A trip to collect stones, the coast of Aomori Prefecture | Memories No. 13 |

Stone picking trip｜Hiratate coast, Aomori prefecture

May 2, 2016.

“Stones and the Sea” is written by tracing back memories from more than half a year ago, relying on stones and photographs that he found.
I had completely forgotten, but the two days I spent with TADA in Toyama and Fukui were just the beginning of a long journey.
The day after I parted ways with TADA in Fukui, I immediately left for Tokyo.

The reason for this is to collect stones in Tsugaru, a legendary place. If Shobuzawa is a sacred place and Fukui is a hidden sacred place, then the Tsugaru coast is truly a “legendary place.” The stones of Tsugaru are called Nishiki-ishi, and they seem to be of different grades.

After the three-day stone trip in Aomori, they plan to pick up stones in Kanagawa and Shizuoka on the way from Tokyo to Nagoya.
This is now training. I want to become a stone saint (a state beyond stone people), but am I rushing my life too much?
The punchline is that you will either die from being crushed by the weight of the stones in your backpack, or develop a fear of stones.

When I roughly write out my schedule, it looks like this.
(stone) is the number of times stones were picked up.

●4/30 Fukui (2 stones) ●5/1 Fukui (2 stones) → Nagoya ●5/2 Nagoya → Tokyo ●5/3 Tokyo → Aomori (2 stones) ●5/4 Aomori (1 stone) ●5/ 5 Aomori → Tokyo ●5/6 Tokyo → Kanagawa (stone 1) → Shizuoka (stone 2) → Nagoya

The final day, May 6th, looks like it will be tough. After picking up rocks in Aomori, he is planning to visit three beaches with a backpack full of rocks. I feel like I’m about to cry.

Now, let’s say we’re leaving for Tokyo. .

Today I have a drink with K&S for the first time in a while.
K&S is a designer from Tokyo who went to Niigata and Ojima with me.

There was still a little time left until the appointed time, so I thought for a moment that I could go to the Tamagawa River to pick up some stones, but thinking about my upcoming stone training, I didn’t want to carry too many stones from the beginning.
I killed some time at exhibitions and met up with K. S is busy, so we’ll meet up later.
Drinking sake with K&S for the first time in a while. Hearing how these two people are working hard in Tokyo makes me feel like I have to do my best, and it’s a good inspiration.
After we talked about work and hobbies, K asked me.
“By the way, which coast are you going to pick up in Aomori?”

I’ve been waiting for that question.
There are two beaches in Aomori that you definitely want to visit. Tsuna Shiranaga Beach and Shichiri Nagahama.
[Japanese Rock Specimen Box] written by Kazuo Watanabe, a legend in the stone world that I highly respect, [To Pick Up Nice Stones] by Tamaki Miyata, a mere stone-picking predecessor, and Tsugaru’s It is a legendary coast that is commonly mentioned in works such as Stones Are Beautiful, Stones Are Mysterious,'' which summarizes many wonderful stones. Professor Watanabe has also had a discussion with Professor Tamaki Miyata, and has also participated in the exhibition and workshopStones are Beautiful, Stones are Mysterious.” Perhaps he is the one who reigns at the top of the stone people. I would like to meet you someday.
It’s been less than two years since I started collecting stones, and I haven’t developed an aesthetic eye, but even when I look at the stones from Aomori that are introduced in the book, they feel different compared to the stones I’ve picked up before. . The Ayamezawa coast is certainly nice. Fukui is also wonderful. However, these stones are different from those two places and give off an extraordinary aura. You can feel it even from the photos.

Apparently, this beautiful stone from Tsugaru is called “Nishiki-ishi.” Tsugaru Nishikiseki. Ah, what a nice sound.

It has been decided that we will go to Tsuna Shiranaga Beach on the first day and Shichiri Nagahama on the second day.
On the third day, I decided to go to the Towada City Museum of Contemporary Art and the Aomori Prefectural Museum of Art.

Tomorrow, I plan to leave Tokyo early in the morning on the Shinkansen and travel three hours to Aomori, so I feel like I’ll completely oversleep if I don’t drink and go to bed early. I have a bad feeling that K, who is a habitual oversleeper, is one of the members, so I ask him to stay at K’s house. S will be able to wake up. Or maybe I overslept. . I felt nervous as I fell asleep in Aomori for the first time.

Suyasu yasuya~.

the next day. May 3, 2016.

Both me and K woke up. LINE to S right away. Already read. I’m awake, good.
I took a bath, got ready, and headed to Tokyo Station.

Now, let’s meet up with S! However, S has not arrived yet.
I had a little bit of time to spare, so K and I bought a cutlet sandwich for breakfast.
In the meantime, S seems to have arrived. However, S was not at the ticket gate where they were about to join. 5 minutes left until departure. Troubled. We also have tickets for S. I should have given it to you yesterday. As I was fidgeting, the departure time was rapidly approaching, with only 4, 3 minutes remaining. I told S to explain the situation to the station staff, pass through the ticket gate, and join us on the Shinkansen, and we all dashed! Please, S, please be patient! They should have told you the ticket gate and platform for Aomori! Oooooooo!

Push.

I managed to ride it. . Barely safe.
All that’s left is to meet up with S. Don’t be nervous from the beginning.
I got LINE from S around the same time the Shinkansen departed.

“I couldn’t ride it (; _ ;)”

picture.

seriously. Is it serious?

,,,.

Well, it couldn’t be helped, I explained it to the station staff and managed to get on the next Shinkansen.
Once again, just like in Niigata, K and I begin our journey together.
Traveling can be fun while you’re on the move. It’s quite sad that all three of them aren’t there.
The two of them eat cutlet sandwiches while thinking about S. . While Ishi was talking, the Shinkansen headed towards Aomori.

Push.

I arrived at Shin-Aomori Station. S arrived about an hour late.
We immediately set off in a rental car and headed for the Tsuna Shiranu Coast.
It was almost 12pm, so I decided to have lunch on the way.

I found a facility that looked like a roadside station near Hiratate.
Park your car and search online to see if there is a restaurant nearby.
One word that caught my attention jumped out at me. “Squid hamburger”.
What is squid hamburger? The exterior photo shows the appearance of a pension and restaurant. And what! Isn’t there a coast nearby? After filling your stomach, shall we go to Aomori to pick up the first stone?

When I arrived at the store, of course I ordered a squid hamburger and munched on it. (Sorry, as usual, I don’t have any photos…)
delicious.
As my stomach gradually became full, I was already preoccupied with stones.
Shall we go soon?

There is a beach right behind the restaurant. Is it okay for me to pick up stones so smoothly? Even though there is always a difficult journey to the coast.

land on the shore.

stone! Stone stone!
That’s a stone. .

Not so much.

yes. There are no stones on most beaches. Basically, there is a concrete seawall, and other areas may be sandy beaches, tidal flats, or rocky areas. It is rare to find a beach full of stones, like the Itoigawa coast and the Shobuzawa coast, or a gravel beach with just the right amount of stones, like the hidden sacred place of Fukui.
Meanwhile, there are some stones lying around on this Hiratate coast.

I look for and pick up beautiful, atmospheric, and mysterious stones, but another reason is that I pick up stones as “memories”.
So, even if I don’t have any good stones, I always take two or three home with me.
In fact, these reasons may be more appropriate as the reasons why ordinary people pick up stones. If it wasn’t stones, many people would probably take shellfish and sea glass home as memories.
→Various stones I have picked up so far

Stones picked up from the sea｜Hiradate coast, Aomori prefecture

These are the stones I picked up. not bad.
Unless they are made of rare materials such as agate, petrified wood, or jade, the colors are not vivid and the surface development is limited. However, this white and gray is elegant and very beautiful.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been looking at so many different kinds of stones lately, but I sometimes think that stones as plain as this one have more of a sense of wabi-sabi. This might be a good discovery.
This is because from now on, even stones that look plain at first glance can be enjoyed to the fullest. Beaches that you may have previously considered unattractive can turn out to be great rock-picking spots.
In the book by Kazuo Watanabe that I mentioned earlier, it was written that even ordinary stones are attractive. I feel like it.

So, I would like to introduce the stones that caught my attention this time.

Like a chopstick rest.

Like a soybean powder stick.

Th-This is,,. Like Dragon◯.
I don’t really want to look at it like this, but once I noticed it and picked it up, it just looked like that.

Randomly placed cuts.

By the way, K&S is just an ordinary stone at first glance, so I just looked at it and didn’t pick it up.
It’s a world you still don’t understand.

What would TADA have done?
Argh! ,,. Stop thinking.

Calm down, calm down…this is just the beginning.
Today’s main dish is, of course, Tsuna Shiranu Beach.

Continued next time.

→ Read from the first stone diary
You can choose a stone diary from / at the bottom of the menu on the right side of this site.

→A photographic work by ISHINOHITO.
→SHOP

いしひろいたろう
 →いしひろいたろうのすべて

ISHINOHITO