やまなし

Author — 宮沢賢治
Finished — 2025-08-27

When I got very into the band Clammbon, my wife’s sister immediately recognized where their name had come from: this short story which is commonly read in grade school. It’s apparently commonly assigned in order to get children thinking about what ambiguous elements in a story might refer to, and each person develops their own idea of what the mysterious figure “Clammbon” mentioned in the beginning of the story might be.

I always meant to read the story myself, and found a collection on the shelf at the Katsushika Central Library, where I spend a lot of time these days waiting for my own children to do various activities about town. It didn’t make an especial impression on me, and I think I still have some study to do about its possible meanings, but I’m glad I finally traced the name of my beloved band back to its origin.