誰からも何も言われなくても、84歳の山崎元造さんは毎日のように中奥川に沿って歩きながら缶を拾う。聞かれないかぎり、本人もそれについて何も言わない。その素敵な性格を知っている地元の人は愛情と親しみをこめて、山崎さんを「げんにい」と呼ぶ。

高知県で生まれ育ったげんにいは、昭和34年の伊勢湾台風の数年後、奈良県・川上村に来て、中奥地区に住みながら山行の仕事をした。山で毎日のように出てくる鹿や獣を見て、狩猟をしたくなった。

最初のうちは鹿を獲っていたが、ある日げんにいは初めて熊を獲った。その日は仲間と猟犬８匹と一緒に出かけた。雪に覆われた山を歩いていると、犬が木の穴の中で熊を嗅ぎつけ、吠えた。げんにいは穴から出た熊を一回撃ち、倒れた熊を犬が襲った。そこで終わると思いきや、熊は犬を１匹残らず振り払った。げんにいと仲間は鉄砲でバンバンと撃ったが当たらず、熊は沢を渡って谷の向こうへ逃げた。みんなで追いかけたが、犬が崖を登れなかったので、げんにいは１匹ずつ運び上げた。しかし、雪には足跡もなく、熊がどこに行ったか分からなかった。げんにいは岩を登り、腐った雑木の塊の上に立った。

「見渡しても、どこにもおらん。だけど、犬があっちでもこっちでも鳴いてる。そうしてるうちに突然、地面が抜けてばこんと落ち、腐った木の中に足が埋もれてしまって。そうしたら、股から……熊が！　びっくりした！」

腐った雑木に立っていたげんにいは、熊の上に落ちたのである。するとまた熊が逃げ、木に登った。仲間は遅れて上がって来て、「熊、そっちいたぞ！」と言ったが、あまり役に立たなかった。げんにいが登った熊を撃ったら、熊が転げ落ちた。昔の人によると、熊は死んだふりをするらしいので、げんにいは倒れた熊に石を何十回もぶつけて、死んだことを確認した。

げんにいの獲った熊はツキノワグマだった。普段山の仕事を１日して１０００円をもらっていたげんにいは、熊の皮を十万円、熊の胆嚢を10万円で売った。薬や漢方のために使われている熊の胆嚢は古くから需要が高い。しかし、どんぐりや木の実を食べるツキノワグマは、人工林の拡大などによって生息地を失い、紀伊半島で絶滅するおそれがある。このため、奈良県ではツキノワグマの狩猟が１９８７年より禁止されている。その年までにはすでに、げんにいは熊の狩猟をきっぱりやめて、西国三十三所巡礼、写真の現像、パソコンなどに次々に熱中した。パソコンがうまく動かない時、死んだふりをした熊と同じように、金槌でやっつけてしまう。今のところ、十台目が順調にいっている。

Vol.2 First Bear

Without a word from anyone, 84 year-old Genzo Yamasaki regularly walks along the Nakaoku River and picks up cans. He himself won’t mention it unless he’s asked about it. Knowing this beautiful personality, the locals call Mr. Yamasaki “Gen-ni” with love and familiarity.

Born and raised in Kochi Prefecture, Gen-ni came to Kawakami Village, Nara Prefecture a few years after Typhoon Vera in 1959, living in Nakaoku ward and working as a yamaiki. Seeing deer and other game in the mountains every day, he wanted to start hunting.

After hunting deer for some time, Gen-ni caught his first bear. He went out with his buddy and eight dogs. The dogs caught the scent of a bear sleeping in the hollow of a tree and barked. The bear came out of the tree, and after being shot once, was attacked and buried under the pack of dogs. However, the bear managed to get up and shake the dogs off, sending every last one scattered across the ground. The bear ran away and fell ten meters off a cliff. Gen-ni and his friend shot at the bear with their guns, but didn’t hit it. The bear crossed the stream and ran away to the other side of the valley, so everyone chased after it. Since the dogs couldn’t climb up the cliff, Gen-ni carried them up individually. However, with no footprints, they had no idea where the bear had gone. Gen-ni climbed up a large rock and then stood on a pile of rotted wood.

“Even when I looked down, I didn’t see a thing. But the dogs were barking all over the place. All of a sudden, with a crack I fell through the rotted wood, with my legs stuck inside. When that happened, in my crotch….it was the bear! I was surprised!”

Standing on the rotted wood, Gen-ni fell through and landed right on top of the bear. The bear ran away and climbed up a tree. His buddy came up right after and said to Gen-ni, “The bear, it’s over there!”, but of course that was of little help. 

Gen-ni shot the bear in the tree, and it came tumbling down. According to many older people, bears often play dead, so Gen-ni hit the bear dozens of times with rocks just to be sure it was really dead.

The bear that Gen-ni hunted was an Asian black bear. Typically making 1,000 yen for a day’s work in the mountains, Gen-ni could usually sell the bear fur for 100,000 yen and the gallbladder for 100,00 yen. Used for remedies and Chinese herbal medicine, there has been a high demand for the bear’s gallbladder since ancient times. However, naturally eating acorns and berries, the Asian black bear has lost much of its habitat due to the expansion of planted forests, etc., and is now feared become extinct on the Kii Peninsula. Due to that fact, hunting of the Asian black bear in Nara Prefecture has been prohibited since 1987. By that year, Gen-ni had completely given up hunting bears, instead becoming absorbed in the Saikoku Kannon Pilgrimage, developing photos, computers, and one thing after another. When his computer isn’t running very well, he hits it hard with a hammer, as if it was a bear playing dead. At this point, his tenth computer is running smoothly.