To be honest, this is not my first time to visit Aso, but I have to say that this is my first time to know about the real Aso. As a mountain lover, I have done quite a few hikings with friends around Aso area. However, apart from enjoying the views on the top of mountains and the muscle movements in order to climb up to have the views, it seems that Mt. Aso is not more than that for me. Thanks for the invitation of the Aso regional revitalization design center, I was able to be a member of this tour, to have the unforgettable cultural journey with Aso.
Actually, we had a lecture as an introduction to Aso one day before the tour. This lecture increased my curiosity about this place. I used to know that Aso is an active volcano, or say a mountain, but I was wrong. Aso is one of the largest calderas in the world, and its central cone group is made up by five peaks. This means that Aso is not just a volcano but an extremely huge caldera. While I was actually standing before the five peaks, the tremendous height of Aso nearly took my breath away, even I have prepared for that.The even more impressed me is that the grasslands around the mountains seem no boundary. Thus I couldn’t help myself to ask a question that how these grasslands are managed years by years, as I’d believe that any wild land would lose control by over growing grass, and managing these lands seems an extremely difficult work for the local people since Aso is such a huge piece of land.
My question was answered in the workshop of the day. In order to preserve the grassland, the local people burn the grass in plans. Fire is a natural part of grassland, and controlled burning could decrease the likelihood of other serious natural disasters. And, the important point is that the burning creates forage for the cows being feed by the grassland. What a great idea to balance between creatures and the land where the creatures are fed. I believe that the burning will be a very tough even life risky work for anyone. It is glad for me to know that the local people are expecting others from various parts of the world to come to help them in this work. To live better with the nature, it is our responsibility to preserve the lands. This thought has been running around in my brain even I came home. Now, I am expecting the next tour to Aso, especially hoping to be a volunteer of the controlled burn next year.
I specially thank Mr. Setsuta from the Aso regional revitalization design center who organised this tour and Professor Fujiwara who accepted me as a tour member.
