Photo/Illutration Bereaved family members and survivors pray for victims of the 2021 landslide in Atami at a ceremony in the city's Izusan district on July 3. (Koichi Tokonami)

“Azuma Kagami” (literally, “Mirror of the East”), a medieval Japanese text that chronicles the events of the Kamakura Shogunate (1192-1333), contains a scene where a young Hojo Masako (1157-1225) takes shelter from the rain by snuggling up to her lover and future husband, Minamoto no Yoritomo (1147-1199).

The couple are said to have kept up their trysts in the present-day city of Atami in Shizuoka Prefecture at Izusan shrine and the Kogoi-no-Mori forest behind it.

Probably due to the popularity of “Kamakuradono no 13-nin” (The 13 Lords of the Shogun), the year-long TV historical drama series aired by Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) last year, an endless stream of worshippers continued arriving at the shrine when I was there the other day.

But I did not linger at the shrine. I was on a mission, and I hurried along the mountain path to my destination.

Two years ago, a mound of earth atop a steep mountainside collapsed in torrential rain, causing a fatal mudslide that swallowed up homes nestled in the valley. The starting point of the mudslide was deep in the Kogoi-no-Mori forest.

The tragedy must have struck with lightning speed. Abandoned homes with mud-splattered walls remain today. The stone foundations of demolished homes do not tell much about the people who once lived there.

Because of restricted access to the disaster area, summer grass swayed in the breeze as if time there stood still.

A memorial ceremony was held on July 3 for the landslide’s 28 victims.

Tears streaked down the cheeks of Yoko Koiso, 73, as she recalled the loss of her eldest daughter: “I didn’t get a chance to hug her.”

Mother Nature unleashed her terrifying power on that fateful day. And we are still being reminded of it today by the recent torrential rains in Kumamoto Prefecture, northern Kyushu and western Japan.

Kyushu was pummeled by downpours again. Rivers flooded. We should remain on the alert through the rest of this week.

The Kogoi-no-Mori forest has been mentioned in elegiac poems from olden times. A piece by Kiyohara no Motosuke (908-990) is about the tears, shed by a parent who lost a child, dampening the sleeves of other people who are sharing the parent’s grief.

I pray such tears will not keep raining down.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 5

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.