Kataribe Village  

A village of about ninety inhabitants, located where a tributary joins the Yanga Gawa in the foothills of the Hida-sanmyaku.  There are two bridges in the village, though the larger one is constructed of bundles of branches laid upon a wooden frame, and is washed away when the water level rises in the spring floods each year.  When the bridge is gone, a ferry is operated across the Yanga Gawa instead.

The second bridge is smaller, and of sturdier construction.

North of the village stands a small temple, and close to that is a cluster of shacks occupied by those of the Eta caste.

In the village itself are two stone markers.  One has a niche cut into it, where a lamp burns continually, and a ceramic bowl usually contains an offering of rice balls.  The pillar itself is some four feet high, and is flanked by a pair of stone shishi.  It serves as a shrine to the kami who protect the village.

The other marker is shorter, no more than three feet high, and bears an age-worn inscription in Kanji, in the form of a haiku:

Since time began
the dead alone know peace.
Life is but melting snow.