Along a river

Transcript

This afternoon I went out for a ride on my mountain bike. I rode along the Yasu River, which is about 600 meters from my house. The river is small and shallow, but the banks are deep and wide because it becomes huge after heavy rains. Every spring and summer the river changes its course a little. It's the same river within the same banks, but every year it takes a slightly different course. About ten kilometers downstream from my house the river empties into Lake Biwa.

When I ride or walk along the river, I often stop and sit on a big, flat boulder about a kilometer from my house. It's right at the edge of the water on the south bank, about halfway between National Route 8 and the Shinkansen tracks. You'd think it would be noisy, but except when a train goes by it's very peaceful. I can sit there a long time, just watching the flow of the river.

I grew up next to the Okanogan River, which flows along the my father's farm. When I was a boy, I could run from the back steps of the house and be in the river in about 30 seconds. In five minutes I could walk down to the nearest good fishing hole, when I used to catch carp and small-mouth bass. Often I walked along the riverbank, sometimes hunting, sometimes fishing, but mostly just enjoying the scenery.

Rivers have always brought me great pleasure. I don't know what it is that appeals to me so much, but when I'm along a river where there are no other people, I always feel at peace, and often I'm awed by the greatness of nature. There is something humbling, yet reassuring, about the constant flow of water that began long before I was born and will continue long after I die.