写真・構成：岩崎量示
The English translation follows after the Japanese text.
〈早くもタウシュベツの間近へ〉
11年前の今日、2014年4月1日。早々に除雪が行われた林道を車で走り、タウシュベツ川橋梁のすぐそばまで足を運ぶことができた。振り返ると、こんな時期に間近まで行けたのは、たぶんこの年が最後だった気がする。
湖底には、まだ切り株が多く残っていたころだ。糠平湖ができる前に、ここが森の中だった名残り。2016年の台風以降、いまではずいぶん数が減ってしまったが、当時は湖底に無数の切り株が並んでいた。西日に照らされた橋は、青空の下でひときわ鮮やかに見えていた。
Eleven years ago today—April 1, 2014—I could still drive on a freshly plowed forest road right up close to the Taushubetsu Bridge. Looking back, that might’ve been the last time it was possible to get so near at this point in the year.
Back then, the lakebed was still covered in plenty of stumps—remnants of the forest that used to be here before Lake Nukabira was created. After a major typhoon in 2016, the number of stumps has dropped significantly, but back then it was fascinating to see them spread across the lakebed. Bathed in the western sun, the bridge stood out vividly against a clear blue sky.
It’s amazing how such moments linger in memory, especially now that reaching the bridge that easily in early spring seems like a thing of the past.
Ryoji Iwasaki