写真・構成：岩崎量示
The English translation follows after the Japanese text.
〈この年に土砂の下に埋もれる光景〉
9年前の今日、2016年4月6日。日中の気温がプラスになるのが当たり前になり、最低気温も0度を下回らない日が出てくると、目に見えて雪解けが進む。
糠平湖の湖底に立つと、音更川の水音がひときわ大きくなるので、目だけでなく耳でも春の訪れを実感する。
湖底に転がる無数の流木と、まだ姿を保つ切株の光景。こちらの方がタウシュベツ川橋梁より先に変わってしまうとは、撮っている当時は想像もしなかった。この2016年の夏にやって来る台風で土砂が大量に流れ込み、大部分が埋もれることになる。
Nine years ago today, April 6, 2016, daytime temperatures were finally staying above freezing, and nighttime lows were no longer dipping below zero. That’s when the snow really starts melting. Standing on the floor of Lake Nukabira, you could hear the Otofuke River roaring louder than ever—a sure sign of spring, not just for your eyes but for your ears, too.
Scattered all around were countless pieces of driftwood and stumps still holding their shape. Little did I know back then that these would change before the Taushubetsu Bridge did. Later that summer, a typhoon would wash tons of sediment into the lake, burying much of that scene. It’s surprising how, sometimes, the landscape can shift even more dramatically than a “bridge on the verge of collapse.”
Ryoji Iwasaki