人、人、人の香嵐渓 Packed like Sardines

人、人、人の香嵐渓

２４日（日）、女房と香嵐渓に団体バスで行きましたが、驚きました。モミジの木は大きくなり、葉っぱは真っ赤に染まり綺麗でしたが、驚いたのは人の多さです。ひところは香嵐渓は地方の紅葉狩りの場所でしたのに、いつの間にやら全国区になり、駐車場からナントカ川に出るまでの通路には露店がひしめき、人混みで大混雑。やっと川に出て、ナントカ橋までも人、人、人で橋にたどり着けない。橋の上は帰ってくる人、これから行く人で大渋滞。身動きが取れない状態で、高度成長期の東京のプラットホームに「押し屋」がいましたが、あのようなpacked like sardinesで鰯のようにぎゅうぎゅう詰めの状態で、一インチずつ橋を、前進しました。疲れた。モミジを人混みの中で見て、駐車場に帰ったら、練馬ナンバーの西武バスや奈良交通のバスが停まっていました。奈良からワザワザ！　２０年か３０年前の香嵐渓は風流だったのに。今は中国語が飛び交い、露店がひしめき、恐ろしいところになり果てました。（写真の橋の上の人混みを見てください）

Packed like Sardines

My wife and I went on a group tour to Korankei to view the colorful red leaves by bus on Sunday, 24 in November. The maple trees were larger and the red leaves were more beautiful than I had expected. To my surprise, I saw an enormous number of tourists. Decades ago, Korankei used to be a local maple-viewing spot, but today it has become one of the most famous such spots in Japan.

There were too many stalls alongside too narrow a road from the parking lot to the river (I don’t know its name). The road was too crowded to walk smoothly. I pushed and elbowed my way to the river but again I had a hard time to reach the red bridge (I don’t know its name) because the road along the river was too congested. After struggle, I reached the bridge, but it was the most crowded. Those who were coming back from the other side of the river crashed with those who were going there. The maple-viewers were packed like sardines. That reminded me of the crowd in a Tokyo station platform amid the high-growth period of the Japanese economy (from the mid-fifties through the sixties) where the station employees used to push the passengers into the crowded train so that they could get on it.

I advanced inch by inch on the bridge. I did not have time to enjoy the red-leaf scenery from the bridge. I was exhausted. After seeing the red leaves among the sardines, I returned to the parking lot.

I was surprised again to see a Seibu Bus from Tokyo with Nerima number and a Nara Tourist Bus in the parking lot. Why did it come all the way from Nara?

About 20 or 30 years ago, Korankei was a place to enjoy the quiet and

aesthetic nature, but nowadays it is an unpleasant place full of people, stalls, and Chinese people.
    (Look at the people on the bridge in the photograph.)