Another Inariyama 'kura' biting the dust
千曲市に稲荷山という町があります。善光寺街道の宿場だったころからの土壁の蔵は残っている、風情のある街です。市の観光資料の中に必ず載っていますが、実際行ってみて、がっかりする方が多いそうです。なぜなら、崩れてきてボロボロな蔵が多いからです。
個人的に私はこのままの土蔵が十分魅力あると思っています。逆に、Ｄｉｓｎｅｙｌａｎｄの様に表面だけを綺麗にしたら面白くない。しかし、土蔵の持ち主に何かの支援をしないと、個人だけじゃ土蔵の修理は無理でしょう。
以前に稲荷山を守ろう位としている仲間と市長に陳情した事があります。行政の協力がないと、無理という事；今の内に手を付けないと、土蔵が消えるよと。
その時に、市長がの一言：
「今の内」と言われてもネ… 皆は必ずそう言うよ
と否定されました。
と言いながら、今日、稲荷山と通ったら、また一つな土蔵の壊しの工事が行われていました。
近藤市長の任期の間に、稲荷山の土蔵は何件がつぶされたでしょうか？その責任は？
Here in Chikuma City, we have a neighborhood called Inariyama. It started out as a way station on the old Zenkoji Road connecting now-Nagano City and Matsumoto. Many of the original earthen-walled storehoses still exist, and the city always includes the area on its sightseeing brochures. However, many people who go see it come away disappointed. That's because a lot of the storehouses are in a crumbling state of disrepair.
Personally, I like the townscape the way it is now, and prefer it to a Disney-fied version with an impeccably maintained surface. But I realize that efforts need to be made to refurbish the storehouses. For the private owners, however, such maintenance is prohibitively expensive. Help from the government is required.
Some buddies of mine and I went to petition the mayor for just such assistance. We told him that the city has to act now before the storehouses disappear, that it's now or never.
The mayor's response?
"They've been saying 'Now or never' from a way long time ago, and will be saying that far into the future, too."
In other words, he blew us off.
Well, mayor, I drove through Inariyama today, and guess what I saw? Another storehouse being demolished. Just how many of these 'kura' will have disappeared under your watch? Who's responsibility is that?
この地獄へ道連れの詳しくはこちら。More about this 'kura' biting the dust here.
