From Vienna to Sarajevo - Why I Chose Bosnia: The Monk Takahiro Ueda's Around-the-World Journey in Bosnia (1)
April 26.
I am on a plane from Vienna to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As one approaches Sarajevo, the mountainous terrain is covered in a thick layer of dark green.
Most of Bosnia is covered with mountains and forested areas.
Then, between the mountains, a small village appears, and from there the mountains continue on.
Bosnia and Herzegovina...
What kind of image do you have of this country?
The site of the Sarajevo Incident, the catalyst for World War I.
And where the Bosnian conflict took place in the 1990s.
Recently, the country has been talked about as the birthplace of soccer coaches Ivica Osim and Vahid Halilhodzic.
But there are probably quite a few people who know what kind of country this is and where it is located.
I, too, had no idea about this country before planning this trip.
I knew there was a tragic conflict.
But I rarely looked there.
In planning my trip, I was interested in this country because of my memory of being taught that the Bosnian conflict was a religious and ethnic conflict in which neighbors who had lived in harmony suddenly began to kill each other.
How can people hate others so easily?
Why was it possible to kill a neighbor who was close to you for religious reasons?
Does religion drive people to act cruelly?
Is ethnic conflict the gateway to hell destined for human beings?
These questions led me to decide to visit Bosnia, and then to read various books.
And as I read various books, I realized something.
The Bosnian conflict is not that simple."
It is not an accurate answer to say that neighbors who were close to each other suddenly killed each other because of their religion or ethnicity.
There was a depth of complexity awaiting us that the more we learned about it, the more incomprehensible it became.
Ethnicity and religion are not the only reasons for this conflict.
Too intricately intertwined histories, cultures, economies, ethnicities, religions, and agendas among the major powers.
Incredible characters and circumstances emerge when one tries to learn the background of this conflict.
Yes, this is a phenomenon that also happened when I learned about Israel.
Too complicated a background...
The background of an event is not easily known.
And this is exactly the kind of tragic event that occurred less than a few years after I was born in 1990.
In a world where I had lived peacefully without knowing anything, the worst postwar conflict and genocide was taking place.
It was in Europe, about to enter the 21st century.
When I think about it again, it was also a great shock to me.
That is why I have strong feelings for Bosnia.
And now I am on my way to Sarajevo.
The city of Sarajevo is also surrounded on all sides by mountains.
This could be clearly seen from the view from the plane.
This terrain led to the Sarajevo tragedy, but let's not talk about that now.
Finally, landing.
This is already Bosnia and Herzegovina.
I am sure that what you will learn here will not be so easy.
With a renewed sense of determination, we set out for Sarajevo.
be unbroken
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