(夜見山の里 公式年表 Yomiyama-no-Sato Kōshiki Nenpyō)
Public version kept in the town library basement (third floor, locked glass case).
Compiled by the town office and library staff 1955–1987.
Perfectly ordinary on the surface.
Only the dates and footnotes in red ink (added by an anonymous hand) betray what actually happened.
December 22–25 Record blizzard. Seven elderly residents missing for three days in the high forest, found alive on December 26 “miraculously unharmed.”
Footnote in red: “They brought the warmth back with them.”
February–March Seven simultaneous births, all healthy despite mothers’ advanced age.
Town records first use the phrase “Yomiyama Blessing.”
February 9 Unconfirmed reports of an American B-29 (or B-52 in later retellings) crashing in the upper valley. No wreckage ever located.
Footnote in red: “The mountain swallowed it whole.”
Yomiyama dairy co-op wins imperial prize for “deepest, richest butter in the realm.”
Birth rate highest in Gifu Prefecture for a village of its size.
Charcoal cutters report trees “moving when no wind blows.” Officially dismissed as carbon-monoxide hallucination from kiln fumes.
Last year with zero first-grade enrolments (1959–1962) reversed overnight.
25 babies born in a single winter.
Forestry survey rediscovers the “Höllental Cave.” Temperature inside measured at 18 °C despite −15 °C outside. Sealed “for safety.”
Dairy records show certain batches remain unspoiled for years when stored in the old stone cellars.
Footnote in red: “Because it is still nursing.”
Young adults who left for cities in the 1960s begin moving back “for family reasons.”
Population stabilizes for the first time in decades.
Record 41 births between December 1984 and March 1985.
Every child has completely black irises at birth (officially recorded as “temporary neonatal melanin excess”).
December 24 Unseasonal thunderstorm. Lightning strikes multiple dairy barns; no fires start.
December 25 All town clocks stop at 00:00.
Calendar in the town office refuses to turn to December 26.
Blizzard begins and has not ceased.
Population: unknown (census postponed indefinitely)
Temperature: −19 °C and falling
Status: “Temporary state of emergency – road closed by avalanche”
Footnote in red, final line, written in fresh ink:
“The children are ready.
The mountain is hungry.
Merry Christmas.”