【KAKINOKI villege SHIMANE JAPANJIKKA scenes 02（Aug. 2015）-mother-】

「これはね、ひょうたんうり」
「これはね、すずめうり。からすうりよりちっちゃいんよ。図書館で調べたんよ」

お母さんはいつもの手作りワンピを着て、おばあちゃんちの庭をちょこちょこ歩き回りながら、育てている植物の説明をしてくれた。

 

お母さんは、ときどき小学生の女の子みたい。反応も幼稚だしすぐ口を尖らせるし。前はそういうところがキライだった。もっとしっかりしてるお母さんに憧れた。でも写真を撮るようになってから、少女みたいなお母さんと遊ぶのがたのしい。すごくたのしい。

 

この場所でで思い出すのはぜんぶ小学校の頃のこと。お姉ちゃんたちとイヌのたろーと遊んだこと、ボールを追いかけてカエルのたまごのつぶつぶの中にドボンと落ちたこと。ハチに追いかけられて首の後ろを刺されたこと。

 

いったい何年ぶりにおばあちゃんちで夏を過ごすんだろう。空が降りてきたみたいに低い山の朝や、夕方の風がこんなに気持ちよかったなんて。

でも2015年の夏は、泣きたくなるような朝もあった。せっかくお父さんが作った田んぼがイノシシに毎日毎日荒らされたり、台風で稲が倒れたり。

 

お母さんはお父さんと一緒に家のことを守っていた。
わたしこそ、小学生のままだった。

 

​

"This is a calabash gourd."

"And this is a sparrow gourd. It's smaller than a snake gourd. I looked it up at the library."

 

My mother would always wear a handmade dress and wander around my grandma's garden while describing the plants growing there.

 

Sometimes she seems like an elementary school girl. Her reactions are childish and she always pouts her lips. I used to hate that about her. I wished I had a mother who was mature. But ever since I started taking photos, I have been having fun with my mother who is like a little girl. A lot of fun.

 

All of these memories are from when I was in elementary school. I remember playing with my big sisters and our dog named Taro. I remember chasing after a ball and falling down into a pile of frog eggs. I remember being chased by a bee and stung on the back of my neck.

 

I wonder how many years it has been since I last spent the summer at my grandma's house. I forgot how nice these evening breezes were, and spending mornings on the mountainside, where the sky seems close enough to touch.

But in the summer of 2015, there were also mornings that made me want to cry. The rice fields that my father worked hard to build were destroyed by wild boars on a daily basis, and the rice plants were blown down by a typhoon.

 

My mother took care of our house with my father while I was away.

I was the one who hadn't changed since elementary school.