Rural Teacher. A Reading Book in Japanese

Once, the abbot of the Kemptukudji Buddhist temple handed over to his friend Tayama Katayu the diary of a parishioner, a young elementary school teacher. It was based on this that Tayama Katayu created the story "Rural Teacher", which is... still beloved in Japan and is considered one of the best works of modern Japanese literature.The real prototype of the "rural teacher" was named Kobayashi Hidezō. Like the hero of the future book, Hidezō moved to a provincial town and got a job at a small village school. Every day, going to work, he traveled six kilometers along rural roads.Today, the quiet town of Haniū has become a center of pilgrimage, and the ordinary village temple is the main city attraction. In the temple, the room of Kobayashi Hidezō has been recreated, where every visitor can feel the atmosphere of that time and walk the path of the "rural teacher." Hundreds of Japanese people annually walk these six kilometers to personally retrace the route that the young teacher traveled twice a day, and on this path reflect on their lives and hopes...