Photographed on 4/19/2011
“Wow, look! Everything’s still in color up there. The cherry blossoms are blooming, in spite of everything.”
Everything in the disaster area was covered in mud, so that it was extremely rare to encounter any patches of bright color—although there were occasional glimpses here and there if you went looking. This lack of color was as striking as the scale of the damage itself. Kuyama was photographing the wreckage when he suddenly turned toward me and shouted these words. Down where we were standing, close to a pathway that led up to a temple on a small hill, everything was covered in rubble. Even the trees that lined the slope had been damaged by the waves. But when we lifted our gaze to the temple itself, we found the area aflame with the beautiful pink of cherry blossoms. This harbinger of spring reminded us that the world was still a colorful place after all and even brought us a moment of happiness.
Written by Tetsuya Hirose
「うわ！あそこだけ総天然色や！それでも桜は咲いてくれるんやなぁ」
探せばなくはないが、それでもすべてが泥にまみれた被災地にあって鮮やかな色と出会うことはほとんどなかった。それは被害が大きいほどに顕著だった。そんなとき被災地の惨状を撮影していた久山がふと振り返るなり叫んだのがこの言葉である。小高い場所に建つお寺の昇り口付近には瓦礫に覆われていたし斜面の木々も潮の影響を受けていた。それでもお寺のある付近にまで視線をあげれば美しいピンクの桜が一面を染め上げていた。たったそれだけのことで世界がカラフルなことを思い出させてくれたし僕らまでが嬉しくなってしまった春の始まりのとき
ライター / 廣瀬達也
shiromasa kuyama 