Spreading Wood Chips at the Dejima Ruins

Today, Saturday, November 15, 2025, I participated in helping the Onagawa Future Conference Dejima Project with the maintenance of the Dejima ruins.

Carrying bamboo

The maintenance work first involved putting cut bamboo into a branch shredder (wood chipper/garden shredder) to make wood chips.

Combined with the engine noise, it made a tremendously loud grinding sound when shredding, but after working from 10:00 AM until just past 12:00 PM, we produced over 40 bags of wood chips.

My task was to take bamboo from where it had been piled up previously and carry it near the branch shredder. Three of us were doing it together, but the bamboo was tangled with the soil on the ground, so it couldn't be pulled out easily; it was like a tug-of-war.

After that, once we had lunch, we carried the wood chips to the Dejima ruins and spread them on the path (a trail formed by people walking on the dirt). The dirt path became soft and cushioned.

Meanwhile, other members carried brush cutters and mowed the surrounding area.

Whether it's pulling and carrying bamboo or transporting 40 bags of wood chips, I realize how little one person can do alone. It is truly helpful to have many people.

Bears and dolphins

During lunch,

• Given the recent bear issues, if people knew there were no bears on Dejima, many might come to the Dejima trails.

• A fisherman from Dejima said he often sees dolphins off the coast of Onagawa. Looking into it, it seems dolphins migrate to the waters off Sanriku every year.

• In the past, we often saw black-tailed gulls (a type of gull), but we don't see them much lately.

We had a fun time chatting about these and various other things.

At the Onagawa Jomon Trail Festival on Sunday, December 21, we will walk along the soft, wood-chip-covered path while viewing the winter solstice sunset that the Jomon people likely saw. Look forward to it!