At last, I went to Niigata to vist my great-great-great grandparents’ graves. It is located in a small isolated village. So the temple ward welcomed me warmly as if I were one of her family members. At the same time, she was wary of me and interrogated me, which seemed like typical behavior for that area. It was interesting to me.

Niigata holds feminine energy compared to the neighboring Hokuriku area. It reminds me of my grandmother’s skin. Everyone in Niigata behaves with that feminine energy that i mentioned before. So I started to remember clearly, “Yes, this is Niigata”. This was the second time I went to Niigata, but Niigata was very familiar to me. Strangely, I knew what Niigata was.

Four generations back, there were many ancestores who were born and grew up in Niigata. In the Edo Era, Niigata was separated into many small fiefdoms, yet it produced many wise and knowledgeable people. I found one of my ancestor’s name and his photo in the history of Niigata. I feel that this gave me something good like a light in the darkness.

I will keep on reseaching about Niigata in the Edo Era and I will reach somewhere I never imagined.