Aokigahara Forest. You know, just searching Rock Wisdom for a title for this blog gave me several options. It seems "Forest" almost makes its way into lyrics because of a dream like state or a place where people go to find faith, themselves or strength.
-Went looking for faith on the forest floor, and it showed up everywhere. In the sun, and the water, and the falling leaves, the falling leaves of time. - Neil Young, You're My Girl
-The Earth is our mother just turning around, with her trees in the forest and roots underground. Our father above us whose sigh is the wind, paint us a rainbow without any end. - John Denver, The Flower That Shattered The Stone
-Hills of forest green where the mountains touch the sky, a dream come true, I'll live there til I die. - Don McLean, Castles In The Air
-A new day will dawn for those who stand strong, and the forests will echo with laughter. - Led Zeppelin, Stairway To Heaven
Aokigahara Forest, or the Sea of Trees is a forest at the base of Mt. Fuji. From what I have read, a long time ago, many Japanese families would take their elderly parents into the woods here when they could not afford to take care of them. They would leave them, and the elders would get lost and not be able to find their way out. Supposedly, the area is haunted with the angry spirits of those left to die.
Then, came a book that was written about the Sea of Trees in which a couple went to the forest and killed themselves.
This began a long history of suicides in the forest that changed the name from simply Aokigahara Forest to Aokigahara Suicide Forest. The numbers have been increasing over the years and recently the government has stopped announcing the numbers in hopes that people would stop going there to try and kill themselves.
It is an interesting history and you can read more specifics here if you would like.
Doing a random search for the forest will give you photos, documentaries and other information pages about the history and exploration of the area. Cameron, being always interested in the human condition and the strange and the weird, found out about this place and had to go.
I was quite interested as well, so off we went together for the Sea of Trees. I had worked the night before and he and I drove to the Mt. Fuji area when I got off in the morning. I did sleep part of the way and there was a lot of traffic due to it being a weekend. It took about 4 hours to get there.
The forest is large, so finding exactly one area to go in and explore is rather difficult. Cameron had done some research and picked one parking lot. When we arrived, we noticed a bathroom, gift shop, tour buses and lots of families walking around in the area. This surely couldn't be the same forest we had read about....
Then, we found a separate entrance into the forest. It was in the back corner of the parking lot, where no one else was parked. There was also a camera on a pole by the entrance and a sign in Japanese. Supposedly, they have cameras posted to watch for people by themselves that look like they may be there to commit suicide. We, of course, decided to park down there and enter.
Nearly 15 feet into the woods and you feel like you are in the middle of the Twilight forest. It was gorgeous. Something like I have never seen coming from Texas. It was green, alive and beautiful. There were so many things about it that made me think it was so alive and this didn't fit my idea of a "creepy" forest, as everyone describes it as.
Cameron pulled out his camera and started working. We walked along the trail, a bit hesitant to know exactly which way on the trail to go and what we would find. I'm not sure why we thought we would see dozens of people hanging in the trees. If anyone did go there to kill themselves, they did not do it on the main trail, but off, deep, into the woods.
As we walked along we passed by an area roped off, going off the main trail and signs in Japanese elluding to "keep out" and a picture of a camera posted. We debated over and over if we should dare to explore off the trail, but in the end, we didn't. I didn't want to be confronted by Japanese police or guards. I'm not sure why I was so scared to. I'm sure at some point we will go back and I will adventure off with Cameron.
We followed around, not seeing too much, but also not seeing any other people. This was strange since we had seen all of the tour buses and people out at the parking lot. Then, we came to an area where another trail met up and lots of signs. Three Japanese people came from the opposite direction at us. We "konnichiwa'd" and then they asked basically if we had come from the direction we came from. We nodded and they looked shocked! Oh noooo, they said, basically. They wouldn't go that way.
Apparently, the Japanese are taught not to go to the Sea of Trees there and that it is a bad area, so the only people that go there mainly go deep into the woods to kill themselves.
We looked at some of the signs and Cameron found a few trees where people had carved in dates on them....that's when it seemed to change in the forest. We kept on, going the direction the other Japanese people had come from and we saw a few more couples and families. The woods began to get more dense and more looming as opposed to "alive" for me.
We got to the end there and I realized all the tour buses and people were there to see one of the Ice Caves at the beginning of the woods. They would all tour that, but not many would actually go off onto the trails into the forest.
The trail had gotten more rocky towards the end, as this forest has been built on old lava. I saw trees in weird shapes and things that did make you wonder...was someone here that wanted to hurt themselves? Did they put these ties on the tree so that they could find their way out if they changed their mind?
Cameron went back without me last week and had an entirely different experience. Being there alone really must mess with your head and he began to feel very strange and thought he might be seeing things. I'm sure he could explain it better.
It's sad to me that it has such a bad connection with the trails. It's beautiful there. So full of life. I'm sure that's why people escape there to end their suffering. It's calming, alluring. They can be alone with their thoughts and it's like the outside world doesn't exist.
Suicide is a horribly sad thing. What's more tragic is this month for me has had so many connections with suicide. It's heavy on my heart at the moment. I've heard of a couple people in the past weeks who have passed due to suicide. The Navy even sent out an email to all of us discussing how this year, the military is seeing marked increases in the number of suicides.
People left after their loved ones have gone on in that way are left wondering "why" for the rest of their lives. You never know what is secretly going on with a loved one. You may not be able to see the internal termoil they are experiencing. Please take a moment every day to show a loved one or friend you are there for them and if they ever need you, to call on them. That may be all they need to open up and find help for pain they are experiencing.
I'm sorry to be so down today, but it has been weighing on my heart and I feel that I feel better as I share.
(It seems the digital photos didn't send well between our computers and my blog and they might seem a bit unfocused. The film ones look better, which I'm sure makes Cameron happy. The film and most of the digital photos are all from Cameron Kline)
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