佐原

小江戸「佐原」（2009～）
　江戸・明治・昭和時代の名残を留める町並みが千葉県香取市佐原の小野川沿いにあります。
私は、2009年の10月に「佐原の大祭」初めて行って以来、この地に愛着を持ち撮影し続けています。
　佐原は平成8年12月10日、文化庁から関東で初めて重要伝統的建造物群保存地区に指定されています。また、伊能忠敬が住んでいた場所として有名で現在でも伊能忠敬ゆかりの家が現存しているそうです。3.11「東日本大震災」で屋根瓦が落下するなど町並み全体が被害を受けましたが、町の人達は、復興に希望をもって生きています。

“Little Edo” Sawara (2009~)
There is townscape along the Onogawa River in the Sawara district of Katori City in Chiba Prefecture where vestiges of the Edo, Meiji, and Showa Periods remain. Since first going to see the Sawara-no-Taisai Festival in October 2009, I have continued to photograph this area with affection.
As my life work I have also continued to photograph Tsukuda, a district of Tokyo, and it seems that Sawara and Tsukuda have some points in common. That is, firstly, they are both towns situated on waterways that have old-fashioned townscapes and long histories exuding a sense of warmth; and secondly, they are both quiet small towns.
On December 10, 1994, the Agency for Cultural Affairs designated Sawara as an Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings—the first such designation in the Kanto region. The district is also famous as that place where Inoh Tadataka—Japan’s Master Cartographer—once lived, and his home remains even today as the Inoh Tadataka Yukari no Ie.
In the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011, the Sawara townscape overall sustained damage su