Part 32: The Restored Site of the Incident

The Restored Site of the Incident

In July of 1990, then seventy-six years since the incident, the Rokusensawa at the site of the bear attacks was restored to as how it had been at the time, thanks to the will and work of citizens of Sankei and Tomamae. A similar impressive exhibit was the main feature of the Tomamae Museum, opened in 1984, which forced those who visited to reflect on those terrible days and how the victims had suffered. However, to restore the original site of the incident would be problematic. The original site of the Miyoke house had been buried and a road now ran over it, and the rest of the area was similarly changed. Therefore, a different plot of land was chosen, part of the frontier about two kilometers into the national forest: a plot designated as a work site which bore resemblance to the original site. This plot stands about between where the second-innermost house, that of the Ishigorō family, and the third-immermost house, that of the Iwazaki family, would have been.

The 19 kilometers of the road which spans between the Kotanbetsu city center and the restored site of the incident has been given the moniker “Bear Road,” and because it is rather convenient, the site has a never-ending train of visitors.