Kurotsuru Landscape  | 黒鶴風景画

Shinji Kurotsuru

Ushibuka is a town surrounded by mountains, so it came as no surprise that stories about slopes and hills featured heavily in locals' memories. To capture Mr. Kurotsuru's story, I climbed up past a cemetery and war memorial into the woods of Borayama to reach the lighthouse at the top. I especially enjoyed his love for the mountain, forged during his childhood memories there. After all, playing as a child with friends out in nature is very familiar to me, as I'm sure it is to many.

"Borayama was my play place. If you ask, 'why did you choose Borayama?' well, since I was little there's been a lighthouse at the top of that mountain, and I would stop by there, either by myself or with friends, on my way home from school. I think to myself, 'that mountain was like a school for us.' For me, Borayama was a place to climb no matter the season, and seeing the sunrise and sunset from there was something special. It's a view I recommend to anyone. Now, unfortunately, the number of trees has declined greatly and it's hard to look at, but I think it's worth seeing at least once. If you ask me why it's called Borayama (lit. mount mullet), it's because from the mountain, when you saw a school of mullet (bora) coming in, you would shout 'the mullet are coming in!' to the fisherman at sea.”