The Day the Wind Disappeared in Sogawa: Lost Landscapes Tell the Story of Lifestyle and Culture from the Late 1950s to the Period of High Economic Growth

The Day the Wind Disappeared in Sogawa: Lost Landscapes Tell the Story of Lifestyle and Culture from the Late 1950s to the Period of High Economic Growth

From the late 1950s to the 1960s, when Japan had finished its postwar reconstruction and was rapidly moving toward rapid economic growth, Sogawa and other mountain villages experienced a period of quiet decay unlike anything they had ever experienced. In Sogawa, the population reached its peak in 1957, but thereafter the population declined rapidly due to the concentration of labor in urban areas, the demand for human resources in new industries, and the deteriorating profitability of the agriculture and forestry industries. This change was not merely a rise or fall in population statistics, but a deep rupture that shook the very foundations of mountain village society.

The lifestyle and culture of mountain villages have been shaped by the people's daily activities in harmony with the rhythm of nature, as they live close to the mountains and rivers. The meticulous care of the rivers to protect water quality, the mountain work to maintain the forests, the communal work that supports the village, and the rhythm of work that is repeated throughout the year. However, as human presence waned and the caretakers were lost, these activities became unsustainable. The Funado River used to be rich in fish and closely connected to people's lives, but this is disappearing due to environmental changes and people leaving their villages. Deterioration of water quality and disruption of vegetation have not only changed the landscape and livelihoods, but also shaken the local view of nature and ways of thinking.

Rapid economic growth brought "loss of time" to mountain villages before it brought affluence. Steady cash incomes in the cities were attractive, and young people left mountain villages in search of a future. Thus, the cycle of labor that had sustained local communities collapsed, the transmission of wisdom and technology ceased, and the mountains and rivers became unkempt. As the chain of detailed actions accumulated in the mountain villages came to a halt, nature changed its form, and culture quietly faded away.

This loss that occurred in Sogawa is a phenomenon common to mountain villages throughout Japan. Population decline does not simply mean a decrease in the number of people; it also means that the foundations of life and culture are crumbling. The form of life that once existed with clear streams, the smell of forests, and the shadows of mountains at dusk has quietly begun to disappear amidst changes in social structure and the environment. However, deep within the remaining landscape, memories of the lifestyle of the past still quietly live on, and the lingering echoes of the living world symbolized by the place name Sogawa still remain.