May 27, 2024 : Fragments of Memories Pieced Together
© 安岡喜晴 (JoyShine)
My sister brought out an old, old photo.
It was of me and my older sisters with a red bench in front of us at night.
"I think it's Nagano, where I went in the ninth grade. It's so nostalgic," I said.
"Didn't we go to the Hieizan Haunted House? Nagano?"
"We went there too... When did we do that, 1991?"
"About that time. I graduated in 1990 or 1991. I think it was around that time."
"The limestone caves in Yamaguchi Prefecture, that's probably 1991."
"Yamaguchi? I remember we went there!"
"So the haunted house was in 1990?"
"I don't know if it was 1987 or earlier, but when did we go to Amanohashidate in Kyoto? "
"It was when I was six years old. We went beetle hunting. So Amanohashidate was in 1984."
"We went to Amanohashidate several times, and I think we went there when I was a kid. I think we also went to Fukuchiyama Boys Nature House when I was in elementary school. Were you there in 1987?"
"I was in the fourth grade in 1987. That's pretty big."
"When I was in fourth grade, you were in the second year of junior high school."
"I don't remember Fukuchiyama Boys Nature House. I think I was in preschool."
"I remember being scolded for climbing a cliff. There was a river and we caught rainbow trout. Maybe I was in elementary school. I remember being praised for my picture diary. "
"Did we go there when I was in junior high school? I think I went there in 1987, but not to Amanohashidate. Amanohashidate was even earlier. I was a small child, not a junior high school student."
Then my mother said.
"We were going to stay at the Fukuchiyama Nature House because they say there are a lot of beetles there,
but on the second day the eldest sister said she couldn't sleep because there were ants on the tatami mats,
so we changed our plans to Amanohashidate and stayed at a famous ryokan, we opened the window to the sea, and right outside the window it was so elegant. Good old memories!"
"Oh, now that I know, that's how we ended up in Amanohashidate."
"I remember buying a kind of shoebox that looked like it had been made in Kyoto in the Heian period. It was a souvenir. I love Kyoto. It's the best."
"It was a funny episode! It was such a wilderness... I'm sure there will be bugs in the room too... Kyoto is really nice. I love Kyoto."
Now I see! I went to Amanohashidate when I was little, but I have very few memories of it.
I was six years old when I went to Amanohashidate to catch beetles.
Early in the morning, when it was still dark, I went to paint the trees with sap to catch beetles.
When something untoward happened on the way, I said, "There's another way," and my mother said, "You're so cool," and I was a little embarrassed.
I just remembered the description of that one scene.
Forty years have passed since then. My sister gave me only one photo, and it had nothing to do with Amanohashidate, but it gave a story to a scene that was only a faint fragment of my memory.
I felt the great potential of a single photograph.