Echigo Okumiomote (Echigo Okumiomote)

• Japan 1984, 147 min.

Director:

• HIMEDA Tadayoshi

Setting:

• Asahi village in Niigata prefecture.
• Contemporary native inhabitants.

Notes:

• This film is a record of life in a certain small village deep in the mountains of Northwestern Japan. The village Okumiomote is made up of 42 dwellings. It is located near the centre of the Asahi mountain range, which stretches in all directions over about 300 square kilometers. In winter the snow falls to a depth of between 2 and 4 m. Contact with the closest neighbouring village - about 30 km away - is completely cut off.
  

• Why have people chosen to live in a place like this? The reason is simple - because this narrow valley deep in the mountains is blessed by the bounty of nature.

  In winter, the men of the village set off into the expanses of the snow-covered heights. They go to hunt deer and bears and smaller animals, such as rabbits, martens and badgers. To mark the beginning of the hunt, they perform an ancient ceremony. And upon returning they offer up reverent prayers to the animals they have killed. In spring, whole families move up into shelters scattered throughout the mountains to pick the mountain ferns that bud with the melting snow. For these few weeks, schoolchildren pause from their studies to live with their parents in the mountain huts. From summer through autumn, it is time for working in the fields and for rice cultivation. Trout and char are caught in the river, and the autumn crops are brought in. Nuts and mushrooms are collected and preserved. Living in a spirit of thankfulness for the bounties of nature, the people of Okumiomote have created and handed down a rich heritage of natural wisdom. Their life style represents, or rather represented, one of the original sources of Japanese culture.

  For in fact the village of Okumiomote does not exist any more. The people have had to leave their homes to make way for a dam constructed by the prefectural government. The blow was heavy, and they suffered. This film is an obituary for the village, its population and culture.