It’s about two weeks ago, July 24 was the anniversary of the death of Ryunosuke Akutagawa. It is called Kappa Akutagawa Memorial Day by people who remember this great writer who was active int the Taisho era (1912-1926) .
I heard an friend who has a taste for literature say that it was the last day of the stamp rally associated with Akutagawa at a house in Tabata, and that he wanted to go, but he also had other things to do.
It was just Sunday and I was free, so I cheaply agreed to go and stamp it for him.
In front of Tabata Station. This is probably the second time in my lifetime that I got off at this station.
I must confess at the outset that I am not a big Akutagawa fan myself. I was motivated by the rather impure idea that I would have a chance to visit Tabata, a town I rarely visit, and that it might be a good topic for a blog post to prevent the summer from withering away.
As I left the station, I first took a look at the view from the bridge, as a light-end railfan. Tabata is an important base of Japan Railway East, where the Tokyo Branch Office and the Tabata Operation Center are located, and the Oku rail yard is also adjacent to the station. This is the view of the rail yard next to the station platform of the Yamanote and Keihin-Tohoku lines.
In case you are wondering, the elevated train on the left side of the photo is the Shinkansen, which descends at a steep angle from here to the underground platform at Ueno Station.
Now, after a momentary detour, here is today’s destination, the Tabata Bunshimura(Literaly masters village) Memorial Museum.
It appears to be a public facility operated by the Kita-ku Cultural Foundation. It is conveniently located on the grounds of the Tabata AUSKA Tower, a high-rise building that rises in front of the station and is a 2-minute walk from the station.
The event I was looking for was…
The “Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Osamu Dazai” exhibition on the poster to the left seems to be the purpose of this “errand”.
The museum was crowded, perhaps because it was the day of the Kappa Memorial Day. After confirming at the museum reception that photography was allowed, I took this photo from the entrance.
My stamp rally was successfully completed by the reception desk on the right. In addition, the commemorative exhibition shown on the large poster above right was being held at the back front of the building, and in the large room to the right, not shown in the photo, there was a fine permanent exhibit on the history of the Tabata Bunshi Mura (literary masters village). Akutagawa, Saisei Murou, Sakutaro Hagiwara, Kan Kikuchi, Tatsuo Hori…even I, with my limited education, knew the names of these famous writers, and all the exhibits were quite interesting and entertaining. All of them were free of charge.
Could have left quickly, but since I came to Tabata unusually, I wandered around the area a little.
This slope by the museum is called Edo-saka.
I can’t get no idea of the origin of “Edo-saka” in the linked explanation, but it is said to have been one of the main roads from the top of the plateau down to the lowlands along the Sumida and Arakawa Rivers, so it is possible (appropriate) that the whole Edo city could be seen quite well from the top of the hill.
I am a good student who visits places associated with Mr. Akutagawa, and with the help of google map, I found former Akutagawa residense in the middle of a residential area around the station.
I also got new information of proposed site of Akutagawa Memorial Hall to be built near the former residence site above, which will be a future landmark spot that is not on google maps yet.
Maybe the Akutagawa push in the North Ward is quite impressive.
At this moment the sun was shading the clouds and the heat had eased a bit, it occurred to me that I should continue on to the third stop of the stamp rally, the Shinjuku Museum of History, for the benefit of a friend of mine.
So, on a whim, this walk did not end here, but will be continued in the next issue.
Equipment used this time: Lumix G99, Leica DG12-60mm
