「開墾の地 北海道 1971-1977」　桜井永治　　

「Reclaimed Land Hokkaido 1971-1977」  Eiji Sakurai

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かって日本最後の開拓の地といわれた北の大地。
人が移り住み大地に杭が打ちこまれ、荒涼たる原野を切り拓き、コロポックル（蕗の下の神さま）の存在をも信じたくなるような自然との苦闘の上に土から生れる命だけを頼りに耕し、その地に定着するとそこに新しい郷土が誕生する。
新たな環境に夢や情熱をいだいて来た人たちもお天道さま次第のくる日もくる日も辛抱強く同じ作業に追われそこに築いた唯一のよりどころも時代の盛衰にほんろうされ残骸を自然が元の姿にもどし、去っていかなければならない人たちもいる。

Northern land once referred to as the last reclaimed land in Japan.
People migrated and nailed piles into the ground and pioneered devastated fields.
During painful struggles with the wild nature that make you really want to believe in the existence of Koropokkur (God under Japanese butterbur), they dug the earth truly and only believing in the new lives created from the ground. When people settled in this place, that also marked a birth of a new culture. Those who came with dreams and passion for new environment, they were chased by the same repetitive works day in and day out controlledby the conditions provided by the Mother Nature's Sun. What they have established were confused by the upsand downs of the time period and what had remained eventually got taken away by the power of nature and some were forced to leave from this place.