その情熱の向き先
この事件の記事を読んで、この岩の存在を知った。
崖から落ちそうで落ちないことで知られ受験生などから人気を集めていた高知市の神社の岩、「ゴトゴト石」。この岩を工具などで揺れ動かない状態にしたとして、大学生の男女６人が器物損壊の罪でそれぞれ罰金２０万円の略式命令を受けたことがわかりました。
高知市土佐山地区の仁井田神社にある高さ１メートル６０センチほどの岩、「ゴトゴト石」は、押すと「ゴトゴト」と音を立てて揺れるものの、崖から落ちそうで落ちないことから、受験生の験担ぎなどで人気を集めていました。
この事件を報じる朝日新聞の記事の見出しは、「住民の執念で罰金刑」だ。告訴までには大勢の人の手を煩わし、かなりの費用もかかっただろう。
一方、こんな幼稚な悪さをするためにわざわざ東京から高知県まで行く、学生たちの、目的達成のために夜中に山道を歩く執念に感心する。
大学生は男５人と女１人で、ＳＮＳ動画でゴトゴト石を知った。「俺たちで落としてやろう」と２６日朝にレンタカーで東京を出発、２６日夜に高知へ着いた。石を押したが、揺れるばかりで落ちない。いったん愛媛県内の商業施設へ車で向かい、ノミやハンマーを購入。山奥に戻る途中で車のタイヤがパンクした。暗い山道を徒歩で戻った。改めて石を落とそうと試みたが、石は動かなくなった。
２７日朝になり、今度は高知市内でジャッキを購入し、落とそうと試みたがジャッキは折れた。夕方には疲れてあきらめ、工具を放置したまま帰ったという。
情熱しかとりえのない、行き当たりばったりのプロジェクトだ。
彼らが通う大学は、彼らのしでかしたことを知っているのだろうか。
タイトル写真は、高知市のホームページから引用
The destination of that passion
I learned about the existence of this rock after reading an article about this incident.
Gotogoto-ishi, a rock at a shrine in Kochi City, was popular among students taking entrance exams because it was known for not falling off cliffs. It has been revealed that six male and female university students were each fined 200,000 yen for damaging property by using tools to make the rock immobile. The Gotogoto Stone, a rock about 1 meter and 60 centimeters high at Niida Shrine in the Tosayama district of Kochi City, makes a thumping sound when you push it, but it doesn't seem like it will fall off the cliff, so it is recommended for examinees. It was gaining popularity as a carrier for children's experiments.
The headline of the Asahi Shimbun article reporting on this incident was, "The culprit was fined due to residents' tenacity." It would have required a large number of people to file a complaint, and it would have cost a lot of money.
On the other hand, I am impressed by the tenacity of the students, who travel all the way from Tokyo to Kochi Prefecture to commit such childish misdeeds, walking mountain trails in the middle of the night to achieve their goals.
The university students, five men and one woman, learned about Gotogoto Stone through SNS videos. They left Tokyo in a rented car on the morning of the 6th and arrived in Kochi on the evening of the 26th, conspiring to take it down themselves. They pushed the stone, but it just shook and did not fall. So they drove to a commercial facility in Ehime Prefecture and purchased chisels and hammers. On the way back into the mountains, the tire of the car they were riding in got flat. They walked back down the dark mountain road. They tried to drop the stone again, but it stopped moving. On the morning of the 27th, they bought a jack in Kochi City and tried to lower it, but the jack broke. In the evening, they got tired and gave up, leaving the tools behind and going home.
It's a haphazard project that can only be achieved through passion.
Does the university they attend know about what they have done?
The title photo is taken from the Kochi City website.