photographed on 4/19/2011
“What’s happened here?”
This was the devastating sight that greeted us as we entered Tōhoku and headed down from the mountains toward Rikuzentakada on the coast. Looming ahead of us were the ruined remains of the railway bridge that used to carry the JR Ōfunawatari line across the Kesen River. We had started to notice signs of the devastation along the road before now, but this was the first thing that really brought home to us the full scale and horror of what had happened. We were still more than three kilometers from the coast, where we had heard that one single tree had survived from the beautiful pine grove that had previously stretched along the beach at Rikuzentakada. From here, the altitude dropped and the extent of the damage grew more severe we neared the sea. Just before this photo was taken, there were ten times as many crows on the tree behind us. After this, Kuyama went off somewhere for a while, saying he wanted to take some pictures of the surroundings. When he returned, his face was grim and drawn.
Written by Tatsuya Hirose
「これ、どうなってんの？」
初めて東北入りし陸前高田の海を目指し山から下っていたときに出会った光景。それは気仙川に架かるＪＲ大船渡線の鉄橋の無残な“傷跡だった”。それまでの道沿いでもそれなりの痕は見始めていたのだが、凄さや凄惨さという意味で目の当たりにしたのはこれが最初となる。美しかった陸前高田の浜に続く松原にまだ一本だけが残っていると聞いていた海岸線まではまだ3km以上もの距離がある内陸部での出来事。その後標高が下がり、海に近付いていくとともにその傷痕の深さと強さは増していくことになる。この撮影の直前、後ろの木のカラスはこの10倍ほどいた。この後、久山は「ちょっと撮影してくる」といって小1時間ほど付近を巡ってきたがその顔は寂しげだった。
ライター / 廣瀬達也
shiromasa kuyama 