気になっていて果たしていなかった実家の墓地掃除とお参りを今日こそはと昨日の門前市で花を買って、夜のうちに父が裏に植えておいてくれた下草を合わせて何組かの御供え花を作っておきました。今朝はモタモタしていたら日は既に昇って結構な日差しになっていました。
子供の頃は裏道を上がって赤坂山の墓地に行っていましたが、もうずいぶん前から皆さん別の道を車で上がるので、裏道は殆ど行く人がなくなりました。荒れた道は私も怖いので自動車道を自転車で上がっています。しばらくお墓に行けなかったのは私の股関節の痛みがあったからで、手術後ずいぶん回復してはいるものの不安でした。それでも自宅の裏庭の伸び放題の雑草を見ながらもう待てない、早く掃除に行かなければと本日決行した次第です。
電動アシストのギアを１にして何とか上まで上り切りました。雑草は思ったほどではなく有り難かったですが、それでも持っていった「しまむら」の大きいビニール袋がいっぱいになるまで草取りをしました。供養の花と燈と線香で墓参ができほっとしています。周りは墓じまいをしているところが多く、我が実家もそんな話が出ています。寂しいことですが、私もいつまでお世話できるか自信がないので受け入れるしかないと思っています。
There was a thing which I had been wanting and hadn't done yet, that was going and cleaning my parents and ancestor's grave. But I could do it a few days ago. I bought flowers for an offering at the local market the previous day and prepared a divided bunch of flowers.
When I left home, the sun had already risen high up.
There are two ways to go up to the graveyard where it stays on top of a lower mountain called "Akasaka-yama". One is the way near my house and we used to use it with my family and many others when I was a child but many people do not use it nowadays because it is narrow and became run-down and they go up to the grave on another, wider, well-maintained way by their car. I also don't like to walk the narrow one alone now. However, I hadn't gone up to the grave for a long time because I had a problem with my hip joint and didn't have the confidence to go up the slope even after the surgery. Since I was very worried about the condition of the grave where weeds must be growing, I decided to go there and clean.
I could go up the hill by my battery-assisted bicycle and I was relieved because it was not that terrible with weeds. Cleaning the grave of my family for a couple of hours, I offered flowers and prayed. Many people are closing their family graves these days because younger generations are living in different places and they tend not to visit their graves anymore. It is also our family's problem.
