<4> The 1951 Photograph by an American Military Doctor, Shows The Omagarihama Beach and Inlet
Feb. 4th, 2018
The Ishinomaki Harbor construction utilizing the Kama region inlet began in 1961 (Showa 36) and was completed in 1967 (Showa 42). The estuary scenery of the inlet being filled by the Jogawa River completely changed.
The photograph is a view of grandchildren and an old woman carrying small fish on Omagari Beach which faces the inlet. The two in the foreground have stuck an oar, as though it were a carrying pole, through a bamboo basket and a tin bucket with fish, shouldered it, and are moving. In the background can be seen the figure of a young woman holding a bucket or something.
The Omagari Beach coastal levees (breakwater embankments) appear low, but if you ask Kama residents who know about the old Omagari Beach they will tell you that’s right; this [picture] shows the contrast of the pine trees that had grown tall. The water in the background is the inlet in Kadonowaki in Kama, and the middle of the Jogawa River filling the inlet was the border between Ishinomaki City and the old Kyuyamotocho Town.
The Kamanowatashi Ferry used to come and go here, carrying shoppers and peddlers by boat towards Ishinomaki.
For as long as anyone can remember there has been a deep connection between the Omagari and Kama regions; for marriages the saying “the Kama man and the Omagari woman” remains [even today]One of the chimneys from Tohoku Pulp (currently the Nippon Paper Group’s Ishinomaki factory) can be seen below the mountain ridgeline in the back which looks out in the direction of Ishinomaki. A south (ocean) wind is blowing, and since the smoke is trailing inland this may have been around the beginning of summerThe Kama inlet was a place where children would be taken by their parents to go fishing and shell-collecting, and many remember the pine grove encircling the bay. At the beginning of the Edo period, due to confluence construction by Shigeyoshi Kawamuramagobe [a samurai who became a flood control specialist], the Eaikawa River (Jogawa River), the Hazagawa River, and the Kitakami River stopped flowing into the sea and were established as a lagoon and tidal flat
Omagari was a prosperous district for the salt-making and fishing industries. As a gift from Mr. Kawamuramagobe, Kamaomagari (an exclave of Omagari Beach) within Kadonowaki was incorporated into Kadonowakimura Village from Omagarimura Village as the Kama region. The region’s name, Kama, comes from the [Japanese word for] pot used in salt-making.
<Please let us know if you have any information>
You can browse the published photos on the photographer’s eldest son, Alan Butler’s, website “Miyagi 1951”. https://www.miyagi1951.com/
Please feel free to contribute any information regarding these photos to Mr. Henmi at 090(4317)7706.
1955 Military Map
2018 Satellite Map
Photo of Area Shortly After Tsunami
米軍医が撮った1951、石巻地方＜４＞ 大曲浜と入り江
石巻工業港は１９６１（昭和３６）年、釜地区の入り江を利用した堀込港湾として着工され、６７（昭和４２）年に開港。定川が入り江に注ぐ河口の景色は一変しました。
写真は、入り江に面した大曲浜で小魚を運ぶ老婦人と孫たちの光景です。手前の２人は、魚を入れたブリキのバケツと竹籠を天秤（てんびん）棒ならぬ船の櫂（かい）に通し、担いで運搬。後方にもバケツか何かを手にする少女の姿が見えます。
大曲浜の海岸堤防（波よけ土手）が低いように見えますが、大曲浜の昔を知る釜の住民に尋ねると「その通りです」と話してくれて、大きく成長したマツの木と対比を見せています。後方の海面は門脇の釜の入り江で、入り江に注ぐ定川の真ん中が石巻市と旧矢本町の境界線でした。
かつては「釜の渡」が往来し、石巻方面への行商人や買い物客を船で運んでいました。
古来、大曲と釜地区の関係は深いものがあり、婚姻先として「釜男と大曲女」のことわざが残ります。
石巻方向を望む奥の稜線（りょうせん）の下に東北パルプ（現日本製紙石巻工場）の煙突が１本見えます。南風（海風）が吹き、陸地に向けて煙がたなびいているので、初夏の頃かもしれません。
釜の入り江は、子どもが親に連れられて釣りや貝拾いをした場所で、入り江を囲む一面の松原が思い出されます。江戸時代の初め、川村孫兵衛重吉による江合川（定川）、迫川と北上川との合流工事により、海に注ぐ水流を失い「潟湖（かたこ）干潟」として成立しました。
大曲地区は製塩業と漁業が盛んでした。釜地区は、門脇のうち「釜大曲」（大曲浜の飛び地）を川村氏が拝領したことで大曲村から門脇村に編入されました。地名の釜は製塩釜の釜に由来して今日に至っています。（郷土史家・辺見清二）
※米軍医が撮った1951、石巻地方＜３＞ 大町通り
http://ishinomaki.kahoku.co.jp/news/2018/01/20180128t13010.htm
＜情報をお寄せください＞
掲載された写真は、撮影者の長男アラン・バトラー氏のウェブサイト「Ｍｉｙａｇｉ １９５１」で閲覧できます。https://www.miyagi1951.com/
写真に関する情報は辺見氏 ０９０（４３１７）７７０６ にお寄せください。