Today at Tokyo Komaya, we held the "Keiko Koma Coffee Ceremony" and the "Keiko Koma Today’s Story and Gathering to Express in Poetry the Deepest Wishes That Arise as We Move Toward Full Houses for Concerts." Drawing on my innate sensitivity to hear messages from trees, flowers, and life, I feel the body of each person present, determine a precise measure of beans, grind them, and brew coffee with hot water boiled by an iron kettle using a ladle into special cups that Master Idaki Shin made himself. As I brew, I feel in my body that purification and cleansing are taking place, because that is the very nature of the coffee roasted by Master Idaki Shin. When I move in a way that honors that nature, the coffee fills with light. Alongside the coffee, I prepared yomogi daifuku today—what I have named "Good Luck Koguryo Daifuku." The yomogi daifuku, too, leaves one with a sense of freshness upon tasting it, as though one's very life has been cleansed. The pairing of coffee and yomogi daifuku feels perfectly matched, and I believe those who partake will find their life purified. Drawing further on my innate sensitivity for perceiving the fate, inner state, and physical condition of others, I look into each person's interior and express in one word that which arises from wind, fragrance, and light—and write it in a brushstroke of ink on marbled Tosa washi. I believe this offers each person an opportunity to regain oneself and to see clearly what one is meant to do. With all my heart I wish for those who come to Komaya to take a great leap forward, and I pour everything I have into creating that space. "Today's Story" and "Gathering to Express in Poetry the Deepest Wishes That Arise as We Move Toward Full Houses for Concerts" that follow are approached with equal wholehearted commitment—I give everything I have so that, no matter what, these become occasions for the words of life to be born. There are improvements and challenges constantly. When the day is over, I notice many things and feel keenly how I might do them differently next time, yet I approach each occasion in earnest.
Words are life itself—they open one’s life and even change the world. This I have continued to experience ever since meeting Master Idaki Shin. I survived with only two months to live and have come this far. It was, of course, the experience of meeting Master Idaki Shin and being liberated from fate that allowed me to express the words of life. As long as fate remains, one does not know who one truly is. Fate inherited through generations of ancestors resides within us, and so our temperament and character, too, have been passed down from those ancestors. I was aware that I had never lived as my true self. After being liberated from fate, a life of living as my true self was opened. I have expressed the words of life—which I have been calling innermost demands—and, by expressing them, a life of living as my true self unfolded. I see clearly that this experience will spread throughout the world. Believing that the expressions of life born at Komaya will spread across the world and bring about a movement toward world peace, I think and act earnestly.
Today, too, delicious coffee was brewed. And today I served everyone a parfait made exactly as I had wished to make it. I cooked adzuki beans the day before. The adzuki beans, too, were cooked in conversation with them, and even without tasting, I could sense they would be delicious. Exclamations of delight arose, and after everyone enjoyed them with great joy, the gathering became bright, lively, fun, and warmly convivial. When it ended, all left with smiles, scattering back to their respective places. The words "see you again" become the energy that carries us forward. Each person goes back to one’s place, makes one’s contributions, returns to Komaya to regain and refine oneself, then goes out again to make more contributions—and in that cycle of repetition, I see a good world being built without fail, which fills me with joy and gratitude. Thank you so much for today.