On an Early Spring Walk | Satoko Nagata, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care
I am honored to be in charge of the first Okashira Diary of the new year. I look forward to your continued support this year.
Recently, I have been spending one of the first three days of the New Year in Kokubunji due to a personal connection. Since it is still an unfamiliar area to me, I enjoy wandering around and taking walks. This year, I visited the "Tosando Musashimichi Road Ruins," a nationally designated historic site. The Tosando was one of the seven ancient transportation routes (Shichido) connecting the capital with various provincial capitals. The Tosando Musashimichi was a return route that ran south from Kozuke Province (present-day Gunma Prefecture) to the Musashi Provincial Capital, with a history dating back to the 7th century. Excavations confirmed a 490-meter stretch of road ruins with a width of 12 meters; as a result, the road plans were changed, and the current road was constructed while preserving the underground remains. Although it is a historic site, it simply looks like a series of irregularly shaped, yellowish stains along the edge of a very wide sidewalk. However, knowing that these are the remains of an ancient road made it fascinating to imagine the people of ancient times coming and going.
From there, I extended my walk to the "Sugatami-no-ike Pond Green Space" in Koigakubo. It is said that Sugatami-no-ike Pond was once filled with clear water from nearby springs, and it came to be called "Sugatami-no-ike" (Mirror Pond) because the courtesans of the post town of Koigakubo would gaze at their reflections there morning and evening. When we visited, the sun was beginning to set and it was chilly. Just as I was about to leave the waterside amidst the withered winter scenery while reflecting on its history, I suddenly felt as if a blue light had flashed before my eyes.
When I looked closely, a beautiful blue bird was perched on a withered branch by the pond. It was a kingfisher. In the colorless landscape, its blue color stood out remarkably. Without fleeing while we took out our cameras and smartphones, it flew back and forth to the water's surface many times to catch fish, sometimes perching on different branches and showing us poses from the opposite side. Thanks to this, I was able to observe it closely from a relatively short distance. The photo was taken by a family member at that time.
I wondered when I would see one again, but the next day, while visiting the Eight Fortune Gods (rather than the usual Seven) in Hachioji, I encountered a kingfisher again on the banks of the Minami-Asakawa River on the way to the final deity, Kichijoten. This time it was far away and flew off quickly, making it difficult to photograph, but perhaps because I had learned its flight patterns and appearance well the day before, I noticed it immediately. We rejoiced that meeting the blue bird of happiness twice so early in the New Year surely meant it would be a good year.
At the beginning of this year, I was reminded once again that gaining knowledge and experience through encounters with ancient roads and blue birds allows us to see things in a new light. May 2026 be a fruitful year blessed with new encounters and discoveries.