群馬県の山あいにある田舎町で過ごした数日間。滞在期間のほとんどが雨に見舞われる。窓の向こうが霞み、分厚く重なるような雨音が聞こえてくる。近県の川を氾濫させるほどの水量を記録した雨*は、道に深く溜まり、山を泥に変え、清流を激流とし、様々な物を運んでいった。滞在する宿泊施設の中に居て、外の様子に耳を傾ける。「明るいうちに」、そう言っていても写真は撮れない。昼夜を問う暇はなく、「いつでも」と心に決めて、雨が緩やかになるたびに写真を撮りに行く。

日が暮れ、雨脚が弱まった頃、また一つ足が竦むような光景を目にする。それは、夜の暗さ。それは、忘れていた発見だった。暗くなれば明かりを灯し、部屋を照らし、道を照らす。毎日続けている当たり前の行動によって、本来ある「夜の暗さ」さえも忘れている。私は足元を照らして少しずつ進んでいた。見えないものを照らして写真に撮る。辛うじて見えたものを辿って歩いていく。

包み込むような雨と深い闇。その中に向かって「どうか」と歩みを進めた。この時、私は初めて「自然に入る」という経験をしたのだと思う。隙間なく浸透していた闇と水分にいざなわれ、私は漂うように、自然の中へと入っていった。

*この雨は後に「平成27年9月関東・東北豪雨」と呼ばれる24時間の降雨量が300ミリ（最大600ミリ以上）にもおよぶ記録的な大雨として名前を残した。

I spent a few days in a rural village in the mountains of Gunma. It rained almost the entire time I was there, turning the world outside the window hazy and filling every space with a heavy, unceasing rhythm. This record-setting rain caused rivers in neighboring prefectures to overflow.* It flooded roads, turned mountains to mud, transformed clear streams into raging torrents, and swept away everything in its path. From inside my lodgings I listened to what was going on outside. My first thought was to take photos while there was still some light, but the rain made that impossible. So I decided that no matter the time of day or night, I would go out to take photos every time the rainfall became less severe.

As dusk fell and the rain turned to a gentle shower, I went out and was immediately struck by the scene before my eyes. It was the dark of night, like a forgotten discovery. Ordinarily when it gets dark we turn on lights to illuminate rooms or roads. This unremarkable part of our daily routine has caused us to forget what true darkness is. I could only illuminate the ground directly in front of me and proceed a few steps at a time. I would cast light on something invisible and photograph it. I walked by following what I could barely see.

Both rain and darkness enveloped me as I somehow managed to move forward. That was when, for the first time, I felt that I had truly entered nature, that the darkness and water had seeped into every last space and was drawing me further in. It was like I was cut off from the rest of the world and drifting deeper into nature.

*Later this rainstorm would be known as the Kanto and Tohoku Downpour of September 2015 where 300mm of rain fell in the span of 24 hours, with some places recording levels of over 600mm.