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Walking in Shiiba

The first time I visited about 20 years ago, I thought the spirit of the Japanese exists in Shiiba. This is Shiiba-son in Miyazaki Pref. Shiiba-son located at the hipbone of Kyushu mountainous region will be one of our few great remote corner excluding isolated islands. But now, the soul supports the Japanese exists only in the remote corners.
If visit the Siiba-son, about 2 hours by car from Hyuga city on the Route 269 along Mimi river. From Miyazaki city, it will take 3 hours and half. After passing Morotsuka-son, the road is getting narrow in short and the curves increase. The sheer rock surface at the right side and Mimi River runs through the valley floor at the left side. The population of the village is over 3,700. But, there were more than 10 thousand of inhabitants 20 years ago. When the modern economic of Japan was standing at the dawn in 1960s, when the youth were valued as the golden eggs, they never think to go to high school after graduate from middle school, and left from home as workers in Hanshin and Keihin, and among those youth, many of them never return to their home, Shiiba, again.

For 30 years after that, while the cities were enjoying benefits from the high level growth of economy and disposing of the soul limitlessly to the mammon religion, the people in Shiiba couldn’t receive any benefit from the economic growth even they wished. It is to say, that was the “bubble economy” cutting off the surrounding areas mainly with primary industries of poor economic efficiency, and being centralized the rich to the cities given the priority on the economic efficiency. In such times, the pride of lineage supported by the legend of the survivors of Heike clan came to develop the volition to inherent the life at the interior village in a mountain valley.
 Shiiba-son, mountainous region of 97in total area, continues and suffers intense agony of the price conditions against the producers without perspective for the future originally for the forestry as main industry, including livestock industry and farming.