People in warm places like Edo and the Kamigata region rejoice when snow falls, saying, "It's a sign of a good harvest," hold snow-viewing parties, and enjoy putting snow into poems. But that is a game for people in lands with little snow. In Uonuma district in Echigo, where I live, snow piles up more than a jo, about three meters, every year. For the people of snow country, snow is not something to enjoy but a source of suffering, an enemy to be fought.
When autumn ends, the people of snow country are busy getting ready for winter. They put up snow fences of boards and thatch around their houses and store firewood and food. Once the snow starts to fall, they must clear it from the roofs; left alone, its weight would crush the house. Clearing the roof is repeated many times each winter. The roads are buried, and even to get in and out of the house they must dig paths through the snow. All winter long, the people of snow country wait for the snow to melt inside houses that get little sunlight.
For many years I have observed snow. If you catch falling snow on a black cloth and look at it through a microscope, its shapes are as beautiful as six-petaled flowers, and no two are alike. I copied those shapes and put them in this book.
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There are many bears in snow country too. I heard a strange story from an old man I knew, about something that happened to him when he was young.
When he was young, the old man went into the mountains, still covered in snow, to gather firewood, slipped and fell to the bottom of a ravine. Unable to climb out, he wandered through the snow until he found a hole in the rocks and crawled in. Deep inside was a bear.
The man was sure he would be eaten, but the bear did not attack him. On the contrary, when he shivered with cold, the bear came close and warmed him with its body. When he suffered from hunger, the bear held its palm out to his mouth. When he licked it, it tasted sweet, and it kept his hunger at bay.
The man spent many days in the den with the bear. When the snow began to melt, the bear left the den, and the man followed it and came out on a path that led to the village. They say he got home safely.
Do bears, too, have hearts that pity people? It is a truly strange tale.