400年の隠れ里。学び場創りで人を育み自然と歴史を守りたい！

 ！English translation completed! !! Start sending to the world！

「Junkan no mura」Project

What do you think of, when you hear "Nature"?

 

A river murmuring, birds singing, insects chirping, the sound of the wind, the smell of grass, beautiful sunbeams…

 

At such places adults and children can find relief and regain their strength.

If we could create a place of learning and healing…

 

The stage is set in Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture.

 

Karatsu City´s  Hamatama-cho Yamase is located in the mountains at an altitude of 500m. It is said that it once was the location of one of the oldest kilns used for making Karatsu-Yaki, the traditional pottery of  Karatsu City. About 400 years ago, this area was settled by war-refugees, and at its peak time more than 30 residents lived in this isolated village.

 

It is a beautiful place, where you can sense the four seasons with cool summers and snowy winters. Its soil is of pristine quality and it is blessed with clean water, purified only by the power of nature, and even during the war its inhabitants didn't experience any shortage of food.

 

On a vast site of about 2.6 hectares located in Hamatama-cho Yamase, which has such a rich and beautiful environment, we will create a community called “Junkan no Mura” (Cycle Village), where you can experience the connection with nature, feel the harmony, and learn an independent way of life.

 

 

☀A unique family, full of courage to pursue its dreams

 

Hello, nice to meet you! My name is Hiroe Matsuda and I am the founder of the “Junkan no Mura”. I was born in Saitama and moved to Azumino City, a green area in ​​Nagano Prefecture, at the age of four. When my parents divorced, I moved to Karatsu City, Saga Prefecture. I am a single mother who is currently working, raising four children, making appearances as a radio personality, drawing pictures and doing event planning.

 

Actually, I was really bad with children before I had my first child. Without having any confidence or knowledge of how to become a parent at first, due to work reasons I wasn’t able to spend enough time with my children. However, when I started raising my fourth child, I wanted to make use of my experience and help some people! I started to think this way, and now I want to make it come true.

 

First of all, let me quickly introduce my family members, who encourage and support me.

 

Both of my parents remarried,  after they got divorced during my time as  a student. My mother married the chief of a Native American Lakota tribe. My father, an architect, married a client from Karatsu. I now have a very good relationship with both of them, and among other things we are having dinner-party for four every year.

 

Also, there is my sister's family, who moved from Nagano to Karatsu last year. My sister’s husband is a very skillful and handy person, who can do anything within agriculture, carpentry and cooking; and my sister is an artist of great sensibility. Including my sister's family we now have 9 children around, and living close to each other we live a happy life, bustling with activity.

 

 

Surrounded by such a talented family, we will gather support and meet the challenge of this crowdfunding!

 

 

☀I want to create a learning community in nature

 

About four years ago, after my child refused to go to school, I became interested in various topics concerning the educational setting at school and the family environment, and began to think about what I could do.

 

A group of like-minded people gathered and began to think, "We want to create our own community centered on learning in nature."

 

How to incorporate local history and culture into learning, how to focus on contact with nature, what kind of schools teachers and children would like to go... In addition to these questions, many ideals were lined up, captured in drawings, and shared.

 

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　The memo I had in mind at that time

 

However, at that time, there was no concrete plan concerning matters such as the location of the project and how to fund it, and it was still in the state of a pie in the sky. Also, due to the participants' work and family circumstances, the discussions did not proceed, but I did not give up and said to myself "the time will come someday...".

 

☀Encountering the dream and destiny of "village building"

 

Thus in December of last year, an acquaintance, who runs a guesthouse in Yamase, told me that a famous soba restaurant in the neighborhood suddenly decided to close, and wanted to sell not only the shop but the whole property including the land. I was very interested in it, and the next day I went to see it.

 

While listening to the babbling of the river and the chirping of birds, the owner Mr. Mizobe said to me: "The view from here is the best"; and from that place, where I could overlook the whole land, I was immediately awestruck by the vast landscape of 2.6 hectares... I realized that I could create the utopia that I imagined four years ago, and it was just love at first sight.

 

The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Mizobe, decided to move to Karatsu after the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake occurred.  Upon seeing this place, they immediately decided to purchase it. Since then, they have been running a Soba restaurant for 25 years, while Mr. Mizobe has also been a volunteer for about 5 years at a "school house" for children with problems, such as school refusal, enabling them to play in nature and experience farming.

 

 

Even after closing the soba restaurant, the wonderful environment of Yamase is often referred to as "Mount Ararat”, the site of a legend left over from ancient times, "Noah's Ark".

 

The wishes of those two are that this environment is cherished, and that what they have accomplished is passed on and preserved. We really want to hold on firmly to their wishes and make good use of this place.

 

Moreover, the names of the owner and his wife are the same as the names of my late grandparents. My parents, who live in Karatsu, inadvertently visited this place the day before we did, and thought that it was a wonderful place because of the appearance of the houses and the atmosphere of the land. My sister and her husband, who both love the outdoors and  whom I visited the site together with, were excited, saying, "Here, we can make use of everyone’s area of expertise ​​and create a utopia together."

 

 

As a result of various developments coming together, I  am brimming with confidence that I can join our strengths together and create a focal point for our efforts.

 

Thus, I decided to launch a full-scale village development project. The name is "Junkan no Mura”.

 

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