Genryu Fishing of Japan #44

One miracle day in the valley of Yakuwa.

The Asahi Mountains are a mountain district of 60km from north to south and 30km from east to west across the prefectural border between Niigata and Yamagata prefectures. Ohasahidake (1870m) as highest peak, there are ridge line of Shoujigatake (1482m), Itodake (1771m), Kankozan (169m) etc. are called “Asahi Renpo (mountain range)”. This mountain district is one of the heaviest snowfall areas in Japan, and many snow gorges remain even in the summer. In the area up to 1200m above sea level, a vast primeval beech forests spread, and there are many mammals such as Asiatic black bears and Japanese serows, and birds of prey such as golden eagles and goshawks. In addition, there are big mountain streams such as the Sagae River on the Yamagata Prefecture side and the Miomote River on the Niigata Prefecture side form deep valleys. This vast and untouched virgin forests and deep valleys do not let people go in easily. Yes, Asahi Mountains has one of the deepest forests in Japan. In other words, it is a symbol of nature in the Tohoku region. 

The Yakuwa River is the large mountain stream located in the northern surface of the Asahi Mountains. Along with the Miomote River, which flows in the south surface, it is one of the two major mountain streams that represent the Asahi Mountains. I think it is also one of the most famous mountain streams in Japan and is a sacred place for genryu fishing and sawanobori (river climbing). The flow of the Yakuwa River, which gathers the meltwater of the Asahi Mountains, which is the heavy snowfall area, is deep and strong, and we can not fish or wade at the time of run off or when the water rises after heavy rain.

The Yakuwa River has a Yakuwa Dam (We think such a stupid construction.) in the downstream, and popular fishing area is upstream from the dam backwater. The distance from the backwater to the fish-stop waterfall is about 27 km in distance, with an altitude difference of about 500 m. The altitude is from 400m to altitude 900. Faithfully going through this area doing fishing from the dam's backwater, it takes about 5 days and 4 nights. From the fish stop waterfall, you can go up to the mountain path on the ridge line by climbing an appropriate stream.

The Yakuwa River was famous for being a large mountain stream that flows through untouched wilderness, but it was also the Iwana who lived there that made Yakuwa River very famous. In Japanese mountain streams and headwaters, iwana and yamame are said to be big if they exceed about 30 cm. Unlike North America and Europe, iwana and yamame (Japanese native trout) can not grow that big in the Japanese natural environment. Although there are individuals can be exceeding 60 cm and 80 cm that have fallen into dam lakes, etc., individuals exceeding 50 cm are very rare in a natural mountain stream environment. I have been fishing in mountain streams for a long time. Occasionally I saw a 50cm class iwana that stayed in the bottom of the big pool, but I never caught it. Even under such circumstances, it was said that the average size of iwana in Yakuwa River is about 33 cm, and many of the ancestors of the genryu fishing caught iwana over 50 cm and sometimes over 60 cm in Yakuwa River. One angler said that he saw more than 10 big iwana starting with a 50 cm class at the top were lined up in the big pool.

Even now, every year, many genryu fishing enthusiasts go to Yakuwa River in search of the dream of a large iwana. It is said that the middle stream is most likely to catch the largest iwana. Walk for 6-7 hours along the river to Kakunedaira, the site there was the old zenmai hut (Hut for fern harvesting) that would be the base camp site. From there, the upstream section of Naga-sawa, Oguni-sawa, and Heishichi-zawa is the area where there is a lot of water and the highest encounters with giant iwana. Other than that, the pool of Komas waterfall in the begining of upper genryu area, and the vast pool of Ro waterfall that stands as the largest landmark of the Yakuwa River upstream are the points where the giant Iwana live. Many anglers had seen unbelievably giant iwana in the pool of Ro waterfall and from some day they started calling that giant iwana “submarine of Yakuwa”. It is a place like a legend. Beyond Lo Waterfall, it becomes the most upstream part of the Yakuwa River. This is not the place where many anglers can easily reach. And from there till fish stop waterfall is the last paradise, where large iwana sometimes over 40cm bend our fishing rod. 

Thinking about with travelling time to the river, it would take a week if you want to fish Yakuwa River from downstream to the fish stop waterfall. However, the anglers who can only take 3 to 4 days holidays like us can only enter the upper part of the river directly using the aforementioned mountain trail. In recent years, the most popular route to the upper part of genryu area is the route via Mt. Tengusumoutori down along Iwaya-zawa to the Yakuwa River, using the mountain trail from Oizawa, Nishikawa Town on the east side of the Yakuwa River. (By the way, this Tengusumoutori mountain is named after the legend that Tengu (Long-nosed goblins) made a dohyo (Sumo wresling ring) near the top of this mountain and played sumo, and there is still flat dohyo like place near the summit.) It takes about 8 hours for a healthy person to enter the Yakuwa River using this route. By the way, there is also a route that walks further down the mountain trail along the ridgeline and descends to Yakuwa River, which is a little upstream after climbing down through a small stream called Ushi-zawa. It is a route that you can go directly to the downstream of Hirogawara upon Komas Falls, making it easier to approach the Ro Falls.

This year, on the weekend of mid-July, I challenged this Yakuwa River genryu with 5 friends, Tsuru-chan, Yagi-san, Hama-chan, Fuku-chan, Matsuzawa-san. The route is via Mt. Tengusumoutor. I had fished the downstream part a long time ago, but this was the first time I went to the core genryu part. However, the rainy season was prolonged this year, and there was not much rainfall, but it was a rainy forecast during the schedule. Once the Yakuwa River is hit by a high flow, we can not do fishing or even wade the river. On Thursday night, we split into two cars and headed for Oizawa. It was already raining by the time we arrived at the gate of climbing trail at midnight. We parked the cars in the near-by museum parking lot and slept under the roofed entrance.

It continued to rain in the morning, but we prepared for departure, wore rainwear and drove to the trailhead by cars. Anyway, we decided to leave, and after 6:00 am, we started walking. The mountain trail first continued with a gentle climb in the forest, but suddenly it became steep climb after 30 minutes of walking. Rainwear has been soaked in the rain. On top of that, a sudden climb made a lot of sweat and my body became totally soaked. As the altitude increased, the temperature decreased. We took short breaks taking care not to cool down our bodies too much and kept on climbing. After 10:00 am, we finally passed through the forest zone and went into the low shrub zone, but we couldn't see the scenery because of fog. 

 
It was already around 12 o'clock when we continued to climb the mountain trail that continued from there and finally reached the top of Mt. Tengusumoutori. Although it was not strong, it continued to rain, my body was cold, and I was exhausted considerably. From there, if we walk along the ridgeline and descend Ushizawa, we may arrive at Tenba around 17:00. The weather was bad and the time was tight. Besides, spending the night just under the tarp in this bad weather would be hard. After a short discussion, we gave up the descent and decided to stay in an evacuation hut right below the peak. We walked about 30 minutes to arrive at the Tengu hut. The hut was a surprisingly beautiful mountain hut. The interior was just renovated with flooring, and a wonderful and comfortable space promised us a night where you can sleep with peace of mind.

From early afternoon, we had drinks and cooked small meals for drinks one by one. It was a hut on a minor route at the timing just before the mountain climbing season, so there were no other guests and we were in a state of chartering. At night, when I opened the hut window and looked outside, the rain was not so strong, but it was very windy like a storm. I thought in my heart that it was right choice not to go down into the river.

The next morning, I woke up after 4 o'clock with the sound Yagi-san cooking rice. The day before, I was able to have a rest enough on the day before, so I was very fine. I tried opening the window, but it was still raining and the wind was strong. To be honest, the weather looked difficult to decide going down to the river, but when a friend looked at the weather forecast on a smartphone (the hut was near the top of the mountain, the smartphone could catch radio wave.). It was saying “The weather was fairly stable today.” When we heard that, everyone suddenly got well. Then, we finished breakfast quickly and packed our backpacks. By the time we left the hut around 5:30 am, the rain and wind stopped, and a thick fog began to spread. But morning fog is a sign for good weather. We climbed from the hut to the summit and walked along the trail on the ridgeline, aiming for the descending point to Ushi-zawa. 

Occasionally the fog cleared partially, and we could see a spectacular view of the blue sky and the majestic Asahi Mountains. Our feelings became high. “This was the most regretful pattern if we gave up and went back home.” I told Tsuru-chan. Tsuru-chan laughed and nodded many times. Following the footsteps in the bamboo grass bush for 10 minutes from the descending point, we reached the head of Ushi-zawa. However, we were able to stand on the Yakuwa River for about 3 hours after repeating the zile works and climbing downs. Although water was a little cloudy due to rain for a few days, it was not bad that we can not do fishing or wading. We were relieved and immediately went over Komas Falls to the tenba.

The Tenba above Komas Falls were located on the terrace that is one step higher than the river and provided the comfort and spaciousness for six people to sleep. We quickly set up a tarp, made up a temba, and started to cook an early lunch. Around that time, suddenly the clouds disappeared, and a deep blue sky began to spread in Yakuwa's sky. The river and the valley began to shine in the sunlight. 

In that spectacle scene, we ate Udon cooked by Yagi-san in the riverside. It was so delicious.

At 11 o'clock, we prepared for fishing and went upstream. Iwana was fished from immediately upstream of the tenba, but average size of wana we fished was a little dissatisfied, because the size was 27cm up. In recent years, Yakuwa river has a lot of anglers during the season. After all, I think the fish had become sensitive to anglers. We saw some large iwana on the bottom of the big pools, but they were not atructed to our kebari. After a small hour of fishing and walking upstream, the valley suddenly opened, and a surprisingly wide Hirogawara (wide flat stream) appeared in the depths of this mountain. “Oku no Hirokawara”. It was very famouse area of Yakuwa River. Around that time, a perfect cloudless summer sky spread, and underneath it, the Hirogawara that shimmers in the sunlight was like a fisherman's Togenkyo. “This is a miraculous weather, a mountain god gift,” I told my friends. 

Hirokawara is dotted with the best points for kebari fishing. I was so happy to watch friends who cast the kebari against the current, backdrop of the rich forest and beautiful mountains. As I walked upstream, there were 4 or 5 of iwana in a big clear pool. I cast kebari as far from the downstream as possible and quietly. The largest iwana came surface and bit the kebari. It wasn't very big iwana, but I enjoyed a small fight and released him tenderly. He slowly disappeared into the depths of the pool. I was satisfied and felt I had enough today. I lay on the white sandy riverside next to the pool and looked at the mountains of Asahi and the blue sky. 

When Hirogawara continued for a while and the valley turned to the right, a big waterfall with a huge pool appeared. “It's Ro-taki (Ro Falls).” It was a much larger waterfall than I had seen in magazine photos. The waterfall that dropped a large amount of water and the deep blue pool were picturesque scenery with mountains in the background. Yagi-san caught a splendid iwana about 35cm in the pool just downstream of the waterfall. And we challenged the pool of Ro Falls, which seems to be 30m in diameter, by bait fishing. I felt that we could not catch iwana with kebari fishing in that too deep big pool. Unfortunately, Iwana floating in the upper layer could not be confirmed too. Yagi-san struggled for about 15 minutes, but the waterfall remained silent. We were just amazed and satisfied by that magnificent scenery.

Yagi-san and Hama-chan went over the waterfall saying they would fish upstream of Ro-taki, but we returned to Tenba. When we arrived at Temba about 15:00, a party of two people was making bonfire by the stream. They were the anglers from Sendai that Fuku-chan met at Yakuwa River at the same time last year. We exchanged greetings and talked sitting around the bonfire. When we were preparing dinner, Yagi-san and Hama-chan came back around 17:00. They said that they had better fishing above Ro-taki. They talked with a full of smile despite being tired. Then, in the evening, we started the party with guys from Sendai together. About mountains, fishing, stupid stories, we talked a lot until late. The calm night of Yakuwa valley, which changed from the previous day, went on. 

The next morning, when I woke up, it was raining. The sky was covered with thick clouds. The weather returned to the original rainy season sky in one day. I really wonder if yesterday was only one-day gift from the mountain god. Yagi-san cooked rice and Tsuru-chan made Iwana Kabayaki-don (grilled iwana rice bowl). We cleaned the tenba, packed our backpacks, and were sent off by Sendai guys about 7:30 to leave the tenba. Then, we had a long long climbing way of Ushi-zawa to the ridgeline. “It's three and a half hours,” someone said. "Then, the mountain trail to the cars for about 5 hours." I whispered in my heart and started climbing Ushi-zawa in the rain.

Genryu Fishing of Japan #41

Snow Bridge in mid July

by Keiichi Okushi

This year, rainy season ended much earlier than usual year. In our main genryu fishing field Tohoku, generally the rainy season ends around middle to end of July, but it ended by the end of June this year. As soon as July came, the summer had come. The sun was shining and glittering strongly every day. I do not like the rainy and humid climate of the rainy season, but when the rainy season had ended so soon, I was concerned about the shortage of water. Not to mention growth of agricultural crops, I was also worried that the genryu in the summer would not be drought.

In mid-July, on the three consecutive holidays including the marine day, I went to Arakawa flowing on the south side of the Asahi mountain range with 2 friends, Go-chan and Ubi-chan. Arakawa genryu area is a beautiful mountain stream that runs through white granite river-bank, and the stream is surrounded by mountains of 1,500 meters to 1,800 meters and untouched forests of beech. For me Arakawa is a stream that I have fished many times already, but it is the first genryu in Asahi Mountains for Go-chan and Ubi-chan. Tenba (Camp site) is only 2 hours walk from the car parking, and we can use the climbing trail up to the tenba.

In this fishing trip, we planned to stay at this tenba for 2 nights and aimed to go to the upstream waterfall called “Magari-daki” that I have never been before. A little while ago when I visited Sebata-san at Bansho in Tadami, as I talked about this fishing trip, Sebata-san said, "There must be still snowy bridges remaining in mid-July and it might be impossible to go to Magari-daki." However, we did not have much snow this year, so I thought that it would be fine in the middle of July as expected.



When we arrived at car parking lots by Arakawa, as the weather forecast was very good for the three consecutive holidays, there were 5 or 6 cars were parked in the parking lots at the gate of the climbing pass already. Early in the morning, when nobody had gotten up yet, we started walking up the mountain path. Arakawa's climbing path continued upstream along the river, so there was no hard climb. We walked breathlessly in the deep forest where stunning beech trees are scattered. We crossed three suspended bridges that gradually became poorer, and when the sun appeared over the mountains, we arrived in Temba.

Around the time the Tarp and the Blue Sheet were set up in the tenba, 2 anglers were coming down to the stream. We exchanged greetings. They said "We will stay for one night, so we would like to go to the tenba of about an hour and fish around there." I said “OK, then we will fish lower part today.” “We will take care walking not to spook fish” they said and walked to up stream.

We had a break for a while and prepared for fishing. Go-chan said he would like to fish near tenba and have a little nap today. I could understand him because we only slept for 2 or 3 hours a night before. Ubi-chan and I decide to fish up to Masudome-no-taki (Trout Stop Water Fall) which is about 1km up-stream from the temba. Arakawa in this section is surrounded by un-touched deep forest of big old beech trees, and stream flows slowly with a large amount of water.

I thought fishing might be a tough condition because it was already July and many fishers walked and fished around this area, but contrary to expectations, the fish showed good reactions to our kebari. There were nice sized iwana of 24-27 cm vent our rods at every good point. Apparently the two leading fishers seemed to have walked so as not to rough the fishing points. Ubi-chan and I enjoyed fine fishing up to Masu-dome water fall. We had lunch under the water fall and walked back to the tenba.

When we arrived at the tenba another 2 guys lookd ike fishers were resting by the tenba. I said hello to them, then one guy told me “You are Okushi-san, aren’t you?”. He was a genryu fisher that I once met in the keiryu and talked for a while. They were wanting to stay at this tenba, so we welcomed them to set a tarp by our place. Luckily there was enough space for one more tarp. I said, “Let’s drink together tonight.” “Yes, of course.” they answered with smile.

"Photo by Uberto Calligarich"

We started bonfire around 5:00 and prepared for dinner. That evening, Go-chan cooked lamb-chop steaks with salt, pepper and rosemary. We called 2 guys and had beer together. Lamb-chop steaks were so good. We also cooked more foods and enjoyed talking until about 9:00 pm. When noticing, the starry sky, that was promising good weather of next day, was spreading in the night sky.

Next morning, we woke up at 6:30 am. When we were having breakfast, 2 young guys looked like Sawanobori (Stream trekking) were coming over. They told that they were on a day hike sawanobori and do some fishing too. We said we would probably catch up sometimes later, and we saw off them. There were many people because of 3 consecutive holidays. Well, thought that day's fishing was difficult, but I thought it was OK if we could see Magari-daki, and we left Tenba after 8:00 am.

"Photo by Uberto Calligarich"

The morning mist hung over the river where the sun light was not reached yet. We aimed up-stream and walked in this fantastic scenery. It only took us 30 minutes to Masu-dome waterfall where we finished fishing yesterday. Masudome waterfall is only about 8m but it had a large amount of water and there was a huge pool under the waterfall. There was also another 8m waterfall right after Masudome waterfall. I told Go-chan and Ubi-chan how to climb over the waterfalls, and I traversed right side of the pool and climbed Masudome waterfall and waded across the rapid stream and climbed the next waterfall. Go-chan and Ubi-chan climbed the waterfalls safely. We really enjoyed this waterfall climbing.

Gorge finished just upstream of the waterfall and the vast Hirokawara (Wide and flat shallows) spread before our eyes, and over there the spectacular scenery of the Asahi mountain peaks were spreaded under the shining sun and the blue sky. There were no clouds to obstruct this majestic scenery shone on the summer sun. Ubi-chan and Go-chan both were taking photos. This was the landscape I wanted to show them. I said, “Real Arakawa genryu is starting from here.” Since we have a predecessor, we took walk forward for a while.

Two fishers we met yesterday came down as we walked a little. Talking, yesterday they took a tenba near there and fished up-stream. “Fishing was good.” They smiled fairly. Talking with them, I learned that they are the same locals as me. We talked for a while and said good-bye. Around 9:00 am, we reached the confluence of Nabekura-sawa where a huge snow bridge lied down even in mid-June. The snow bridge had disappeared without a trace, but the mainstream was deep pool for about 30m that we can not wade or traverse, Ubi-chan and I decided to climb over the 40m high right-side riverbank, but surprisingly Go-chan swam and broke through the pool.

We started fishing from the up-stream of this big pool. We fished some iwana but size was not satisfied, we knew it was because there were still 2 sawanobori guys up-stream. We walked again and then we found 2 guys about 100m up-stream. We soon caught up with them. It was around 10:30. They said they were just finishing fishing and go down the stream as they had to go home by the evening. Finally, there was nobody up-stream of us in Arakawa genryu. Now, as soon as I thought that Arakawa fishing was going to be real high right, the river suddenly became little muddy. I think it was the sign that a snow bridge broke down somewhere up-stream. "In July, there must be snow bridges left." I remembered Mr. Sebata-san’s words.

As we fished and walked for about 30 minutes, the turbidity disappeared. After passing a large tributary called Ohobi-zawa, the flow of mainstream became rapid, and the contrast of white granite of river banks and green forest, pale blue sky showed us a beautiful scenery of Arakawa genryu. Iwana to catch got bigger, and they bent our fishing rod comfortably.

"Photo by Uberto Calligarich"

After few minutes, we faced Ex-Sakanadome Waterfall. It was only 2m high water fall, but there was no clue, I climbed the right bank acrobatically and put out the rope for Ubi-chan. As we walked for a while, the valley became the deep gorge and the compressed flow became deeper and stronger. When we turned one blind corner of the valley, there was a huge snow bridge caught upon 30 meters high valley hill. It looked like breaking and falling down any time soon. That was too huge and too unstable snow bridge. The current under it was very deep and rapid. We had to give up wading up the stream there. However, it was quite an inspiring sight.

"Photo by Uberto Calligarich"

We had lunch at down-stream of that place and slowly went down the stream. The sun in summer was as strong as ever, the temperature went up but the walking in a pure flow was very pleasant. In the pool by Nabekura-zawa, high school students boys and girls sawanobori (stream climbing) group was practicing swiming supported by instructors by a rope. They said they were wading up Oh-Obisawa from now on and stay overnight in the mountain and coming down the climbing path tomorrow. We waved hands and said, "Take care and enjoy!". Everyone turned about and waved hands with a smile.

This time, we could not reach the target waterfall. Moreover, it was only 200 meters from the waterfall. It was disappointing, but fishing was very good and we really enjoyed breathtaking sceneries. Also, we met more fishermen and sawanobori climbers than usual during this trip, and everyone was very nice. On the last day, we met the local elementary school students who were led by the teachers. They were on a beginner river hike tour and everyone looked enjoying the walk very much. They all said hello to us with smiles. It reminded me the smiles of the high school students who were waving hands at that pool Nabekura-zawa a day before. I was thinking that Japanese young people were still not that bad.

"Photo by Uberto Calligarich"

Genryu Fishing of Japan #36

Iwaimata-zawa

Iwaimata-zawa, which is flowing through the Asahi mountains, is a major tributary of the Miomote river. Its middle area is one of the most famous and the hardest genryu in Japan with gorge bands as if it continues indefinitely. This summer, I and my friends went on a genryu trip aiming for the most upper section of the stream, which can also be said to be the heaven of Tenkara fishing, by breaking through the core gorge part of this Iwaimata-zawa.

We were a group of 5 people on this trip. Members were my usual partner Tsurumi-san, Takano-san and Fukuda-san from the well-known genryu fishing club "Tanidoraku", Yagi-san from Shizuoka, and me. As we would challenge a very famous tough genryu Iwaimata-zawa, the members gathered were people with experience and strength.

Destination, Iwaimata-zawa flows through the center of the Asahi Mountains spreading over Niigata Prefecture and Yamagata Prefecture. I joined with Tsurumi-san on the way and went to Iwaimata-zawa via Yamagata prefecture. We crossed the pass at the forest road of dart and aimed at the climbing mouth of Asahi Mountains which is car stoppage of this trip. The other three guys joined near Tokyo and came from Niigata prefecture side. This time it was a fishing trip using a three days holidays including national holiday “Marine day”, so we left our homes earlier if there might be other parties at the car parking, but there was no precedent in the parking lot. We had a toast with beer.

The weather forecast for 3 days was cloudy and sometimes rain. It was inevitable because the rainy season had not yet ended. However, in the sky at 1 AM there was a fair number of stars twinkling. After a small hour, three guys from Tokyo arrived safely. Tsurumi-san met with Fukuda-san and Yagi-san for the first time, so I briefly introduced them and drank beer again.

We drunk and talked for about an hour and took a short sleep in the cars. Two cars came over when a day got lighter, but as soon as they saw our cars, they drove away. Perhaps they were 1day fishers. We woke up and checked the packing. After taking quick breakfast we stepped onto the mountain path along the Miomote River. Takano-san had been to Iwaimata-zawa twice. He said it was about 10 years ago and did not remember the route well, but we were encouraged to have him.

In the beautiful beech forest, we walked the mountain path along the Miomote River for about an hour and arrived at the crossing point of Miomote River to Iwaimata-zawa. We had one job there. I decided to stretch 40 meter climbing rope across the river to prepare for water increase of the river due to heavy rain. The width of the river was about 15 m, and if it is not a too big rise of water, we can cross the river with this 40m climbing rope. There was the experience I had been saved by climbing rope to cross the river which had been increased water due to heavy rain. Besides Miomote River is such a big mountain stream. All members agreed with me and brought some 8mm climbing ropes.

After setting up the climbing rope, we crossed Miomote River. That strong flow had the depth of our chest. We climbed the steep slope of the opposite shore about 20 m. The footprints were almost disappeared and we got held the shrubs and managed to climb the steep slope somehow. When we climbed over the slope, a rich beech forest was spreading in a gently sloping terrace. We walked to upstream along the Iwaimata-zawa looking the old "Natame(Cut mark by hatchet)" attached to large beech trees as a route sign.

Natame" is the wisdom of old mountain people. They engraved a mark on a huge beech tree with a hatchet and used it as a signpost for such as zenmai paths in the mountains. They engraved simple marks to show the right route or sometimes person's names, recordss, simple route guides etc. Even in places where the foot path has disappeared, it can be possible to trace the right route somehow by this "natame".

We walk through the terrace for about 30 minutes and descend to Iwaimata-zawa once because there was deep valley of the tributary, but then we did not know where we could go up to the opposite terraces again. There must have been the footprints but it was completely disappeared. We lost 20 minutes to find out the route. Cross the Iwaimata-zawa under F1(Water fall No.1) and climbed very steep slope to the forest of the opposite shore. From there it was almost no foot paths. We searched for slopes that we could somehow walk and progressed looking for occasional "Natame". Originally, we planned to go to the temba(camp site) right under F3(Water fall No.3), but our physical strength have been exhausted rapidly and time has passed. After all, we went down from the forest to the stream under F2 and decided to set up a temba there in a small river beach.

Temba was not a very safe location if water increases with hard rain. The place was about 1.5 meters from the stream, but we had no chance to find out better place. Just in case, we found an escape place on the back slope. Fortunately, the weather became very fine, under the refreshing blue sky of the summer, we cooled down the hot bodies in the pleasant flow of Iwaimata-zawa.

We had lunch on the beach of the stream and set the tarp there and made the temba. I took a nap on the shore under in the shed. Other guys started fishing immediately near the temba. Fishing seemed quite good. Everyone caught good sized iwana right away. Takano-san and Yagi-san kept 3 or 4 iwana for the night. Right upstream of the tembla was the gorges that we can’t go through and the end of the gorge was Iwaimata-zawa's largest 8 m waterfall F 2.

By the evening, everyone gathered firewood and made a bonfire. We had a toast with beer and started cooking with drinking. I cooked grilled meat. Then Yagi-san made a grilled wonton with the Iwana meat. This was really good. The main dish was Tsurumi-san’s udon with pork miso soup. We were totally getting full. We went under the tarp and got into the sleeping bag one after another. I fell in asleep praying for the good weather for the next day.

I slept well and woke up at 6:30 in the next morning. Yagi-san and Tsurumi-san were already awake and making a bonfire. Unfortunately, the weather was cloudy with occasional light rain. The sky looked it would rain soon.

We finished quick breakfast and left the temba before 8 o'clock. We climbed over F2 and got off to the stream immediately. We prepared for fishing and started fishing. I walked a little downstream and fished in a big pool under a low but wide waterfall of about 1m. A good sized over 30cm Iwana bit my kebari at the 3rd cast. I enjoyed nice fight. After that, I fished 25cm iwana a little downstream of the same flow. I truly admired Iwaimata-zawa that I could catch this good sized iwana from the beginning.

After that we fished one by one and waded upstream, but the reaction of the fish gradually worsened for some reason. Both valleys and waters looked wonderful, and also there were no signs of people entered there for a long time, it was really strange feeling. By around 10 o'clock we reached the flat free stone area under F 3. It was one of wonderful sections of Iwaimata-zawa. Everywhere looked best fishing point, but for some reason we can’t catch good iwana at all. Sometimes we could only catch small 24 cm iwana only. At 11 o'clock, it began to rain in earnest. We took shelter from the rain under the trees, and we had lunch and watched the situation, but there was no sign of rain stopping. Weather was getting worse and fishing was not good. We thought that something was very strange on that day because of iwana’s reaction. So, we decided to go back to the temba.

We arrived at the temba before 14:00. Firstly, we arranged the baggage to escape from the temba at any time because we thought the rain was getting harder.

We decided to withdraw temba if the water level of the stream rise to the top of one rock on the opposite riverside, and we were seeing the situation. The water level was calming for a while, but rain repeatedly got stronger and weaker, and there was no sign to stop. In about an hour, I noticed the water became very turbid. "It might be very quick when the water starts increasing." We were talking about such a thing, then, suddenly, water level rose sharply by about 1 m. "We have to withdraw temba now." I said. So that everyone rushed to collect things around us. When we carried our backpacks to the high place of the slope. Then the next wave came. That time it brought water to the temp level. The water level rose by 1.5 m in only 3 minutes.

Takano-san and tsurumi-san climbed on the slope and carried the backpacks and other staff to the higher place. Yagi-san and Fukuda-san were collecting the tarp in the water. 10 minutes later, we were watching the swollen stream from the slope. Water level was then probably more than 2 m higher than usual. We talked it was just like a flash flood. I thought that perhaps the increased water flow was compressed by Gorges under the waterfall and it was spirited out downstream of it.

It was still 3:15pm when I saw the watch. There was no reason for being on the uncomfortable slope. We turned back the way to make a temba in a safe and flat place in the forest. At 5 o'clock we found a place where five people could lie down. We set a tarp and made a temba right away. It was never a comfortable place, but we had foods, water, mosquito-coiles and beer. Above all, the place was 20 meters higher than the stream a safe place. When the forest darkened, we began preparing dinner. Although it is a narrow tempba, food was abundant and we had beer to celebrate everyone's safety. We talked about today's happenings eating the dinner.

We talked about many things. If we carried on fishing more, or if we did not mind the rain, we were supposed to have been in real danger. Or we should have withdrawn the temba as soon as we got there. However, more than anything, we talked that Iwana’s reaction of the day was real abnormal situation. Perhaps Iwana were supposed to have evacuated in the safe deep places or under the big rocks, as they predicted that great rise of water of the stream. That made us gave up fishing and went back to the temba, and we could escape from the danger. We might have been saved by Iwana. Really nature can’t be revealed, but I thought if we have the antenna of our sense against the nature carefully, we can be able to sense the sign of nature.

Contrary to our wishes, the rain did not stop even at night. If water increase continues, we can’t go home tomorrow because we can’t cross the stream. I prayed for the rain to stop by mid night and fell into a shallow sleep. The next morning, I woke up at daybreak. When Yagi-san went to see the stream, and he said that the water was considerably decreased. Rain had almost stopped, and the clouds were getting thinner. We cooked breakfast with steamed rice which we made last night. We also made side dishes and ate firmly. We left the temba at 7:30. By then we could see the bottom stones in the shallow of the stream. "I think we can go home today" I said to encourage everyone. Actually, if we can cross Iwaimata-zawa under F1, I thought we can go home. As long as the remaining climbing rope across the Miomote River is alive, we can cross Miomote River. I thought the rope was probably okay now, but it might be raining hard again. We hurried ahead.

As we returned the route a lot yesterday, we could arrive at the crossing point of Iwaimata-zawa under F1 in about an hour. The shallow part of the stream was about our chest to the waist. Moreover, it was not such a strong flow. "I can go." so I held the climbing rope to secure me and went to the other side of the stream safely. And everybody crossed the stream one by one safely. After that, we walked in the calm forest for about an hour and finally arrived at the crossing point of the mainstream Miomote River. "Wow, there are lots of water. I can’t cross." Someone said. The other two guys had uneasy faces, but when I saw the river, it was much deeper than 2 days ago but it was not such a torrent. Moreover, the landing point of the opposite side of the river was the depth of the upper knee. The remaining climbing rope set on the river was firmly alive. "Okay, this is not problem at all. We can make it." I said so, and I lectured how to cross the river with “Furiko Watashi method”.

"Furiko Watashi method” is to jump into the river grabbing a rope with the fulcrum of the opposite shore as its peak, you are flowed as it is and arrives at the downstream of the fulcrum of the opposite riverside. 40m rope is long enough if you keep the end part of the rope, you can pull over the rope stretch it again and cross the river one by one in the same way. "Just look at what I do" I said and then jumped into the river for the first time. It was nice feeling to be flown by the river and I was shouting "Yahoo". Five seconds later I safely landed on the riverside of the opposite side. It seemed that everyone was relieved looking at that. Fukuda-san, Yagi-san, Takano-san and Tsurumi-san all crossed the three main-stream without any problem. In the end, we all did high touch with full of smiles.

Well really, it was quite a difficult two days, but on the other hand it was the best fishing trip with great colleagues. None of the members made any complaints or negative remarks to the anxiety that we might not be able to return on the scheduled day, evacuation from the flash flood or even to the emergency camping in the forest. Everyone was coping with any difficult situation with a smile and humor. Although I could not go to the core part of Iwaimata-zawa, I would like to try next year again. By the time we went down the climbing path along the Miomote River, mid-summer sunlight began to fall on the valley of Miomote river.