PHOTO GALLERY
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At the 100th concert of Legends of Koguryo Rediscovered held at the Opera
theater in Damascus Syria, on 28th May 2007, I narrated the message of
the first king of Koguryo, king Tomei. I felt as if I was struck by
lightning, and his soul has indeed revived within me. Unified with it my
life was marvelously changed into a new one.
Then we continued our concert tour abroad to Turnovo, Bulgaria, Giurgiu,
Romania Ohrid & Bitola, Macedonia and Jerash, Jordan, to make six more
concerts by the end of the summer. On 11th September, we staged another
in Beijing, China, and it was the 106th concert of Legends of Koguryo
Rediscovered.
In Turnovo, a young man came to greet me with his pure blue eyes reflecting
the beautiful moon beam, and told me that the concert was never to be
forgotten, as he was so touched that he felt his soul moved to the full. In
Giurgiu, after the show was over, many children came around me asking for my
signature and shaking hands with me. They did not let me leave the venue,
when our translator explained to me with her face showing smiling excuses
on their behalf, that the concert impressed them so greatly that they wanted
to be with you as long as possible.
My performance, the Legends of Koguryo Rediscovered was presented to an
international audience for the first time in Tyre Lebanon on the 26th August
2005. In this particular concert spectators were so moved as the concert got
more and more animated towards the end that almost everybody started
to shed tears and gave a standing ovation. Everywhere could be heard bravos
and encores. Even I was at a loss for a while at what was happening while I was
narrating my poem on Tyre and Phoenicia. Owing to this wonderful experience
I started globally to give my poetic performance in Japanese, knowing that the
soul of man could transcend the difference of language.
In my poetic narration, I tell what actually happened in my life. Everyday
in my childhood, my father used to tell me stories of Koguryo, and said that I
have to live a life true to the spirit of the kings of Koguryo, my direct
ancestors. But I had difficulty in understanding a link between his story
and my actual life. I started to suffer because of this confusion, and
consistently damaged myself mentally and physically as well, and it was at
the age of twenty four that I was sentenced to die within two months by a
medical doctor.
It was in this extremely difficult period that I encountered the artist
Idaki Shin who displayed before me, by way of his unique piano
improvisation, all the history of Koguryo that had been inscribed in my
life as a dominant influence. The more I realized what historical
influences I have inherited, the more I recovered from the mental
abyss. I came to understand that history in the past was residing within
one's life until it should be properly acknowledged. When it is properly
expressed such as in the case of the sound of the piano played by Mr. Idaki
Shin, then even the most ferocious grievance in the past transforms
itself to a vital energy that melts into one's core of life. Now that
the truth is rediscovered at the internality of my life, it is showing
me the way to open up the future. My life was saved, and I came to realize
a new way of life true to my nature.
In the year 1998, I visited historic sites of Koguryo in China for the first
time in my life. It was in May when all the trees were celebrating their fresh
greening of leaves and newly born lives. It took me as many as 18 hours of
riding on a night train before reaching Jian, the land of Koguryo known for
its Wandu mountain city, Kokunai, the great general's tomb, the stele
of king Kotai, and numerous other historic ruins.
Towards the end of this journey we moved to Gojo mountain the original
site of Koguryo, where I came to experience another turning point in my
life.
As the ancient story went, in his childhood the first king of Koguryo, king
Tomei ranked high above all other princes in everything. His unusual talent
made him envied by them. Some claimed that he was not a human being. Some
planned a plot to murder him. To save his life the queen mother, Ryuka,
decided to let him leave the kingdom secretly and to live in a remote unknown
land. They knew it was a lifetime farewell and they would never
see each other again.
When I visited Mt. Gojo I was indeed struck by the grievance of king Tomei
that was sure to have been perpetuated there over 2000 years. I could not
resist crying over and over again until I came to understand that his
grievance became the driving force to build the ideal kingdom of his own in
Mt. Gojo: only when his grievance was transformed into love for others did he
stop crying,and dedicated his life completely to make everybody around
him live a happy life. Then I found myself also determined to dedicate
myself completely to opening up future society and contributing to
people all over the world.
In June I visited Pyongyang and Mt. Pektou in North Korea.
Pyongyang was the last capital of Koguryo. and I was impressed by its
excellent cultural heritage, well preserved and open for visitors. I felt
very proud of being a direct descendent of the royal family. Mt. Pektou
with famous beautiful lake Tenchi on top of it was the legendary place of
the hero Tangun. It seemed to tell me that beauty was the source of
human spirituality. I realized at the core of my life that only love could
give birth to eternal beauty.
Soon after my returning to Japan I lost both of my parents almost at the
same time. Hoping to regain my vigor, I visited Mt. Gojo again. I was
welcomed by the vice president of Huanren. However, I was not allowed to
climb the mountain. I could do nothing but return back to Japan in
despair. I swore to myself that I would come back again in the near future
but actually it took me as many as nine years until I was given the next
opportunity. Meanwhile I established a non-profit organization, NPO KOMA
following the last will of my father. He told me to invest all his
remaining fortune to manifest the spirit of Koguryo and to realize the ideal
of Heaven on Earth. Desperately in need of regaining my identity from the
saddest event in my life, looking forward was the only solution for me to
live on. So it was also during this period that I created the basic
program of Legends of Koguryo Rediscovered. The project consisted of a photo
book, a DVD video and a multimedia concert. For this purpose I started visiting
various parts of the world tracing back the roots of Koguryo. Mr. Idaki Shin
told me to go to Lebanon, the original place of Phoenician civilization.
According to his researches ancient Phoenicians could have had major
influence on Koguryo. In reality, when I was standing at the oldest historic
site of Tyre, dating back as long as some 9000 years ago, I vividly saw my
father among numerous souls of ancient Phoenician people. And then he
told me that the soul of man should live forever as beauty and be
eternal. Owing to this marvelous experience, I could recover.
Being the representative of NPO KOMA, eventually I started an NGO project to
support the drought area in Ethiopia. Later I came to know that Ethiopia was
the place of origin of the human species. So I have decided to dedicate the
final part of Legends of Koguryo Rediscovered to the scene of the excavation
site of Lucie, the oldest complete human skeleton ever found on earth.
Messages from Mother Earth
Embraced by the world far beyond heaven
Poetic reading by Keiko Koma
Piano improvisation by Idaki Shin
By discovering the true history of Koguryo, my ancestor’s dynasty,
I came to acknowledge the sources of energy to live on, to understand the meaning of
life and to realize the supreme happiness of being alive.
With gratitude to everything in this world I am determined to pave a way for global peace.
The artist Idaki Shin said that the internality of one’s life was broader than
the entire universe.
While, by way of his unique piano improvisations, he is expressing this
world without border nor limitation, allowing the audience to be filled
with love and happiness, I am creating poems as verbal messages of Mother
Earth. Truth is written not in history books but within each of our
lives. When one is ready and open to it, the truth itself will speak out
and opens the door leading towards the future of mankind.
One is sure to see the meaning and direction of one’s life from the
perspective of a glorious future. Every moment of one’s life is shining
beautifully. How wonderful my life is, as I can express, under any circumstances,
my sincere gratitude of being born to the Earth.
In Armenia
Flowers of light are hovering over
Beautiful winds
Gentle and soft as cotton
Dancing towards heaven.
A white flower was in full bloom within.
A man sees love and sadness at once.
Welcome to the world of eternity.
Encounter and be unified with it.
Keiko Koma
Every year the poet Keiko Koma spends several months traveling abroad, so
That she visits numerous historic sites and creates poems on the spot,
visualizing their cultural, historical and natural beauty.
Some poems of hers sound like the wisdom of a prophet, others like the
Messages of an ancient people. Her poems reflect the future she envisions for
the world and their authenticity has been always proved to be true by what
happens in reality.