In the
north of Maioka town, there is a smaller Citizen Forest. It is Shimonagaya Citizen Forest. Though it is smaller, the Forest too is a representation of the
21st century Satoyama. It surrounds small but productive
agricultural fields, maintaining a traditional topology of Japanese
agricultural village in the sea of residential houses.
If there
is a parking, the access to the Forest would be the easiest by car. It situated
few hundred meters from Kan-2 Han’nya-ji Traffic Light 環２般若寺信号 of
6-lane Circular Road #2 (Kanjoh 2-go-sen 環状2号線). As
there are several large warehouse-stores and drive-ins (e.g. Yamada Electronics
ヤマダ電機, Yoshinoya 吉野家, Tonkatsu-Matsuya
とんかつ松屋, Sukiya すき屋, Tsutaya ツタヤ, Lawson ローソン…) around the traffic light,
you can try your luck by parking your car there, and keep crossing your fingers
the stores do not notice … Otherwise, the least physically taxing way to go
there is by bus. Take Kanachu-bus #30 (time table here and here), #71 (time
table here, here, here and here) or Kami-202 (上202 time
table here) from Keikyu Kamio’oka Station 京急上大岡駅, and
get off at Han’nya-ji Bashi Stop 般若寺橋バス停. From the bus stop, walk few
meters to the Circular Road, and find Kan-2 Han’nya-ji Traffic Light. Cross
Kan-2, and take the road next to Lawson. Less than 300m from there, you’ll find
steps with the sign “Shimonagaya Citizen Forest.” If you don’t mind navigating
the residential sea on foot, the Forest is in 2k south of JR Higashi-TotsukaStation 東戸塚駅, or to 1.5k north of Shimonagaya Station 下永谷駅 of Yokohama City Subway.
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| Kan-2
Han’nya-ji Traffic Light |
 |
| Take
the road behind the sign post of this Lawson to … |
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| Shimonagaya
Forest in front of you |
 |
| South-east
Entrance to Shinomagaya Forest |
As we
can see in this map, 6.1 ha Shimonagaya Forest looks like a comb same as Shishigaya
Forest. Shishigaya is eaten from all directions by residential developments
with houses right next to the trekking road of the Forest. Shimonagaya Forest
is nestling productive farm lands and orchards, almost protecting them against
the tsunami of housing developments from the north. When we look down small
valleys from the 1.2 k trekking roads of the Forest, we can see well-established
chestnuts orchards, vegetable farms and greenhouses where farmers are busy
tending their products. I could not find remains of rice paddies or streams there,
which would mean the area has traditionally been for vegetable cultivation.
Actually, Shimonagaya Forest is the 3rd oldest Yokohama Citizen
Forest, established in 1972, 5 days after Kamigo Forest. If the first 2 Citizen
Forests (Iijima and Kamigo) are grandpas, Shimonagaya is a grandma. It has a
very gentle atmosphere, and lots of camellias.
 |
| Off-limited
chestnuts orchard |
From
the entrance from the Circular Road, the trekking way climbs up along the trees
which separate the road of the Forest and the agricultural land. Few meters
into the Forest, there is an open space, with picnic benches and a view of
residential areas surrounding the Forest from the South. Keep on going and take
the road to the left when we meet a T crossing. It leads us into the northern
circumference of the Forest, separating the Forest and residential area of the
North, almost along the fences of private houses. The route gives us a feeling
the Forest is indeed protecting the agricultural field from the urban
development. Almost in the middle of this road is Tsubaki-no-Hiroba (つばきの広場 Camellia
Open Space) where camellias are surrounding the open space with toilet and
potable water faucet. North of the Camellia Space has several private houses …
I imagine they see this space as a kind of their garden … OK, with toilet.
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| The
road climbing up |
 |
The
farm field is demarcated
by the zoning ordinance of the City. |
 |
| The
first open space with picnic benches |
 |
| … and
its view |
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| The
road to the West to Camellia Space |
 |
| ctd. … |
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| Camellia
Open Space |
 |
| Toilet
for Shimonagaya Forest |
From
the Camellia Space to the south, the road soon becomes a paved pedestrian
promenade where, it seems to me, the locals use as a shortcut to the Circular
Road. The huge bonus of this route: a spectacular view of Mt. Oyama, Tanzawa Mountains, and Mt. Fuji for a lucky day. Along the way, there is Gosanmi-tei
Open Space 五山見亭 with benches. (Though, the view from the benches is covered by trees.)
Further to the South, when we see the roofs of houses ahead, turn left into the
woods, and there is Yamanokami-Inaridai-Hiroba (山ノ神稲荷台ひろば the Hill of Mountain God and
Inari Shrine) where there is no shrine, but several benches. They might have had
a shrine. i.e. The Forest around here has the remnants as Shasoh-rin 社叢林, or
forest village shrine 鎮守の森. I could not feel here the
existence of Taiwanese squirrels or “Wanted” posters of squirrels as in Maioka
…There are another beautiful camellia trees in the open space … in a fine day
of autumn, very good smell, wafting within the forest. No, it is not a
fragrance of camellia …
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| A promenade |
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| Gosanmi-tei |
 |
When
I’ve been there,
Mt Fuji was under the clouds … sigh. |
 |
| To Yamanokami-Inaridai Hiroba |
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| Yamanokami-Inaridai Hiroba |
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| A view
from Yamanokami-Inaridai |
From
there, we can dive into the Forest more to Momi-no-ki Hiroba (もみのき広場 Fir
Tree Open Space) which is just below the Camellia Hiroba. The fragrant, almost
noble, air continues, and I could find the reason at Momi-no-ki Hiroba. Within
the Forest, and around Momi-no-ki Hiroba, many white osmathus fragrans open
their white flowers in a November morning. I didn’t know they had such a
refined smell … not that showy as bright orange fragrant olives. In spite of
the vicinity of such huge industrial road, Shimonagaya Forest keeps its
elegance in a very decent way. Aging graciously, really …
 |
| Momino-ki
Hiroba |
 |
| Beat
my rudimentary skill of photo … |
If you find a problem in the Forest,
please make a contact with
Office for the Park Greeneries in the
South 南部公園緑地事務所
Yokohama Municipal Government
Creative Environment Policy Bureau 横浜市環境創造局
Phone: 045-831-8484 (I guess in
Japanese only)
FAX: 045-831-9389 (I hope there is
somebody who can read English …)
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