A trip to collect stones, the coast of Aomori Prefecture | Memories No. 14 |

Stone picking trip｜Aomori Prefecture Tsuna Shiranu Coast

May 3, 2016.

Last time, we picked up rocks at K&S and the Hiratate coast in Aomori Prefecture. Although it was simple, I was able to obtain a stone that I had never seen before. I also noticed that my own hobbies and tastes were gradually changing.
Then, we headed to Tsuna Shiranu Beach for today’s main dish.

The whole car was filled with excitement as it was my first time in Aomori. It’s been a long time since the three of us went on a trip. My heart is pounding as I am only staying for three days. Tsugaru stones, Tsugaru stones…

Anyway, I feel sorry for the people in Aomori who have just arrived here, but it’s a prefecture with nothing to offer. . That’s the impression.
Well, that’s what it means to be peaceful and have lots of nature.
There’s nothing even in Fukui Prefecture, my second hometown, a sacred place of hidden stones. It’s okay because there’s nothing.

That’s right, TADA… Please wait. Let’s descend on Fukui next time with the overwhelming power of stones that will crush the meaning of existence of all the stones you own…

However, the location of the Tsuna Shiranu Coast we are aiming for is a little vague. Even if I look at Dr. Watanabe’s [Japanese Stone Specimen Box] that I introduced last time, Tamami Miyata’s blog, and the blogs of people who are thought to be his friends, I can’t get a clear point. Mumumu,,. It’s already a test for the Stone Man…
For the time being, I decided to drive along the coast, looking for a sign that said “Tsuna Shiranu Beach,” which was introduced on a blog and was the only clue.

boom boom boom

Enter the road along the coast.
Wow, beautiful. Ocean.
Once again, there are no photos at all, and I am disqualified from the stone blog.
Really beautiful. The existence of stones was confirmed.
Pipipipi! ! ! Stone spot level 5! ! ! My stone sensor won’t stop ringing.
It didn’t land on the shore. I don’t know what kind of stones are lying around. However, given the beauty of the sea and the structure of the coast, a voice in my heart keeps shouting, “There’s no way there’s no good stone here.”
K&S’s tension gradually rises.

Boom…

But it’s strange…
Not at all. There is no sign saying “Tsuna Shiranu Coast”.
Looking at the car navigation system, I feel like I’m definitely past the point.
Why! why.
I made a U-turn and drove again, keeping my eyes peeled.
Where are the signs, signs, signs?

I passed around the point again. . Why,,,. Why is there no sign?
Even if you look it up on Google, the main points should be around here… Spirited away…

For now, I decided to park the car at a suitable spot and walk towards the coast. But it looks like we won’t be able to get down to the coast from here.

Then, I found a local! !　
But the old man is a bit suspicious… It appears that some work is being done near a building that looks like a hut. (The three rock pickers are much more suspicious.) Let’s stop talking to them…
I tried searching for it on my own with K&S, but couldn’t find it at all.

After all, it was best to ask the locals, so I mustered up the courage to talk to the old man.
Stone Person: “Um, is there a Tsuna Shiranu Beach around here? There should be a sign, but I can’t find it…”
Grandpa: “Ah, ◯△◯△◯△◯△◯△◯△◯△.”
Stone Man: “Huh? What now?”
Grandpa: “Ah, ◯△◯△◯△◯△◯△◯△◯△.”
Stone Man: “Huh? Huh? Sorry, one more time…”
Grandpa: “Ah, ◯△◯△◯△◯△◯△◯△◯△.”

I have no idea what you’re talking about at all. Is this old man okay? (Rude) No, is this the Tsugaru dialect? Have no idea.

Stone Man: “I’m sorry… Just one more time…”
Grandpa: “Ah, ◯△◯△◯△toilet△◯△.”

yeah? toilet! ? Near the toilet? ?
The old man nods. Is it true? On my way here, I did see an unusual public restroom across from the beach. There was nothing that looked like a sign. I wonder if this old man is saying the right thing.
No matter what! It’s my bad habit to be suspicious of people right away.
How rude of you to be so kind to a group of three suspicious stone pickers who can’t make out any of their words and don’t know where they’re coming from.
thank you! I bowed and drove towards an unusual public restroom.

There was a parking space, so I parked my car.
There’s no sign.
I guess I was just saying it properly after all.
No no no! Believe it! Believe in the old man who believed in suspicious people like us!

In the end, I decided to go down the coast…

! ! ! ! !

It’s a sign.
The signboard has fallen down.

The road is on the other side of the sign, but logically you can’t see it. By the way, the public toilet can be seen on the right. Everything that old man said was correct.
sorry. I am truly sorry for doubting you even though you kindly informed me.

And then I got a little scared. Why are the signs falling down?
My guess is that it was the work of the stone people.
This sign has been introduced as a landmark of the Tsuna Shiranu Coast on the blogs of Mr. Watanabe and his stone predecessors. In other words, stone people from all over Japan aim for this sign when they pick up stones at Tsuna Shirazu for the first time. After completing their search for stones here, they probably knocked down the sign because they didn’t want this place to be vandalized any further by other stone people.
Mumumu,,. It’s just speculation, but it’s scary. Can stones change people?
No, it might have just fallen over due to strong winds or something.

As expected from a legendary place, this is not just a beach.

But K&S. We finally landed on the Tsugaru coast.
I have no choice but to pick it up. Nishikishi and other things on this wonderful emerald green coast.

Roll, roll, roll.

K&S picks it up.
It was obvious that the two people’s concentration was different from the stone picking up until now.
That’s no wonder, the falling stones are really nice.

Is stone good? Based on what, and compared to what?
Whether a stone is good or bad is something that each person cannot decide for themselves.
However, Aomori stones have the power to catch your eye and make you pick them up before you even think about such things.
Ayamezawa is good, Fukui is also good. The sea is beautiful and the stones are nice.
However, there is something different about Aomori stones. Overwhelming presence and personality.

When I pick up stones, I put a small bag over my shoulder and put the stones in a ziplock bag (see TADA, by the way, the ziplock is Easy Zipper M). It’s also a pain, so I have a stone in hand to some extent.
In Aomori, their hands are quickly full. I pick them up one after another. Speaking of picking up rocks, this is different. This is different too. I wish this place was round. The color is a little dirty, so it’s hard to pick it up.
However, the moment you see an Aomori stone and your eyes are drawn to it, you find yourself picking it up reflexively due to its overwhelming presence rather than the details.
The terrifying power of Aomori stone. No, it’s wonderful. The illusion that I had come to realize at Hiratate, that I had reached the point where I felt a sense of wabi-sabi in seemingly plain and ubiquitous stones, rather than the individuality and rarity of their shapes and colors, has disappeared. Individuality! Individuality! Individuality! A rare color! shape! Feels good to the touch! Everything is new and I keep making discoveries.
It was as moving as if a boy who had been collecting beetles all the time in Japan went to South America and encountered a Hercules beetle (I have never experienced anything like that).

Ah, I feel like I’m exaggerating a bit too much. However, coupled with the fact that he had come all the way to Aomori to pick up a long-awaited nishikishi, the excitement only continues to rise.

As for S, I don’t know where he found it, but he found a floating item that looked like an empty convenience store lunch box, and using the partitions, he was happily having fun sorting the stones into categories.

K picks up a stone. K is a designer and is good at drawing. Both his parents were high school teachers, and his grandfather was a printmaker and traveler, making him a thoroughbred designer.
In contrast to S, who was smiling and filling the lunch box with beautiful stones, he was staring at the stones with great concentration. What kind of stones are you picking up?
I was really curious about what kind of stone K was picking up.
Hey, let me show you something.

! !
Oh, it’s so bitter! !
On this coast, where stones of various colors and shapes roll around, you can only choose matte, monochrome stones such as black, gray, or beige.
Look at S. The stones in the bento box are colorful, and all of them are round and cute in shape.
Normally, if you pick up stones on this beach, you’ll end up with a choice like this. Isn’t that the essence of purity?

But Thoroughbred K is different. Stones that I can’t believe were picked up on the same coast.

I shudder.

I feel like I’m feeling the threat I once felt from the stone TADA picked up again.
Thoroughbred K! Is it you who aims to become a Sekisei next?

It’s dangerous to be careless. S is also steadily developing a stone-faced eye.
I have to quickly, quickly go higher. To far heights that neither TADA nor Thoroughbred K nor S can reach.

In the evening, I was picking up stones.
Since the inn is near Lake Towada, considering the check-in time, we had to leave soon.
I wish I had picked up more.

The three of them reluctantly leave Tsunashiran Beach.
This is the first time I’ve picked up a stone with such regret. I can’t wait to see the stones at my hotel.

Drive a rental car to Lake Towada. Inside the car, there was a lot of talk about stones.

There are many points to enjoy when picking up stones.

A trip that will probably involve picking up stones from now on.
Looking for a spot to pick up stones
Picking up stones
Take a short break and look at the sea
Pick it up again
Sorting out the stones to take home (fun)
Stone talk on the way home
Wash and arrange the stones at home
Show off to someone

Just writing this makes me want to pick up rocks.
As I was doing this, I came across Lake Towada.

It’s a very lonely mountain.
I proceeded with anxiety as I was unfamiliar with driving and the sky was getting darker and darker.
For some reason, all the trees are dead.
There are strange trees with curved shapes on both sides of the road that give me a bit of a chill. K&S also looks a little scared. There are no other cars in sight.

Ah! This is Lake Towada! Good, thank you.
However, the tree still has a scary shape…

It’s beautiful.

After a while, we arrived at a place that looked like a hot spring town. We were also able to find a guesthouse where we could stay.
The road to this point has been quite difficult. How much did you drive? Along the way, there were a series of sharp curves with narrow, steep hills. I went inside the inn, thinking that the people living in this hot spring town must be having a hard time.

Take a deep breath.

Take a bath, eat, and the long-awaited time.
I bought some alcohol at a nearby liquor store and went back to the inn to wash the stones. Yes, we’re having a fair.
However, cleaning the stones is also difficult. Since it is a guest house, there is no washroom in the room.
The moment there was no sign of other guests in the hallway, I dashed to the bathroom!
Gasha Gasha Gasha! ! If it’s found, it’s the end.

“Hisohhisohhis…The customer next door was washing the stone…”
,,,I definitely don’t want to be seen.

Gasha Gasha Gasha! ! Gasha Gasha Gasha! !

All three of them managed to wash the stone without being seen by anyone.
The fair begins successfully.
I experienced it for the first time at the TADA family in Fukui, and it was the best time to look at the stones while drinking sake.

Stones picked up at sea｜Aomori Prefecture Tsuna Shiranu Coast

This is the S stone.
The reason for arranging them in a spiral shape is unknown.

Beautiful color, round shape, pleasant touch, looks unusual, and is somehow transparent.
Is that roughly the standard? If a beginner were to pick up stones on that beach, this would naturally happen. That’s actually correct. I have something similar too.
It’s pretty easy to do, isn’t it? I feel like S has also become a stone person, so I decided to call him 384 rather than his initials, albeit suddenly. I want you to get a sense of how to read it from the initials.

Next is the thoroughbred K in question…

Wow, what the heck.

Kakkekee. Sibby.
Thoroughbred K, formidable. A rookie who shakes even TADA, the man blessed by that stone.
He has incredible potential.
What’s even more frightening is that at this time, I still didn’t really realize how wonderful these stones were. It’s a K-ish choice that’s somehow bitter and cool. That’s about it.
But now I understand, it’s terrifying. The goodness of these stones.
After picking up stones only three times, K found his established stone world, and was able to take it to far greater heights than I could ever reach.
K has a terrifying sense of style. And pure 384. The birth of a stone rival that threatens me.

…Or rather, I’m starting to worry about this diary. To all of you reading this, do you understand what I’m saying? I wonder if this feeling can be conveyed to people who have never picked up stones when they read it.

Don’t give up, the last one will be my stone.

Surprisingly normal. Now, when I look at it calmly, I feel like it’s the most subtle of the three… No, it just doesn’t look good in photos. My favorite is the second one from the left at the top. The agate on the bottom left is also good. I plan to introduce each of them in a postscript or at another opportunity.
→Various stones I have picked up so far

The photos I put together the day I brought them home. When you look at it this way, it doesn’t feel quite right. I’ve said that it’s a legend, that Nishikishi is on a different level, that it’s Hercules, but what’s the point of introducing this smooth stone? It’s not that I’m tired of writing in a diary.
To be honest, I was just extremely excited. Traveling to Aomori, picking up stones with three close friends, finding a stone spot we had always wanted. I was blinded by the rare stone I had found.

And yet another problem has occurred. The way I felt about stones back then is different from the way I feel about them now (while writing my diary). Looking at the photo, I can’t say that I can’t understand why I picked up this stone, but I have picked up a stone that I would never pick up now.
In other words, there are many stones that can no longer be presented with all our heart.

Closer cut.
For those who have collected stones and brought them home, we recommend arranging them randomly and taking photos. The coast is recreated there, and the images and memories come back to me and I’m so excited. Try this once.

However, I can’t help but feel that the combustion is incomplete.
I hope the next diary entry doesn’t turn out like this.

The next time, Memories No. 15, will be a continuation of our trip to Aomori. And the trial of the legendary land once again.

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