015.青森 05.八甲田山
015.Aomori city 05.Mt. Hakkoda (Japan)

2023年1月19日

樹氷はアートでした。

Soft rime was an art.

八甲田ロープウェーの山頂駅近くから、八甲田山の峰の一つを望む。
See one of the peaks of Mt. Hakkoda from near the summit station of the Hakkoda Ropeway.

雪は深いものの、葉を落とした、褐色のブナ林が広がっていた八甲田ロープウェーの山麓駅から、標高差650メートル、距離にして2.5キロを移動した山頂は、一面、樹氷の世界。標高1320メートルと、さほど高地ではありませんが、本州中部の3000m級の山に相当する、この地の気候の厳しさが窺えます。

八甲田山と言えば、陸軍の雪中演習の行軍で、199人が遭難死した事件と、その映画化で、日本人にはよく知られた場所。スキー場として整備され、アスピリンスノーで有名となった今も、冬に訪れるには、一抹の不安を感じる場所で、スキー場の主催するスノーシューツアーに参加しました。高台から八甲田山の峰の一つまで続く樹氷の林を望み、歩きながらルート沿いの樹氷を鑑賞。樹氷は、水滴を含んだ霧が、樹木に付着して凍結したもの。間近で見る樹氷は、現代美術や現代ファッションとしても通用するぐらい、造形が斬新で、同じものは一つもありません。自然の表現力に感嘆。

おもしろいのは、その現象が、人工物である電波塔や、駅にまで及び、不思議な樹氷化の光景を出現させていたこと。既存物に、何かを吹き付けて作品化する現代美術の手法さながら。自然自身が、アーティストの役割を担っていました。

樹氷巡りに訪れた２月のある日、晴天から吹雪までめまぐるしく天気が変わるものの、遭難を連想させる気象ではありませんでしたが、前日も翌日も強風でロープウェーは運行中止。特に、翌日は25mの風が山上で吹き荒れたそうです。観光開発され、今は簡単に樹氷を楽しめる地ですが、それでもなお、八甲田山は、過酷な冬と隣り合わせの場所でした。

At the station at the mountain foot on the Hakkoda Ropeway was a brown beech forest that had lost its leaves although the snow was deep. However, around the station at the mountain top, trees turned into soft rime though the altitude difference was 650 meters. An altitude of 1,320 meters is not very high, but the harsh climate of this place is equivalent to a 3,000-meter mountain in the central part in Japan.

Speaking of Mt. Hakkoda, Japanese people know well about the incident in which 199 soldiers were killed during the army's march in the snow since its incident was made into a movie. At the present time, Mt. Hokkoda has been developed as a ski ground famous for its aspirin snow. But I still felt a little uneasy about visiting in the winter, so I joined in a snowshoe tour organized by the ski ground. We advanced in the soft-rime forest that extends from the hill to one of the peaks of Mt. Hakkoda. Fog that contained water droplets adheres to trees, freezes and becomes soft rime. The soft-rime trees seen from up close were innovative as contemporary art or fashion, and no one was the same. I admired the expressiveness of nature.

What was interesting for me was that the phenomenon extended to a man-made radio tower and ropeway station, creating a mysterious soft-rime scene. It was the technique of contemporary art that artists sprayed something onto an existing object. Nature itself played the role of the artist here.

One day in February when I visited, the weather changed rapidly from clear skies to blizzards, but it didn't remind me of a distress. But the day before and the day after, the ropeway was canceled due to strong wind. Especially on the next day, the wind of 25m raged on the mountain. Mt. Hokkoda has been developed for tourism, and now they can enjoy soft-rime trees easily. But even so, Mt. Hakkoda was a place with harsh winter.