Chapter IV. Famous Collector, Tahei Suzuki
This lucky man was born in 1865 on the eve of the Meiji Restoration, at
Doi in the Ehime province (presently Doi-cho, Ehime Prefecture). Doi is
located along the route of a pilgrimage between Kawaone and Niihama, and
had been a post town since the Edo era (1603-1868). Although it can be said
that it faces the Seton Inland Sea, there are some low mountains that actually
block its view of the sea. Since the area lacked open plains, it could not
produce much rice, so instead the main food staple was yam. In addition
to yam, the mountains yielded such precious gifts as edible wild plants,
mushrooms, and firewood. From the latter part of the Edo period when bonsai
became popular in Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe, as a secondary means to earn money
people began to collect pre-bonsai material and were successfully collecting
young trees of Japanese red pine (Akamatsu), Japanese white pine (Goymatu)
in the neighborhood mountains, such as Mt. Kumataka, Mt. Akagi, and the
Akashi mountain range, which brought collectors comfortable earnings.
In the western side of the town of Doi, there was a community called Sekigawa which had a lot of families whose name was Suzuki. During the Meiji era, there were many bonsai dealers among the Suzukis who brought down seedlings of Akamatsu or Goyomatsu for bonsai from the mountains and sold them to dealers in Takamatsu or to people who had a taste for bonsai.
During the first decade of the 1900s, Tahei Suzuki (pictured above) wandered all over Japan seeking Shimpaku. While traveling by ship on his way back from Hokkaido Island, he saw Mt. Kurohime in the Northern Japanese Alps. Mt. Kurohime is made of limestone and he found an abundance of Shimpaku there. That story has been retold repeatedly through the years. From Mt. Kurohime to the Aikomi plains to the Hiyodori pond, he walked on the ridge and reached the summit of Mt. Myouji, and was astonished by the view below him. It was a huge colony of Shimpaku surrounding Mt. Kurohime. What he saw were countless numbers of Shimpaku jostling one another on the wall of the mountain, exposing their Shari of pure white.
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| Taihei's first collected Shimpaku. |
All of the Shimpaku from this general area are called Itoigawa Shimpaku -- a reference to the town of Itoigawa (in what is now Niigata Prefecture on the western coast of Honshu) where these Shimpaku were bought and sold.
When you see Mt. Kurochime from the side of the Himekawa River, it looks
like a woman donning a loose robe. The mountain was named for Kurohime (Black
Princess), the ancient Nunagawa Princess, who was renown for her intelligence
and beauty. At the summit of Mt. Kurohime, there is a small stone shrine
dedicated to the princess, and many people climb the mountain on the day
of the annual festival on April 24. At the foot of the eastern side of the
mountain, there is a large limestone cavern called Fukugakuchi (which means
where good fortune lies), and legend has it that the princess lives there.
(For more on the Black Princess, see www.infocreate.co.jp/hometown/itoigawa/rekisi-e.html.
Mt. Kurohime from Shimizukura where Taihei lived.
Tahei Suzuki would have soon learned about the legend of the Black Princess. He certainly had luck beyond his dreams by finding such a bountiful supply of Itoigawa Shimpaku that he could never finish collecting them all. Tahei's intense passion toward Shimpaku even caused such friction with others that they began to call him "Eccentric Tahei." It is said that because he clung to the rocks for so long when he was collecting in the mountains that his arms and legs became so distorted that he had difficulty doing everyday things like eating and sleeping.
Mt. Myouji and Mt. Kurohime, which are connected at the summit, are made of limestone and have similar vegetation. Both of them also have the best valleys of jade in their bosoms. Mt. Myouji stands at a little more than 1,000 meters above sea level as does Mt. Kurohime, and is less impressive that the other summits found in the Northern Japanese Alps. Mt. Myouji is not difficult to climb if you know the way to go. During the fall, if you take one of the mountains trails, you can enjoy hearing the crunch of dried leaves under your shoes as you walk up the mountain.
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| Mt. Kurohime and Mt. Myouji are made of limestone. |
But this Mt. Myouji is no ordinary mountain. On its southeast side, it has a wall that looks as if it had been cut with a knife. It is almost always covered with clouds and gets a good deal of both snow and rain. The wall can be very easily viewed from the mountain route leading to the Takanami-no-ike pond to Otaki. From this vantage point, the rock climbers clinging to its walls resemble little ants. World famous climbers such as Tsuneo Hasegawa (1947-1991) trained himself on the walls of Mt. Myouji and made renown the southeast route.
However, it must be said that the first people challenging this wall were not the adventurous mountaineers like Tsuneo Hasega, but instead were the Shimpaku hunters. Even today, many rock-climbers who climb Mt. Myouji keep diaries on a website in which they mention the word "Shimpaku." Also they say they can still find evidence of mountain climbing pitons or worn out rope embedded in the limestone walls, left behind by Shimpaku collectors. Skilled climbers have expressed amazement when they sometimes find these remains in what they consider to be inaccessible overhangs having more than a 90 degree incline.
The mindset of a Shimpaku hunter and a mountaineer are different. They both carry only the minimal necessities, but the Shimpaku hunters also must be able to carry a Shimpaku on their back. The Shimpaku hunter also may be more focused on the business of collecting, while the mountain climber is in it purely for adventure. But things are never so simple. The collectors risk their lives too, and they cannot be hunting Shimpaku merely for profit.