There is land purchased this year at the back of an unpaved path which only one car can barely pass through.
When the growth of the plants which had been very powerful from spring to summer calmed down, I started to mow the plants of the land about 20 minutes away from my house by car.
It’s been nearly four years since I moved to Hokuto-shi, Yamanashi Prefecture.
This place seems to be well suited for me and my family more than I had imagined and it is hard to believe that at the beginning, I was thinking to go back to Kamakura where I had lived until then if we did not fit to the land.
Far from being unfit, I could not leave this place anymore where rich and delicious water springs.
My house and atelier, which I found when I was in Kamakura, is located in a convenient area and allow us to live at the foot of mountain moderately.
But I feel we have obviously changed from then.
I have gained confidence in living at the foot of mountain in the past four years.
Perhaps, taking my daughter to and from a nursery school 500 meters high from my house by car throughout the seasons, whether on sunny, rainy, foggy or snowy days, has trained me.
I was blessed with friends too.
And my daughter, who was just one year old when we moved in, will move on to elementary school from next year and has become a reassuring member of the family, is another big reason.
After these experiences and encounters, I feel like I am being driven to set my base in the wild land for dyeing, weaving and living simply and humbly while staying more close to nature.
I am grateful to my husband for approving my urge.
He began to design when he was in the real estate business and became a self-builder at the end.
This is a change from the time when we were involved merely in painting our house which we were building, and were thinking that we were not capable of building our house ourselves while admiring self-builders.
With feeling pressure to step into the woods without utilities, there may also be things I will need to make decisions bearing in mind of nature conservation.
In fact, I do not know how much we can do it ourselves.
It will be a holiday work while working, so it will take some time too.
But there is a path to the backlands that leads to our next activity and we are standing at its gateway.