OBASUTE STATION (CHIKUMA, NAGANO PREFECTURE)

Station name gives cause for thought

Photos by Yomiuri Shimbun Photographer Kanji Tada

By Masayuki Murata

Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Until he reached his 50s, Hiroaki Tsukahara had never really given much thought to the name of his local train station, Obasute, in Chikuma, Nagano Prefecture.

Born into a Buddhist temple family near the station on the JR Shinonoi Line, Tsukahara, 60, has used it many times.

When he entered university, he left his hometown, but used the station whenever he returned home on holidays. When he moved back to the prefecture 13 years ago to teach at Shinshu University, he commuted by train from Obasute Station to Matsumoto, where the university is located.

For Tsukahara, who grew up in a place steeped in legends about poor families abandoning elderly women in mountains, the word "obasute" (meaning to abandon an old woman) was nothing more than a place name.

But the word suddenly started to nag at the back of his mind a few years after he returned home. For one thing, his father, who was the resident priest of the temple, began showing signs of senile dementia.

"That made me think seriously about growing old," Tsukahara said. "Then one day I looked at a board bearing the station name, and I suddenly realized just what it meant!"

This thought became even more relevant to Tsukahara as he began reading Buddhist sermons at services on behalf of his father after he became ill and seeing life and death closer to him than before.

Ancient stories about abandoning old women can be found all across Japan, and it is believed their origins lie in Buddhist parables that warn against abandoning elderly people.

Yasuhiro Midorikawa, curator of the Sarashina no Sato Historical Museum in Chikuma, has his own theory.

"Buddhism has deeply permeated this area, which is close to Zenkoji temple," Midorikawa said. "There's also Mt. Kamuriki, which has been venerated by local people for a long time. All this may have provided an environment in which the legend took root."

The view from the station, which sits atop a 551-meter hill, is stunning. Below one can see the first terraced rice fields designated by the government as a place of scenic beauty, as well as the Zenkojidaira basin, which cradles the gentle passage of the Chikumagawa river. No wonder the vista is rated one of the three best views from a train window in Japan. The view is equally captivating at night.

When Tsukahara was caring for his ailing father, he tried hard not to injure his father's dignity as a parent. But Tsukahara still has regrets. His heart ached each time he thought his father must have been hoping to live a life helping other people.

It has been eight years since Tsukahara's father died. Having succeeded him as head priest and standing at the entrance of old age himself, Tsukahara has come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to live and show ourselves as we are.

It is not only Tsukahara who is distressed by the thought of aging. The fact that the ancient word "obasute" remains in use to this day is testimony to the fact that everyone has suffered the same torment for a long, long time.