鬼怒川の中心地・東武鬼怒川温泉駅前では、シンボルのマスコット「鬼怒太（きぬた）」が迎えてくれる＝栃木県日光市で2024年7月14日、森忠彦撮影 日光で十分な休養と情報収集ができたイザベラ・バードは、1878年6月24日、ついに「未踏の奥地」に向かって出発した。これからは基本、騎馬か徒歩での旅となる。 一行は現在の栃木県内を北へ進んだ。日光からしばらく続いた穏やかな風景も鬼怒川の渓谷沿いに入った途端、景色が一変した。「Unbeaten Tracks in Japan」の描写を見てみよう。From Kohiaku the road passed through an irregular grassy valley between densely-wooded hills, the valley itself timbered with park -- like clumps of pine and Spanish chestnuts; but on leaving Kisagoi the scenery changed. A steep rocky tract brought us to the Kinugawa, a clear rushing river, which has cut its way deeply through coloured rock, and is crossed at a considerable height by a bridge with an alarmingly steep curve, from which there is a fine view of high mountains, and among them Futarayama, to which some of the most ancient Shinto legends are attached.We rode for some time within hearing of the Kinugawa, catching magnificent glimpses of it frequently -- turbulent and locked in by walls of porphyry, or widening and calming and spreading its aquamarine waters over great slabs of pink and green rock, lighted fitfully by the sun, or spanned by rainbows, or pausing to rest in deep shady pools, but always beautiful. The mountains through which it forces its way on the other side are precipitous and wooded to their summits with coniferae, while the less abrupt side, along which the tract is carried, curves into green knolls in its lower slopes, sprinkled with grand Spanish chestnuts scarcely yet in blossom, with maples which have not yet lost the scarlet which they wear in spring as well as autumn, and with many flowering trees and shrubs which are new to me, and with an undergrowth of red azaleas, syringa, blue hydrangea -- the very blue of heaven -- yellow raspberries, ferns, clematis, white and yellow lilies, blue irises, and fifty other trees and shrubs entangled and festooned by the wistaria, whose beautiful foliage is as common as is that of the bramble with us. The redundancy of the vegetation was truly tropical, and the brilliancy and variety of its living greens, dripping with recent rain, were enhanced by the slant rays of the afternoon sun.The few hamlets we passed are of farm-houses only, the deep-eaved roofs covering in one sweep dwelling-house, barn, and stable. In every barn unclothed people were pursuing various industries. We met strings of pack-mares, tied head and tail, loaded with rice and sake, and men and women carrying large creels full of mulberry leaves. The ravine grew more and more beautiful, and an ascent through a dark wood of arrowy cryptomeria brought us to this village exquisitely situated, where a number of miniature ravines, industriously terraced for rice, come down upon the great chasm of the Kinugawa. Eleven hours of travelling have brought me eighteen miles! この景観は現在も、東武鬼怒川線沿いにそのまま、残っている。梅雨の最中だけに、青いアジサイが道端を彩っていた。昼間に過ぎゆく風景はのどかそのものだが、宿舎に入ると、旅人もまた貧しい地方の山村生活とともに長い夜を過ごすことになる。…【前の記事】/10 初めての「温泉」体験！ 奥日光