In the afternoon of Day 2, I headed to another site preserved from the Great East Japan Earthquake: the Kesennuma City Memorial Museum, which tells the story of the disaster.
2日目の午後は、もうひとつの震災遺構、「気仙沼市東日本大震災遺構・伝承館」に向かいます。
I know this is another rather heavy topic, but please bear with me a little longer as I share these memories. I believe it’s important that we never forget what happened that day.
重たい話が続いてしまうのですが、あの日のことを忘れないために、もう少しお付き合いくださいね。
A School Building Preserved as a Memorial to the Disaster 学校の校舎がそのまま震災遺構に
The Densho-kan is about a five-minute taxi ride from Rikuzen-Hashikami Station. The building was once Kesennuma Koyo High School, and it has been preserved with the damage left largely as it was immediately after the disaster.
「伝承館」は、陸前階上駅からタクシーで5分ほどの場所にあります。ここは、震災当時「気仙沼向洋高等学校」の校舎だったところで、震災の爪痕を当時の状態のまま、今も残しています。
Upon entering, visitors first watch a documentary of about 15 minutes showing footage from the time of the disaster. Next, they move through exhibition rooms displaying photographs taken at the time. Finally, they can walk through the school building itself and see the damage firsthand.
まず入館すると、15分ほどの震災当時の記録映像を鑑賞します。その後、当時の写真パネルが並ぶ展示室へ移動し、最後に、震災当時の校舎を自分の足で歩いて見て回ります。
Inside the classrooms, everything had been reduced to piles of rubble. The ceilings had collapsed, exposing the steel framework. Objects that were clearly not school equipment had been swept into the building, and a car lay overturned in a place where you would never expect to find one.
目の前に現れた教室の中は、がれきの山と化し、天井も剥がれ落ち、鉄骨もむき出しになっていました。学校の備品とは思えないものが流れ着き、あり得ない場所に車がひっくり返った状態で残されていました。
The tsunami reportedly reached the height of the fourth floor. The outer wall of the school building still bears a large gouge, apparently caused when a nearby refrigeration plant was swept away by the tsunami and slammed into the building.
津波は、校舎の4階の高さにまで達したそうです。校舎の外壁には、えぐられたような跡が残っています。これは、近くにあった冷凍工場が津波で流され、校舎に激突した跡とのこと。
It must have been an enormous industrial building. Just imagining something that large being swept away by the water was enough to make me feel the tsunami’s terrifying power and destructive force. Fortunately, it did not hit the school head-on, so the damage was limited to the gouge in the wall. Had it struck directly, the destruction might have been even worse.
かなり大きな工場だったようですが、そんな建物ごと押し流してしまうとは。津波の凄まじいパワーと破壊力を感じました。幸い、校舎への正面衝突は免れたため、壁がえぐれる程度で済んだものの、まともにぶつかっていたら、さらに大きな被害が出ていた可能性もあったそうです。
The gymnasium outside was so badly damaged that, judging from what remained of its structure, I could only guess that it must once have been a gym. The remains of the school made it easy to imagine how the tsunami had swept almost everything away, while carrying in all kinds of objects from completely different places.
外にある体育館も、残された外形から「ここがきっと体育館だったんだろう」と推察できる程度でした。ありとあらゆるものが別の場所へと流され、反対に、まったく違う場所からさまざまなものが流れ着いてきた。そのことが、震災遺構からもよく分かりました。
Thankfully, no students, teachers, school staff, or other people associated with Kesennuma Koyo High School lost their lives in the disaster.
幸いなことに、気仙沼向洋高等学校では、生徒・教職員・学校関係者の誰ひとりとして犠牲にならずに済んだそうです。
The school had a strong awareness of the dangers of earthquakes and tsunamis. Immediately after the earthquake struck, the students who were on campus left the school under the guidance of their teachers and headed for Hashikami Middle School, which was located on higher ground.
日頃から地震と津波に対する危機意識が高く、地震の直後、校内にいた生徒たちは教職員の引率のもと、すぐに高校を離れ、より高台にある階上中学校を目指して移動しました。
Meanwhile, the teachers, staff, and others who remained at the high school initially evacuated to the rooftop, as the fourth floor was considered a safe place. However, the tsunami actually reached that height. They quickly piled up stepladders and desks, then climbed even higher onto the roof of the rooftop penthouse, where they managed to survive.
一方、高校に残った教職員や関係者も、校舎の4階は安全とされていたことから、すぐに屋上へ避難したそうです。しかし、実際に津波は4階にまで達しました。そこで、脚立や机を急いで積み重ね、さらに高い場所にある屋上のペントハウスの上へと這い上がり、難を逃れたとのことでした。
After exploring the classrooms, rooftop, and courtyard, I watched a final 15-minute video featuring firsthand accounts from people who had experienced the disaster. That brought my visit to the memorial site to an end.
一通り校舎の中や屋上、中庭を見学し、最後に、現地で被災された方の証言映像を15分ほど見て、震災遺構の見学は締めくくりとなります。
A Graduation Ceremony at the Middle School Held Just Ten Days After the Disaster
震災10日後に行われた中学校の卒業式
What moved me most was footage of a graduation ceremony held at Hashikami Junior High School about ten days after the earthquake.
なかでも特に胸に迫ったのは、震災から約10日後に行われた、階上中学校の卒業式の映像でした。
At the time, many people who had lost their homes were sheltering at the school. The graduation ceremony was held with these evacuees looking on. A video of a male student delivering the graduation address at the ceremony has been uploaded to YouTube. I’ve included the link below, so please take a look if you have a moment. I believe you can also switch the subtitles to English.
当時、中学校には多くの被災者が避難生活を送っており、避難している人たちに見守られながらの卒業式となりました。その式で答辞を読んだ男子生徒の映像が、YouTubeにアップロードされていました。ここにリンクを載せておきますので、よかったら見てみてください。字幕も英語に切り替えられると思います。
Video: A Student’s Graduation Address (YouTube) “卒業式の答辞の映像（YouTube）”
I couldn’t watch it without crying. How did it make you feel? (I can’t help wondering what became of that boy and what he’s doing now…)
私は涙なしには見られませんでしたが、皆さんはどう感じましたか？（この子は今、どうしているんだろうなぁ……。）
As it happened, a monthly tea gathering with local residents affected by the disaster was taking place that day, and I had the opportunity to hear their stories in person.
そして、この日はちょうど月に1回、被災された住民の方々とのお茶会が開かれていて、私も直接お話を聞くことができました。
For privacy reasons, I’ll refer to the person I spoke with as A. At the time of the disaster, A lived in Kesennuma. The tsunami swept away their home, and both of their parents, who lived with them, lost their lives.
ここでは、仮にAさんと呼ばせていただきます。Aさんは当時、気仙沼市内に住んでいて、この津波で自宅を流され、同居していたご両親も亡くされたそうです。
A has since rebuilt their home elsewhere, outside Kesennuma. They told me that one of the hardest things emotionally was losing their familiar community. After moving into temporary housing and later public housing for disaster survivors, they found themselves surrounded by unfamiliar neighbors. The community they had known for so long had been scattered.
現在は気仙沼ではない別の場所に自宅を再建されたとのことですが、震災直後に移った仮設住宅や災害公営住宅では、隣近所が知らない人ばかりになり、住み慣れたコミュニティがバラバラになってしまったことが、とにかく精神的につらかったと話してくださいました。
Not only can a disaster force people to leave the place they have always called home, but it can also sever the connections they have built with others over many years. I can only imagine how unbearable that must be.
住み慣れた土地を離れざるを得なくなるだけでなく、人とのつながりまで断たれてしまう。それは、本当に耐えがたい苦痛なのかもしれません。
Fifteen Years Since the Disaster 震災から15年が経って
I was reminded of my own experience in the immediate aftermath. I couldn’t go to the office and worked remotely from home for several weeks at that time.
あの時、私自身も震災直後は出社できず、数週間自宅からリモートで仕事をしていたことを思い出しました。
It was still cold in March, but I tried to use as little heating and lighting at home as possible to conserve electricity. I remember sitting in the dark, wrapped in blankets, typing away on my computer. Tokyo also experienced scheduled power outages. Every time the earthquake early warning alarm sounded, I was terrified of another aftershock, and my heart would start pounding.
3月でまだ寒かったけれど、電力消費を少しでも抑えるために、自宅の暖房や明かりは極力使わないようにしていました。体に毛布をぐるぐる巻きにしながら、暗がりでパソコンを打っていたこと。東京でも輪番停電があったこと。そして、緊急地震速報が鳴るたびに余震が怖くて、心臓がドキドキしたこと。
Although my experience was nothing compared to what people in the disaster-hit areas went through, those days were also the first time in my life that I had faced such a serious emergency. At the time, I thought, “I will never forget how I felt during those days.” But as time goes by, even strong memories slowly begin to fade…
被災地の人たちが経験した災害とは比べものにはならないものの、あの時は私自身も人生で初めて経験した非常事態の日々。「絶対にこのときの気持ちは忘れない」と当時は思っていたのに、やっぱり人の記憶って、時の経過とともに、どうしても薄れていってしまうなんですよね……。
That’s why I feel that visiting places like this memorial site and taking the time to reflect on what happened is especially meaningful now, fifteen years later. Perhaps I needed this experience to help me remember for myself, even after all these years.
だからこそ、こうした震災遺構を訪れ、あのときのことを思い返す機会をつくることは、震災から15年が経った今だからこそ、自分自身が忘れないために必要なことだったのかな、と感じました。
From the school rooftop, I could see the sea in the distance. Just as in Minamisanriku, it was hard to believe that a tsunami had once reached the fourth floor of a school building. The sea looked so quiet and peaceful.
学校の屋上からは、遠くに海を見渡すことができました。南三陸町と同じように、学校の4階まで津波が来たなんて信じられないくらい、静かで穏やかな海でした。
The former school grounds have now been turned into a park golf course, which seems to serve as a relaxing gathering place for local residents. On the day I visited, people from the neighborhood had come together to enjoy their games.
かつて学校の校庭だった場所は、今ではパークゴルフ場になっていて、市民の憩いの場となっているようです。この日も地元の方々が集まり、それぞれにプレーを楽しまれていました。
I felt grateful to be able to witness such a peaceful scene today. At the same time, standing there with the preserved remains of the disaster behind me, I was once again overwhelmed by feelings I couldn’t quite put into words. With those mixed emotions, I left Rikuzen-Hashikami behind.
今、こうした平和な光景を目の前にできることに感謝しつつ、その後ろに佇む震災遺構とのギャップに、またもや何とも形容しがたい気持ちを抱きながら、陸前階上を後にしました。
From here, I’ll take the BRT and JR trains again, heading south all the way to Ishinomaki. It’s a long journey of about three and a half hours.
さて、ここからはBRTとJRを再び乗り継いで、一気に石巻まで南下します。ここから約3時間半、長い旅路です。
Tomorrow, it’s finally time to visit Tashirojima, the long-awaited Cat Island. Let’s go!
明日は、念願のキャットアイランド・田代島へGo！
Useful Information お役立ち情報
Ruins of the Great East Japan Earthquake Kesennuma City Memorial Museum
