1980 I came here as a student. When I was about to leave, words suddenly leapt into my mind: 'You will get married and come here again.' I remember immediately retorting, 'That will absolutely never happen. I didn't come here because I wanted to, I don't even know where this is, and even if I come traveling to Hokkaido again, I'll never want to come here.' Twenty years later, while traveling in Hokkaido with my family and trying to head to eastern Hokkaido, a lot of coincidences and mishaps piled up, and we reluctantly decided to go via Wakkanai. While looking at the map around Kabutonuma, I remembered this place, and although I was in a hurry, I took a little detour to visit it. When I was about to leave, words leapt into my head: 'Your children will come here again.' I immediately and completely denied it: 'That will absolutely never happen. Even my eldest is only 9, and they have no memory at all of where this is. There's no way they'll come.' But when I think about how I, who should never have come, did come here, I think it might be possible. I realized that the 'Kototoi no Matsu' is not about the past, but is a 'pine that foretells the future, and is then questioned in return by the other person.

Late May 2024, a weekday. I had some free time, so I popped by. It was drizzling and the weather wasn't great, but it has atmosphere. Parking fits one car, and the explanation sign has deteriorated with age and is hard to read.

+1

The name Kototoi no Matsu is said to originate from the belief that if you asked this old yew tree, which has lived for over 1000 years, about past history and events, it would know anything and tell you, and so it was given the name 'kototoi.' In the spring of 1909 (Meiji 42), Kosuke Misawa from Akita Prefecture acquired this land. The large tree left in the middle of the field was in the way, so there was an attempt to cut it down, but several people fell ill or were injured one after another. Taking this as a divine message, it was made the guardian deity of this land, and it has been maintained with a sign board, a shimenawa rope, and annual weeding.

A pine tree by the roadside; you can see it when passing by, no need to make a special trip here

Tree age: 1200 years It's called a pine, but it's actually an onko (yew) tree (^^)