Bear Arguments
For a time, the Sankebetsu Incident plunged all of Hokkaidō into a deep terror. It was widely reported in the papers. Even now, I think, old-timers’ memories of the incident remain fresh. At the time the frontier folk, the farmers, and the loggers were all trading in rumors. But for the workers in the Imperial Forest, because the incident had happened to people in their jurisdiction, it was actually their job to get to the bottom of what had happened.
At the time the Imperial Forestry Agency was based in Sapporo. A branch office in Haboro had jurisdiction over Kotanbetsu. You could go as far as Rumoi by train, but after that it was either carriage or horseback to the interior. The road to Haboro was on the coast. However, transportation was expensive, and most times not worth it, so most took the several days’ walk in.
It was seven yen per person for a carriage from Rumoi to Tomamae. First-class was fifteen yen. You might marvel at those prices, but at the time your average telegraph operator, for instance, had a salary of about fifty yen, and a sack of rice cost around six yen. For this reason, visits from the head office were extremely rare. A village graced with the presence of a high official would be sent into a frenzy as the whole town prepared to provide a worthy reception.
Officials from the head office requested the details of the incident. In a rare move for those days, they sought the testimonies of regular folk. An official from the bureau was required at every interview, and they had to know every single detail of what had really happened here. At that time modern conveniences and entertainments, even including liquor, had not spread to the area because of its isolation and remoteness. So instead, arguments over the brown bear were fought, hotly and often, and with much gesticulation.
In August of 1931, the Haboro train line was finally extended to Kotanbetsu. With travel to the region made much easier, impressed visitors spread the word of Tomamae. The next summer, Inoue Shigenori, an engineer who had transferred from the Kiso branch to become chief of the Sapporo branch, took his first tour of the area. That night a rousing party was held, and when the subject of the bear attack was broached, Gotō Go, an engineer with the local office, gave a lively retelling of the event, replete with full-body movements.
All present were rolling on the floor laughing at the aforementioned disturbance at the Ikeda house. The tragedy of the Miyoke family set off a wave of sweaty palms clenched in anxiety, and the section on the bear wind renewed memories of the whole affair. The regional branch chief’s words of praise were accepted and the employees of the local branch thought well of their new head.
These festivities were not limited to the Imperial Forest. In the autumn of 1916, the year after the incident, a veterans’ gathering was held in Tomamae. On that same night there was a lavish gathering of police investigators. Hanai Yoshijirō, standing head of the ninth district’s Young Mens’ Association, gave his usual account of the turmoil at the Ikeda house. This sent the chief investigator into peals of laughter, and so the next day the investigator summoned for Hanai, desiring some spirited conversation.