KEIKO KOMA net

13 Feb. 2010

Toukasui

Sometime since last night, I have repeatedly uttered to myself, Toukasui, plum flowers and water. When, in December, I visited Jiian , an ancient capital city of Koguryo, it was twenty degrees below zero. However, I was so excited with joy that I felt spring breezes blowing under the very severe climate. A stream of water seen under a frozen river purified my heart. Then I heard that in the land of Koguryo, people used to call Tokasui the sound of melting ice and a stream of water. It was indeed a romantic word that expressed a beautiful aroma. I recalled that since childhood I loved to find a plum tree blossom under a severe winter sky as it was like a torch in the darkness and seemed to tell me of the arrival of spring. In reality a plum flower was called a special flower that told people of the arrival of spring and encouraged them to endure the severe winter for a while. By the time there would be a bloom of plum flowers, its pinkish light would spread all over the large sky. It was a light of hope and as I looked up at the sky under a plum tree, I was surrounded by a world of plum color. My life greatly rejoiced at this wonderful sight. Last year I wondered why I loved a plum more than anything else. While in Japan people usually talked a lot about cherry blossoms, I was lonely. I could not enjoy them like other people. When I visited the land of Koguryo in China I asked our guide if there were cherry blossoms and he replied that there people have been celebrating plum flowers as the symbol of the spring season. Then I acknowledged the reasons why I cherished plum flowers. When the ice of a river started to melt, I could hear footsteps of spring: plum, flower and water, ”Toukasui”. Since yesterday I wished to hear this sound and listened to a message from my internality. It was full of vigor and a fresh aroma of pure spring water. Buds of new life were growing up. .