Irkutsk & Lake Baikal - Part 1

My neighbor Mitchie and I share some common interests. We both have traveled to Russia. Thus, this blog - Russia Part 3, Irkutsk & Lake Baikal. He sent me the related CD photo album dated Sept 2001. He and his wife with their close kin couple (called hereafter the Group) took the Trans-Siberian Railroad together to Moscow and Saint Petersburg and stopped by Irkutsk, the so-called Paris in Southern Siberia for 3 days. My interest was Lake Baikal, as a mythical birthplace of the Japanese race, originating from the northern Mongoloid groups, and often related to the world conqueror Genghis Kahn (1162-1227). We Japanese are born with benign skin markings ‘Mongolian Spot’, which fades and disappears as we grow. Linguistically the Japanese belong to the same Ural-Althaic Languages as the Mongolian. Japan was targeted by Kublai Kahn (1215-1294), the 5th Khan and his fleet force, not once but twice. By luck, Japan was saved each time by seasonal typhoons that sank Mongolian boats.

I liked to sing Russian folk songs when I was young. “By the Lake Baikal”, a bit bleak, was my favorite, and I still remember the song by heart. The melody belongs to an anonymous Russian folklore but the lyrics in Japanese were by the famous cellist Yoritoyo Inoue (1912 - 1996) - a returnee from Siberia as a prisoner of war. I want to say he is the best and irreplaceable lyricist of the song. Upon checking the original Russian folksong, I found the song was for the exiled Decembrists in 1825 to Irkutsk, lamenting their misfortune but pledging they would bear down and stand and return home someday. Please listen to the Japanese Dark Ducks Quartet’s melody I added for your listening pleasure.

Dark Ducks version

Russian version

The first exiled people came to Siberia since the beginning of the 17th century - with the beginning of the Romanov Dynasty. Wild, remote, icy Siberia became the place of eternal exile and death of many hundreds and thousands of people disloyal to the government. The first Decembrist group from Petropavlovskaya took almost two months to reach Irkutsk. Brave wives followed. These people stayed and died in Irkutsk rather than returning. In 1917. the revolution hit with the abolition of the monarchy. Bolshevik (Reds) eventually won over the counter-revolutionaries (Whites) in 1923. The civil war chased remnants, nobles and refugees into Siberia, far out to Baikal, drowning them in watery graves.

After their overnight hotel stay in Irkutsk, Mitchie and the Group, headed for Litsvyanka (see the map), located 70 km southeast from Irkutsk, near the point where the Angara River leaves Lake Baikal. There at the mouth of the river stands the colorful Limnological Museum. They saw not only fauna and flora but enjoyed its fabulous aquarium. In 1996, Lake Baikal was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Listvyanka is an old style Siberian village famous for its trade history, fish market and St. Nikolay’s Church made of logs in 1846 . It also has many scenic spots. On the way back to Irkutsk, they stopped at the Taltsy Wooden Architecture Museum in the open air. All of the structures represent the settlements of Evenks, Russians, Buryats and give an overview of the traditional home in Siberia.