🇯🇵 光谷 (廃村) 石川県小松市 Mitsutani, Abandoned Village, Komatsu Ishikawa Japan | July 2025 [4K Binaural]
The video starts just past Ikejōmachi, ascending by bicycle along Ishikawa Prefectural Route 167 (Nunohashi-Deai Line). You can sense the terrain around the village, the condition of the road, and the atmosphere leading up to Mitsutani.
Mitsutani (光谷, formerly 三ッ谷) was once a mountain village known for sericulture, forestry, and apple cultivation. However, severe damage from the 1963 “Sanpachi Heavy Snow” (昭和38年三八豪雪) devastated the orchards and infrastructure, prompting many residents to move away. Mitsutani gradually lost its population and became a deserted village.
While approaching Mitsutani, the road is eroded and under repair just before the village. Previously I attempted to reach it from the Torigoe direction, over the pass beyond Mitsutani Tunnel, but had to abandon the route due to heavy rockfall. When I asked workers at the construction site, they appeared unaware that there was once a village there.
動画の始点は、池城町を過ぎた地点から県道167号・布橋出合線を自転車で登るところから。集落周囲の地形、道の状態、そこに至るまでの雰囲気がわかる内容になっています。
光谷集落は、かつては養蚕・林業・リンゴ栽培が盛んだった山里でしたが、1963年（昭和38年）の三八豪雪で大きな被害を受けてから住民の離散が進み、集団移転に至り無人の廃村となったとされています。
ルートを登る途中、集落の手前で、道路崩壊のため、工事作業が行われており、集落への道程は険しくなっていました。また、過去に今回のルートとは反対側からの鳥越方面から峠越えで到達を試みたことがありますが、落石等の理由でそのルートは断念しています。集落跡地について作業員の方に尋ねたところ、廃村の存在を知らない様子でした。
0:00 Cycling to Mitsutani
13:53 Walking in Mitsutani
Map: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1Mj2h4aegG5qiulN8rhpcNVMmXbDWA14&usp=sharing
Date: 4th July 2025
Weather: 32 / 30 °C Smoke
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17:40 English translation for the stone monument
Chronicle of Mitsutani
In the past, there was a settlement of more than twenty households in this Mitsutani (also called Mitsutani). Due to the heavy snowfall of 1963 (Showa 38), the apple orchards that the entire Kanemachi community had been working on together were devastated, leading inevitably to the abandonment of Sekimachi. However, here there was a modest yet abundant way of life, with the rallying cry "Mitsutani makuri, sō-makuri" (meaning unity and collective effort in Mitsutani). The water from Shōzunba, which supported life in Mitsutani at that time, continues to flow inexhaustibly even today and is beloved by many people as Mitsutani spring water.
We pray that the lives and activities of the people who lived in Mitsutani will be passed down and remembered forever, and we erect this monument with that hope.
May 2014 (Heisei 26), An Auspicious Day Mitsutani Association