I have been a nature lover since I was a little boy. In my university days, I went to mountains very often and reached the tops of all the 3000m class mountains in Japan. In the mountains, I came across various animals and I had very pleasant time with them. I really felt free in the mountains.
When I finished my third year at university, I asked for a year’s leave of absence and moved from Tokyo to Yamagata Village in the mountainous region of Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture. I lived in a farmhouse with a host family for a year. I helped their work everyday and had a lot of experience. And through this, I decided to live in nature after graduation from university.
There was another reason for my decision of life. When I was a junior high school student, I saw a documentary movie titled “The Old Man and The Hawk” on television. I was deeply moved with a scene that the old man and the hawk came to understand each other and I also fascinated by the hunting scene in nature. With graduation near at hand, I had no hesitation to become a falconer.
As soon as I graduated from university, I visited Mr.Kutsuzawa Asaji, the model of “The Old Man and The Hawk” and asked him to take me on as his apprentice. But Mr. Kutsuzawa was already 79 years old at that time, so he did not accept my wish easily. I was rejected 5 or 6 times. But I never gave up and I visited him again and again as I spent nights in the open near his house. He finally accepted me.
I named my first
hawk “Kabu” after the mountain nearby. Kabu is a male hawk eagle. The first
several days, I was always with him to try to understand his feelings. Then I
trained him as a hunter for 3 months. I repeated trial and error. And at last,
we went hunting to the snowy mountains and walked about chasing game. I spent
all the time with Kabu that winter. But we did not get any game.
Continued.
Matsubara Hidetoshi