Our Planet

Text : Takuto Kashiwagi

This winter brought one of the biggest snowfalls in a decade and gave many opportunities for children to play and explore. They buried themselves in deep snow, and their eyes sparkled with many shapes of ice, the list of beautiful encounters goes on. I want to focus on sledding in particular, because it is such a classic play among children. Because of its simplicity, it was interesting to see how it developed in its forms.

Since it started to snow, children started to bring sleds to their usual playground Kunekune Yama (Winding Mountain). Because the number of plastic sleds at Yamanoko is limited, there were many attempts to go down on plastic bags and shovels. After many tries, they were able to control their own speed and found their own favorite ways to sledge.

Once they got used to going on a sled, some started to stand up, some started to go down with their backs in front, some started to go down with many people on board, there were many explorations on how to go down sleighing.  They seemed to be enjoying the differences in speed and sense of balance compared to the times going down alone.

On one day when children seemed to have gotten used to snow, at Mt. Hachimori, Sota said “I’m going to make a jump ramp“ and started to make one with snow. There was nobody else that wanted to make one with him, so he was making one by himself. S-chan seemed more interested in making the jump ramp than sliding on it.

A week later, at Kunekune Yama, J-kun said “I’m going to make a jump ramp“, and started to make a step. When S-chan was making his,J-kun showed no interest, but he started to create his own and enjoyed the process. When he saw the ramp that he had created admiringly and started to go down many times with K-chan.

The next day, K-chan and H-chan started to create a sled in the afternoon. The next day, in our morning get-together, K-chan and S-chan decided to do woodwork after being introduced to the sled. K-chan spent two days making a sled and brought it to Mt. Hachimori once it was created. It was such a successful ride and everyone had fun.

Seeing the children explore the materials and ways to go down on a sled, shift the environment by creating a jump ramp, and make a sled on their own, made me feel like I was witnessing a history of how snow sports were invented. The culture of snowsports, I feel, was invented and developed due to the curiosity of wondering how to interact with snow and the feeling of “this could be fun!“. With this in mind, I could not help but to think how curiosity, fun and play were a big part of culture aside from winter sports. Culture was partly created because of the powerful feelings that pour out within ourselves as humans within an environment. This notion reaffirms that we are deeply connected with culture and we hold the abilities to create culture.

　

Lastly, I want to introduce you to another play.

When the wind was blowing and the ground was completely frozen, we were successfully able to use the power of the wind by spreading a plastic sheet while on a sled. I could never forget the expression of surprise when we were able to use the power of the wind to something that will transport us.

Now that we have developed many skills and cultures to protect ourselves from nature, the opportunities to interact with nature directly and understand them have significantly reduced.  On the other hand, the factors such as how to live in an ever changing climate, how to interact with wild animals, and how to design the energy cycle remind us of the necessity to understand nature (or/and earth).

For me, children who play in nature and who lead with curiosity and fun are my heroes as well as my trust-wrothy buddies.