The Mountain Ran!!

"The mountain ran!" - What that terrifying phrase means

《August 1, 2025 Editorial Update》

Back when my two daughters were still children...
It happened during the autumn break of their two-semester school year, when both were at home.

Just after a typhoon had passed, I left the house by car to check on the rental property I used as my workspace, and about five minutes later...

I received a call from my mother-in-law and pulled the car over.
"The mountain behind Mr./Ms. XX's house has collapsed!"

I don't really remember how I turned back after that.
I just had to hurry! Hurry! I had to get the children and my mother-in-law to safety!
That was all that was spinning around in my head, and I gripped the steering wheel with trembling hands.
Mr./Ms. XX's house was two doors down, and the mountain behind it was connected to the mountain behind our own house.


I finally made it home, packed only the things I could think of, put the children and my mother-in-law in the car, and headed for my parents' house...

My daughters asked,
"What about the dogs? What about the dogs!"
At the time, we had two large dogs.
My car was small, and it was already full with two adults and two children...
"I can't fit them in with us, so I'll come back for them after I drop you all off!"

I dropped the three of them off at my parents' house and immediately turned back,
with my mother and mother-in-law's
"It's dangerous, you can't go back!!"
shouts echoing behind me...

When I returned, there was a line of cars far before reaching our house, and the area was in chaos with many police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks lined up.

"You can't go any further because it's dangerous!"
a police officer told me, but I replied,
"My house is right there! My family is still there, so I'm going to get them out!"
I said that on the spur of the moment and was let through.


While I was getting the dogs out,
"If the mountain collapses now, we'll all be buried together..."
I thought, but I desperately loaded the dogs into the car.
(They are family, they are my children, I could never abandon them!)
I frantically loaded dog food and dog essentials into the car as well.
As the rain started falling again, I was soaked, just desperate...

We spent about a week living in evacuation at my parents' house with my husband, our two daughters, my mother-in-law, and our two big dogs.
(Both dogs were true large breeds, weighing 40kg each.)

Even after we returned home, I was too scared to go see the landslide site for a while...
From almost the very top of the mountain behind us, it had avalanched "as it was," along with the cedar trees that had been standing there.
It swallowed the house of Mr./Ms. XX that was below, along with the couple who were inside...

The words that the neighbors on both sides who witnessed the scene said in unison were,
"There was a terrifying rumbling sound I'd never heard before, and when I looked outside... 'The mountain ran!'"
they said...

It didn't gradually collapse from the top,
but the many cedar trees remained standing, and it was as if 'the mountain moved downward at high speed, as if it were running.'That's what they said!

"But it felt like I was watching it in slow motion."
Those words from my neighbor still remain vivid in my memory.

More than 10 days later,
I finally went to see the site.
The mountainside was exposed as if it had been gouged out.
A huge hole had opened up in the middle of that mountainside.
Water was still flowing out of that hole with an eerie, roaring sound.
The two-story house that had been below was buried in earth and sand, leaving no trace.

Everything was reality,
and yet, a scene that was all too surreal was there before me.

The landslide did not occur during the typhoon.
It happened after the typhoon had completely passed.
Because it was a typhoon with so much rainfall that it was called a 'rain typhoon,' and it had been raining continuously even before the typhoon arrived...
The mountain soil must have absorbed a significant amount of water, loosening the ground until it reached its breaking point.

The experience at that time, and the trauma that continued for many years afterward... I would fall into a state of terror every time it rained heavily.
This was the catalyst for me starting my environmental activities.

I have written an article about the actions I took after that.

Landslides often occur after typhoons or heavy rain.
Please do not let your guard down just because...
'The rain has stopped'
or 'The typhoon has passed!'
Please, do not go near mountains, hillsides, or rivers!

[This experience was the starting point that awakened my interest in environmental activities]

This is an article from quite a while ago, but I would like to participate in
Now's Second-san's
#HugTheEarthTeam
project.🌏