Amou pass
Height above sea level 1290m.
To pass from Kawai village to
Shirakawa village,
you pass the Amou pass.
The pass is covered by woods,the woods is very deep and old, its steepness make automobiles panting.
Gold mine
Amou-kinzan
existed under the Kawai village side of the pass.
A Folk song shirakawa-wajima
contains the story about the mine.
And a folk song
Mugiya-bushi
tell the atmosphere of the area surrounded by mountains.
Izumi Kyouka
describe the pass in his work
Kohya-Hijiri
a strange horror story.
Perhaps Kyouka Izumi had not visited there, he wrote erroneous description that the pass was the road from Hida to Shinshu. But the pass is really the road from Hida to Shirakawa.
This work was written only by hearsay about the area?
If it is really so, its description is very precise about there.
In those days, there was such a very deep woods and unopened nature there.
Now we feel the story's exaggeration, but the strange story might be quite natural for the mind living in the era.
In this area, everything is natural work but asphalt road. I think the woods and mountain are not changed since the time Izumi lived.
But the more convenient, the more vanish the holy and the folklores.
Mugiya-bushi
Leaving from Yashima, I have torn
Living here Gokayama, now feeling very pleasant
Is song weaves, or maiden weaves ?
Songs and maiden figure a twill weave
On the road, leaving lonely
Hearing the sound of the river and a deer's howl
