[Recommendations for 'Savoring'] Yearning for the 'Yashio' Rain and Savoring Books
[Recommendations for 'Savoring'] Yearning for the 'Yashio' Rain and Savoring Books
The things we secretly hold dear.
Even though they certainly exist.
We cannot point to them.
They are not just things that can be seen.
We decipher them, one by one.
We express them with care.
And then, we savor the collection of words created in this way.
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When dyeing fabric, dipping it into the dye just once is called 'hito-shio'.
'Hito-shio,' which means 'especially' or 'all the more,' refers to dipping fabric into dye once when dyeing it.
And, it is said that dipping it many times is called 'yashio'.
Also, the 'ya' in 'yashio' represents 'many,' and 'shio' means to dip into dye.
Now, going back in time to the Heian period, the deep, vibrant crimson of safflower was said to be a color longed for by the nobility.
[Reference Article]
[Reference Materials]
That longing is found in the Manyoshu, Volume 19, Poem Number 4156, by the author Otomo no Yakamochi:
Original text: 'Aratama no toshi yuki-kawari haru sareba hana nomi niou ashibiki no yamashita-hibiki tagitsu-se no kawase ni ayu-ko sashibashiri shimatsu-tori ukai tomonabe kagarizashi nazusahi-yukeba wamoko ga katami ka to shite kurenai no yashio ni somete okosetaru koromo no suso mo toori-shiorenu'
Kundoku (Reading in Japanese style):
"Aratama no toshi yukikawari haru sareba hana nomi niou ashibiki no yamashita todoromi ochitagichi nagaru hekida no kawa no se ni ayuko sashihashiru shimatsudori ukai tomonae kagarizashi nazusahi yukeba wagimoko ga katami gatetara to kurenai no yashio ni sometemo okosetaru koromo no suso mo toorite nurenu"
Modern Japanese translation:
"When the new year arrives and spring comes, the flowers bloom beautifully on the mountains, and in the shallows of the Hekida River, where the water roars and rushes down below, the young sweetfish dart about. As I walk through the stream with the cormorant fishermen, lighting torches, the hem of the robe that my wife dyed in a deep crimson and sent to me as a keepsake becomes soaked through."
It is written as such,
"The hem of the robe dyed in a deep crimson eight-fold hue and sent to me becomes soaked through." - Otomo no Yakamochi
as it is sung.
Depending on the region, this is a bit ahead, but Frost Fall is,
Frost Fall (Soko) - Twenty-four Solar Terms - Around October 24th to November 7th
It is also the season when you can enjoy beautiful autumn leaves in mountains and parks.
By then, the eight-fold rain must have fallen many times to dye them, I suppose.
The ancients called the autumn rain that dyes the trees in deeper colors with every passing shower the 'eight-fold rain'.
The trees that showed off the intensity of life under the scorching sun.
When I think that during Frost Fall, when the wind feels even colder and frost may fall in some regions, they are not just quietly losing their color but are being dyed by the colored rain, my perspective on autumn leaves changes as well.
Deepening autumn.
A mature season drifting with a calm and mellow fragrance.
May a vivid, lustrous, and beautiful autumn visit you...
Before that, let's imagine various scenes of the deepening spring that drift with atmosphere.
"Cat's Love"
"Time to Borrow Frog's Eyes"
"Turtles Calling"
'The hawk transforms into a dove'
In summer, 'the mountains drip with green'
In autumn, 'the mountains put on makeup'
In winter, 'the mountains sleep'
And in spring, 'the mountains smile'
In the fifth chapter of The Tale of Genji, it becomes the loneliness of deepening spring.
I feel that the same is true for books (^^♪
'Interviewing, Writing, Revising: A Textbook for Writers' by Fumitake Koga
The author of this book, Fumitake Koga, says,
'People who write good sentences have a daily reading habit, even if they are not voracious readers.
Just as one reads a book, one reads people and reads the world.
They confront everything in daily life with the attitude of an interviewer.
They are training their powers of observation on a daily basis.'
He spoke about why top creators read the same book many times as follows:
'What builds the foundation for this power of observation is, after all, reading.
Books are a medium that allows you to stop and think as much as you want, and the reader has the initiative in allocating time.
No matter where, at what pace, or how you read, everything is at the reader's discretion. By using books, which have such freedom, as an entry point, and by changing from passive reading to active reading—reading as if you are conducting an exclusive interview with the author and asking them questions—you can gain different insights from the book.
The words to keep in mind when reading are the same.
'If I met this person, what would I ask?'
Why did you decide to write this book?
What does the opening sentence mean?
Why was this expression used?
In that way, let's read while thinking of many questions, as if an 'exclusive interview' is waiting for us once we finish reading.
Indeed, the essence of re-reading is to approach the same book in various ways, and one could say that the first reading is merely a preliminary look to confirm what is written where.
Only here does the work of changing oneself through reading finally begin.
Just as the eight-fold rain falls and dyes the trees in deep colors.
As you repeat your re-reading while engaging in dialogue with the author.
You change yourself.
As if the same book appears as something different.
That is when true, full-scale reading begins, isn't it? (^^)
Because it is a dialogue, if there are 100 people, 100 different ways of reading will be born.
Reading while thinking of questions.
That is likely the method for performing your own unique 'reading'.
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Wondering which one to read today.
Immersing yourself in what you love.
'Hita-katsu' (immersion activity), soaking in time to face yourself (^^)
Tonight, the menu of books to savor is...
[Recommendation for 'Savoring'] Longing for the Eight-Fold Rain and Savoring a Book
'E5 Series Hayabusa Shinkansen' (Nobi-Nobi Zukan) by Mashima Railway Pictures, Illustrated by Yoshiyuki Yoshimura
'Elements: Here, There, Fragments' by Minoru Nomata
'N700 Series Nozomi Shinkansen' (Nobi Nobi Zukan) by Mashima Railway Pictures, illustrated by Yoshiyuki Yoshimura
'The Arabian Nights and the Japanese' by Hideaki Sugita
'Archaeometria: Seeing Through Archaeological Relics and Art Crafts with the Eye of Science' edited by Kunio Yoshida
'Tottorich: Poetry Collection' (Poetry and Thought Newcomer Award Series 6) by Yuan Okada
'Stories of the Stars' by Takeshi Kitano
'Look, It's a Book!' by Libby Gleeson, illustrated by Freya Blackwood, translated by Shuntaro Tanikawa
'The Broken Rosanjin' by Yoshiko Maeda
'The Infinity of a Single Stroke: Yasuhiko Kida Woodblock Print Collection' by Yasuhiko Kida
'Kaidan Botan Doro, Shiobara Tasuke Ichidaiki, Kagamigaike Misao no Matsukage' (Encho Complete Works, Volume 1) edited by Yoshihiro Kurata, Yasuyuki Shimizu, Shinsuke Sogawa, and Shinji Nobuhiro
'Nestling Close: A Forty-Year Testament of Ginza Club Maiko' by Yumiko Amamiya
'Gutai: The Trajectory of 18 Years of Japanese Avant-Garde, The National Art Center, Tokyo Catalog, GUTAI'
'Adventures in Time: The Imagination of Design' by Yukimasa Matsuda
'Katsunori Kobayashi Works: A Secret Gaze' by Katsunori Kobayashi (Author, Photographer)
'The Philosophy Book' by Will Buckingham, translated by Ken Kosuda
'Cat's Greeting' (Cat Flip Books) by Harumin Asao
'Cat's Welcome Home' (Cat Flip Books) by Harumin Asao
'Cat's Whim' (Cat Flip Books) by Harumin Asao
'Cat's Birthday' (Cat Flip Books) by Harumin Asao
"Cat's Proposal" (Cat Flip Books) by Harumi Asao
"Cat's Rendezvous" (Cat Flip Books) by Harumi Asao
"How to Build a Secret Base" by Takahiro Ogata, illustrated by Noritake
"Floating Avant-Garde" by Yoshiaki Nishino
"Weaving" (Biohistory Annual Vol. 65-68) by Keiko Nakamura
"So Nice Within Budget! Small Graphic Collection" edited by Graphic-sha Editorial Department
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