Densho Digital Archive - Take Murayama Interview (denshovh-mtake-01-0009)

<Begin Segment 9>

[Translated from Japanese]

TY: This year, in 1998, the Winter Olympic was held in Nagano Prefecture.

TM: Yes, so I have heard.

TY: You watched the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics on TV, right? Has it changed much from the Nagano that you remember?

TM: Well, you can't really tell from the television because the only place you can see is the ski slopes. But, I am sure it has changed.

TY: It has been a hundred years.

TM: Yes.

TY: Could you tell me about Nagano from a hundred years ago?

TM: It has been a hundred years.

TY: Please tell me something about mountains, fields, and river of the place where you grew up in Nagano.

TM: Let's see. Where I was born, well, what was it called? There was a lake there, wasn't there. A lake. What prefecture was it, where there was a lake.

TY: Near your house in Nagano.

TM: Yes. There was a lake, and a river, a big river called the Tenryu River was flowing from it. That is the source. The lake is the source of the river. It is the Lake Suwa where the river is flowing from. Yes, it is called the Lake Suwa. There is a river at the lake. Kawagishi-mura, we called the village Kawagishi-mura, and the lake water truly is the source of the river. I was born near the river. That's where I was born. There was a lake, and a big river was flowing from it. The village was named Kawagishi-mura from the lake and the river. That kind of village. I was born there.

TY: What was the daily life like? The whole area is surrounded by mountains and river and fields, right?

TM: Yes, right. Mountains.

TY: You had wild plants from mountains and fish from the river.

TM: Yes, and the village near the river which flows from the lake where we caught fish is called Kawagishi-mura. I was born there. Yes, it was right in the mountains.