13th Mar. 2014

 

At the riverside

 

While I stayed in Morioka every day I watched the river by my apartment, so when I left there for Tokyo I made it a rule to say farewell to the rivers traversing the city that were Kitakami, Shizukuishi and Nakatsugawa. I wondered within my mind why my soul trembled just by watching the water’s surface. I felt a great romanticism in ancient times and I felt like singing a song of sorrow of impossible romance that I felt within my heart, but not yet ready to be expressed. I cherished it and anticipated the time when I would become capable to express it as a song, and realize by myself the reason why my soul became greatly moved at the sight of rivers. I always felt a hope to see them again on leaving Morioka with a sorrowful mind and greeting the river-scape to say farewell. Until that time I would move forwards. I felt the presence of souls of my ancestors within my life. This land was situated at the same altitude as the land of Koguryo and was at forty degrees north latitude. Trees and the flow of rivers looked very similar so I envisioned the life of Koguryo’s people in the water’s surface.
Standing by a river I felt that our life would be greatly opened up from now on, while sorrows of history have been with us. I felt an aroma of the future and would head for the direction that was designated by the aroma and wind within my life.