wajima City. The Kuroshima area, located in the northwestern part of the Noto Peninsula, flourished as a residence for Kitamae-bune ship owners and sailors, and its beautiful landscape with black-tiled roofs has been designated as a nationally important preservation district for groups of traditional buildings. I did. After 16 years in Wajima, lacquer artist Yukiko Akiyama set up a workshop in an old private house in the Kuroshima district, and was just about to work on her work while restoring it, when she was struck by the earthquake. Like many buildings, Akiyama's workshop collapsed. Although there is no prospect of resuming production in her workshop, she will continue to work with lacquer here, and while working on the town development of Kuroshima, she will aim to rebuild the Noto Peninsula and solidify her resolve to start a new life. I am. The rich lifestyle of Kuroshima in the past, the beautiful nature, the interaction with people, the passion for lacquer, and the current situation of the disaster area... She is a woman who lives her daily life in the disaster-stricken area and strives for reconstruction, but at the same time, she depicts the true image of Noto as depicted by a woman who deals seriously with lacquer.