Villages clinging to steep slopes / Kamimura (Iida City, Nagano Prefecture)

Continuing from the previous article, Shimoguri no Sato, we will visit many mountain villages along the Toyama River and Kamimura River in Kamimura, Iida City. In terms of scale, it is not as big as the Honmura/Hanba area, which is called 'Shimoguri no Sato', but Shimoguri Ono, Ono, and Yashiki all have steeper slopes than Honmura/Hanba. In addition, although the Nakane district has a gentle slope, it surpasses Shimoguri no Sato in terms of height difference and length. In addition, along the Uemura River, we walked through the Nakago and Hodono districts where the Shimotsuki Festival is held in December.

Toyama-go is the former Kamimura and former Minami-Shinano villages belonging to Iida City, and is isolated with the 3000m class Southern Alps to the east, the 1800m class Ina Mountains to the west, the 1300m Jizo Pass to the north, and the 1000m Aozore Pass to the south. A high valley. The median tectonic line, which geologically divides Japan into an outer belt and an inner belt, runs through the valley. The origin of the name Toyama seems to have been a general term for the mountainous areas around here in the sense that it was far from any surrounding country. In the Kamakura period, the Toyama clan, a local ruling family who held real power in this region, built a castle in Wada (former Minami Shinano Village) and ruled it in the early modern period. The Shimotsuki Festival in Toyamago, which is counted as one of the three most unusual festivals in Japan, is said to admonish the vengeful spirit of Toyama-sama, who died in an unfortunate death. During the Edo period, the shogunate took notice of the abundant forest resources and ruled the area as a tenryo. After the Meiji period, it prospered mainly in the forestry industry. As for agriculture, there are very few paddy fields and dry field farming is the main activity. Many of the fields are mountainous and cultivated on slopes of 20 to 40 degrees, and despite the steep slopes, they do not build stone walls for contour cultivation. I used to do slash and burn.
Former Uemura has Kamimachi, which prospered along the Akiba Highway, Hodino and Nakago along the Uemura River, and Shimoguri on the slope facing the Toyama River on the mountainside of Mt. Sumiyaki (1,553m). Shimoguri consists of Ono, Ono, Yashiki, and Honmura from the back (upstream of the Toyama River), and Honmura is the largest village. Honmura is a village on a slope where the lowest house is about 870m above sea level, the uppermost branch school site is about 1070m above sea level, and the elevation difference is about 200m. . The Toyama River directly below has an altitude of about 570m, so it is 300 to 500m above the valley floor. When converted, it feels like living in a 60-story apartment on top of the Yokohama Landmark Tower. When you look around from the village, you get the impression that the mountains are horizontal, and the sun is setting at your feet. There is no other village of this height in the whole country, and it can be said that the degree of heaven is the highest in Japan.

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