最後の集落から30分以上、山中を走ると、雄大な高原が現れます。草地のゆるやかな山の尾根に、たくさんの馬。ここが、国の重要文化的景観に指定されている荒川高原牧場。
After more than 30 minutes' drive from the last village through the mountains, a magnificent plateau appeared. A lot of horses were on the gentle mountain ridge covered with grass. It was the Arakawa Kogen Pasture, which was designated as a national important cultural landscape.
Horses gathered on the ridge of Arakawa Kogen Pasture. Beyond the valley, wind power generation were insalled. It is skeptical that the wind power generation was allowed within the area visible from the national important cultural landscape.
荒川高原牧場は、夏は山に放牧した馬を、冬は里に戻して世話をする夏山冬里式牧畜を継承する場所です。
岩手の山間では、農家は、大地主から借り受けた牛馬を飼育して、子牛や子馬が生まれるとその売却代金を折半するシステムが出来ていました。牛は農耕や製鉄産業の運搬に使われ、馬は、南部藩が奨励し、軍馬や輸送馬として出荷されました。飼育には大量の牧草が必要なため、夏は、大地主の所有する山に放牧し、代わりに、農家は、大地主の農地の耕作や山林の世話に労力を提供。牛馬を介して、地域経済や自然がつながっていた暮らしは、戦後、消えましたが、夏山冬里形式の牧畜の一部がかろうじて残っています。
実際の荒川高原牧場は、家も人影もなく、通り過ぎる車もありません。高原を縫う道の他は、ただただ馬と緑だけ（のはずが、最近は山向こうに風力発電）。道と牧場の間の柵が隔てるのは馬の側ではなく、人間の側。馬の習性か、観察していると、単独行動の馬は皆無で、道路の近くに寄って来る馬もいません。人間から遠く離れた場所で、馬による馬の社会がつくられ、馬の王国に迷い込んだ気分。
馬が使役に借り出されることの少なくなった今、5月から10月まで、自由に山を走り回るこの高原は、動物にとって、ストレスの少ない理想的環境に違いありません。
Once, the horses were grazed in the mountains in the summer and returned to the village to live in a Magariya and in a barn now in the winter. This pasture is a place to inherit the stock-raising system called Natsuyama Fuyusato (pasturing cattle in summer and feeding them indoors during winter).
In the mountainous areas of Iwate, farmers raised cows and horses borrowed from large landowners, and when calves and foals were born, the farmers shared the sale price with the large landowner. Cattle were used exclusively for farming and transportation in the steel industry, and horses were shipped for war and transportation use. The Nambu Clan specially encouraged horse production. Since raising cattle and horses required a large amount of pasture, they grazed on the landowner's mountains in the summer. In return, the farmers contributed to the landowner's farmland cultivation and forest care. The system that local economy had intricately connected with nature through cattle and horses almost disappeared after the World War II. Now, the part of Natsuyama Fuyusato-style livestock farming barely remained and continued.
The Arakawa Kogen Pasture where I visited had no houses, no people, and no cars passing by. Except the road that passed the plateau, there were only horses and greenery (but wind power generation's mills were built recently beyond the valley). Not the horse side but the human side was separtated by the fence between the road and the pasture. No horses were acting alone, and no horses came near the road. That would be a horse's habit? A horse society by horses was in a place far away from human existence, and I felt like I was in the horse kingdom.
Now it is rare for horses to work. This pasture, where they can freely run around the mountains from mid-May to October every year, must be an ideal environment with less stress for animals than in the past.
On the Arakawa Kogen Pasture, a lot of horses were on the gentle mountain ridge covered with grass.
On the Arakawa Kogen Pasture, a lot of horses were on the gentle mountain ridge covered with grass.
Horses are grazing on the other side of the fence at the entrance.
Overlook the grassland of Arakawa Kogen Pasture from the hill. In the center is probably a water field.
It seemed to be a gate for horses to enter and exit the ranch.
It would be a temporary enclosure?
See the Arakawa Kogen Pasture.
See the Arakawa Kogen Pasture.
ご感想はこちらへ / Click here for your impressions
参考文献 / reference
”図説 岩手県の歴史”(細井計,河出書房新社,1995)
”馬とくらし”(遠野市立博物館,1990)
”南部曲り家読本”(瀬川修,無明舎出版,2007)
”大人の休日倶楽部 2016年5月号”(JR東日本,2016)
荒川高原牧場のホームページ
文化庁 文化遺産オンライン
Wikipedia
写真の無断使用、転用はご遠慮下さい。/ Please do not use or upload our photos without permission.
