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無事だとは言えないけれども、牛に引かれて善光寺2010年と言う30ｋｍのウォーキングイベントは昨日、終わりました。今年の実行委員長は我々戸倉上山田温泉旅館青年部の当番で、私でした。去年は一日雨だったが、今年は天気が晴れていました。但し、暑かった。温度は３０℃まで上がったそうです。参加した313人はかわいそうでした。一人のおじさんは水分不足で救急車で病院に運ばれた。結局は軽い現象だったのでその後は家に戻られました。そして、先週に書きましたが、今年のイベントの看板動物、里子ちゃんと言う牛がデビューで出る予定でした。練習もしました。しかし、イベントの直前に長野県の保険所から連絡が来まして、先月に宮崎県で牛の病気が出た；危ないですから牛の参加を自粛する様にと。遠い九州から、尚且つ人間に移らない病気、なお尚且つ「止めて」と言わないで「自粛」と言う逃げ道の言い方で・・・　結局は参加者の安全を選んだ。そのお陰で、テレビや新聞の皆は「牛に引かずに善光寺」で大騒ぎ。
まあ、思い出の牛2010年でした。参加者の皆さん、ご苦労様でした。そしてスタッフの皆さん、有難うございました！

Well, the 2010 Zenkoji Walk went as scheduled yesterday, and wasn't exactly uneventful. This is our town's major event of 300+ participants and 70+ staff for the 30km walk from Togura Kamiyamada Onsen to Zenkoji Temple in Nagano City in honor of the "Pulled by an Ox to Zenkoji" legend. And this year's organizing committee chaiperson was -- me! (Us ryokan junior leaders take turns being the chief organizer, and this year was my turn.)
Last year, it rained during the entire walk. This year, it was sunny, but way too hot -- 30 deg C. One elderly man collapsed due to the heat and had to be taken to a hospital by ambulance. (Luckily nothing serious -- he went home later in the afternoon.) And then there was the problem with Satoko-chan, the cow that was going to lead our parade. Last week I wrote about how I went to meet Satoko-chan and go for a practice walk with her. Well, Nagano Prefecture's Health and Welfare contacted us right before the event. A cow disease had broken out in Miyazaki Prefecture last month, and they wanted us to "reconsider" bringing a cow into the crowds of people for our event. Not only is Miyazaki hundreds of miles away and on another island, but the disease isn't spreadable to humans! And to top it off, they didn't have the balls to order us to cancel the cow, all they would say is to "reconsider", making the cancelation our responsibility. In the end, we had Satoko-chan stay home to avoid any possible problems, and the TV stations and newspaper had a field day with our "Not being pulled by an Ox to Zenkoji". At least that meant a few extra minutes of media exposure for our town...
Anyways, I want to take this time to congratulate all the people who walked the 30km from Togura Kamiyamada to Zenkoji, as well as to thank all of the staff!