017.高田 01.雪
017.Takada 01.Snow (Japan)

2023年1月31日

「この下に高田あり」。高田の豪雪を語る有名な言葉は、江戸時代のもの。

"There is Takada under here." The famous words that conveyed Takada's heavy snowfall are from the Edo period (17th - 19th century).

1986年1月26日の中心街の一斉雪下ろし。雪下ろしの雪が、２階の屋根近くまで積み上がっている。
See the simultaneous snow clearing on the main street on January 26, 1986. The removed snow piled up near the roof of the second floor.

配達に訪れた飛脚が、雪に埋まった街を見つけられず、見回すと、「この下に高田あり」と書かれた高札を見つけたことに由来するらしい。そういう暮らしは、除雪機の普及する1970年代まで続き、年配の方の話では、子供の頃は、道が雪で埋まり、向かいの家に行くためにトンネルを掘ったとのこと。

10-20万人規模の都市では、世界でもっとも雪が積もり、別名「雪都」。同じ市の直江津は、海辺のため、雪は風で飛ばされて、大して積もりませんが、たった４キロ内陸に入っただけなのに、山のランドスケープの影響で、積雪にこれだけ差が出ることが驚き。

その雪のすごさを体験したのが、1986年1月26日のこと。前日、東京からの特急は、豪雪で、高田への到着がいつになるか見通しが立ちませんという車内放送。ようやく到着し、翌朝目覚めると、前夜、１階の窓上までだった雪が、２階の途中まで積もっていました。1日の降雪量としては、戦後最大の日で、積雪は一晩で90センチ。都市機能が麻痺した高田全域が除雪作業となり、際たるものが、中心街の一斉雪下ろし。建物やアーケードに積もった雪を道路に下ろすと、２階の高さのアーケードも雪に埋まり、路線バスも車もすべて止めた通りを、次から次へとトラックが雪を運び去ります。

その雪のすごさと、雪下ろし、そして、それを運ぶ壮観は、雪国を知らない者には、神々しいほど。高田の雪は災害であると同時に、世界に類を見ない光景として、強い発信力を持つ地域資源でした。ただし、災害と観光のバランスの取り方の難しさと、年較差が大きく、豪雪も、直前にしか分からないのがネック。

It seems to have originated from the fact that a courier who came to make a delivery couldn't find a town because the town was buried under the snow. When looking around, he found a billboard which wrote that "There is Takada under here." This kind of life continued until the 1970s, when snow removers became popular. An elderly person spoke that streets were buried under the snow in his childhood, so he had to dig a tunnel to go to the house across the street.

Among cities with a population of 100,000 to 200,000 people, Takada gets the most snow in the world. It is also called the "snow capital." Naoetsu district in the same city is on the coast, so the wind blows away the snow, and the snow doesn't accumulate much. It is surprise to see such a big difference in the amount of snow between both districts due to the influence of the mountain landscape, even though Takada was only 4km inland from Naoetsu.

It was on January 26, 1986, that I experienced the wonders of that snow. The day before, an announcement in the limited express train from Tokyo said that they could not predict when it would arrive at Takada due to heavy snowfall. When I finally arrived at Takada and woke up the next morning, the snow that had covered the windows on the first floor in the previous night had reached halfway up the second floor. 90 centimeters of snow that accumulated overnight was the largest amount in a single day since the end of World War II. In the entire area of Takada, the snow paralyzed urban infrastructure. People removed the snow accumulated on the roof of buildings and arcades onto the road. What stands out was the simultaneous snow clearing on the main street. The arcade with second-floor height was buried under the removed snow. Trucks one after another carried the snow off the streets where all the buses and cars had stopped.

The amazing snow, snow removal, and the spectacle of carrying it was almost divine to those who do not know the snow country. The snow in Takada was a disaster, but at the same time it had an information dissemination abilities as a sight unlike any other in the world. However, the difficulty of finding a balance between disasters and tourism, the large annual range of snow, and the fact that heavy snowfall is difficult to predict until just before are a bottleneck.

1986年1月26日の一斉雪下ろし / Simultaneous snow clearing on January 26, 1986