Episode 21 Mukibanda Ruins and Backyard BBQ

The "Yodoe Project" started the day before Christmas Eve in 2018. A major cleanup was done during the second round in late January 2019, and demolition and renovation proceeded during the third (March), fourth (May), fifth (July), sixth (September), seventh (December), and eighth rounds (February 2020). 

The ninth Yodoe Project was implemented over nine days from March 4th (Wednesday) to March 12th (Thursday), 2020. It was two months before Yoko and her daughter Momoko were scheduled to move. They decided to finish the kitchen as well as Western-style room, which was planned to be their bedroom.

Since November 2019, Yoko had been involved in a large-scale business improvement project at Company K, near the Nishinomiya-Kita Interchange (southern Hyogo Prefecture) along the Chugoku Expressway. During this round of the project, she was also scheduled to visit Company K for 5 days, Company E in Amagasaki (south-eastern tip of Hyogo Prefecture) for 1 day, and Company M in Osaka City for 1 day to provide support. So, she decided to leave the start of this round to the project members and return to Yodoe on Sunday(midpoint) and Wednesday (the last day).

The nineth round project members were

• Shokichi (Shota Nozaki)
• Shu (Shu Oki)
• Shotaro (Shotaro Miyahara)
• Yatsuda (Kohei Yatsuda)
• Habucchi (Masaki Habuchi)
• Kyo-chan (Kyohei Nagakubo)

Two new people joined

★From Osaka

• Higucchan (Yumi Higuchi, a furniture craftsman)

★From Kyoto

•  Raijiro (Raijiro Muto, a qualified electrician)

These eight members worked on this finishing construction project. By the time Yoko returned on the 8th (Sunday), the painting of the Western-style room had been completed. In addition to that, the construction works were underway on the deck-side entrance that leads to the toilet and second Japanese-style room (currently Edo-style Room), as well as the small staircase for the back entrance.

Yoko returned home with Kumiko (Kumiko Sahara) on the 8th (Sunday). Due to her other work commitments, Yoko didn’t have much sleep for a few days. Kumiko’s friend Neko-san was interested in Yonago, so she offered to drive Yoko and Kumiko there.

Instead of going straight home, they headed to Mukibanda Historical Park. It was discovered in February 1997 during an excavation survey before the golf course was conducted. Yoko's father, Shigeru, was passionately involved in the preservation movement. Project members Shokichi and his four friends from Osaka joined for this fieldwork.

Yonago-born archaeologist Kazue Sako (a professor at Kansai University) gave them a lecture on the ruins in the property's conference room. This happened because Shokichi became acquainted with Erika, Ms. Sako’s niece, through another renovation project. It turned out that Ms. Sako’s younger sister Keiko (Erika’s mother) was Yoko's senior in high school, so the topic of mutual friends became lively.

After Ms. Sako’s valuable lecture, they toured around the ruins with her guiding. They also visited the nearby Kamiyodo Hakuho-no-Oka Exhibition Hall and the ruins of Kamiyodo Haiji Temple, where everyone experienced the prosperity of this area during the Yayoi period (approximately 1,000 BC -300 AD) and its long-lasting history.

After Ms. Sako’s valuable lecture, she also gave members a guided tour of the ruins.  They also visited the nearby Kamiyodo Hakuho-no-Oka Exhibition Hall and the ruins of Kamiyodo Haiji Temple, where everyone experienced the prosperity of this area during the Yayoi period (approximately 1,000 BC -300 AD) and its long-lasting history.

At the Kamiyodo Hakuho-no-Oka Exhibition Hall, a replica of the “Ishiuma (Stone Horse)” was displayed. Everyone got excited because they knew about it through the oil painting done by Yoko’s mother, Keiko, which was hanged at the entrance of the house in Yodoe. The original statue was curved at the end of the 6th century. It is designated as an important national cultural property and stored in a nearby Amenokamigaki Shrine warehouse.

After visiting ruins in Yodoe, they went shopping in order to have a first BBQ at the newly made wooden deck in the backyard.

At BBQ, there were Yodoe Project members who participated in the construction during this round, Shokichi’s four friends from Osaka, Kumiko and Neko-san who traveled with Yoko, Teru-chan (Yoshida Teruko), Atsuko (Hirose Atsuko), Morisato (Morita Satoshi), and Yuttie (Kawazu Yuhei). Morisato also invited two young people who had moved here from other prefectures: Marcy (Masashi Sasaki), who moved to Daisen(Tottori), and Kanako (Kanako Inoue), who runs Guest House Temari in Nanbu Town, Tottori. The night was lively until late.

Yoko was very thankful for having created such a wonderful space for a BBQ and looking forward to using it in the future. The following day, on the 9th (Monday), she left Yodoe early and drove to Company K near the Nishinomiya-Kita Interchange. At that time, she had no way of knowing the surprising events that would occur next day.