The Oyashirazu Coast

When I was a university freshman, I traveled in east Japan by bicycle. I reached the Oyashirazu Coast in Niigata Prefecture. “Oyashirazu” generally means wisdom tooth in Japanese. “Oya” means parents. “Shirazu” means don’t know. Generally, a wisdom tooth grows when a child becomes an adult. So the parents don’t know that the child has a wisdom tooth.

In this case, though, it has a horrible meaning. In the old days, there was no good road in Oyashirazu. People had to walk on the beach by the sheer cliff. The rough waves would carry people away from the beach. Many people died. So, if a family was traveling in Oyashirazu, even if waves carried the parents away, their children could not afford to care. If the children tried to help them, the waves would kill them too. Similarly, parents let the waves carry their children away.

Now, there is a nice road for cars. You might think it makes things easier, but I have had a terrible travel experience on it. Even now, almost no one lives around the Oyashirazu Coast. On that day, there were no street lights, and, unfortunately, it was raining heavily before I arrived in Oyashirazu. The sun had set. It was dark. Moreover, my bicycle light got soaked. If a light gets soaked, it will never work unless it is waterproof. Mine was not waterproof, so I had to ride in complete darkness.

I could see the edge of the road near me. I rode alongside it. Sometimes a car would pass me. All the cars would use high beams. They would dazzle me then I could not see anything afterward. I rode for about ten kilometers. They were the longest, most horrible ten kilometers of my life. I feared my own mortality.

Once the Oyashirazu Coast road was behind me, I called home. My mother answered the phone. When I heard her voice, I felt relieved. It was the Oyashirazu Coast, but my mother relieved my fears.

 

Japanese

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Picture by Celli07