Back      Next

 

A Momentary Reminiscence


On the right wall of my living room hangs a solid map of Japan's Central Region.The dimensions are 75 centimeters wide and 100 centimeters long with a reduced scale of 1/250,000. It renders perfectly the unevenness of heights of rivers, mountains, plains or lakes, which are enlarged by 3 times the reduced scale, emphasizing the topographical relief. Just beside it, there hangs an old fashioned pendulum clock, which has become a memento of my wife's grandmother When I was winding the clock, the rise of Mt. Haruna on the map caught my eyes, and I noticed the lake on the summit to which I had not paid any particular attention and was a little bit surprised. I wondered why there was a lake on the top of such a high mountain and why such a huge amount of water has pooled in a place swelled by the volcanic movements of the earth. It may be through subsurface water rather by the rain, though. How is the lithosphere drawing up water from the inside of the earth. The figure is showing the strangeness of the Creator of the earth. The instant wonder brought me to tears

It made me recall the days of the 4 years
I lived at the foot of the mountain in my youth
Since then more than 15 years have passed
This year, I am going to be 40 years old
How silly my 40 years of age is!