Shimogamo Cool-Down Used Book Fair

I participated again this year.

The fair was held after the typhoon had passed, which had brought heavy rain that beat against the windows like Art Blakey's drumming. This was my second visit to Shimogamo Shrine this year, five days after my first visit on the opening day.

It was a different country from the scenery of just five days ago.
The passage of a typhoon changes the landscape completely. I am amazed by the energy hidden within a typhoon.

As soon as I arrived, I was overcome by the heat.
The humidity was so high that it felt like I could grab water droplets just by waving my hand.
The dense trees of the Tadasu no Mori forest trap the moisture and won't let it go.

The temperature feels twice or three times as intense due to the humidity. In response, the scent of skin rises. That scent, mixed with the humble smell of damp old books, is something I can still recall in the back of my nose even now.

It was nothing like the usual Shimogamo Shrine, where you are surprised by the coolness of the trees the moment you step inside with a brisk stride.

Visually, too, it was another world.

Branches broken by the typhoon—branches still lush and green with leaves—were scattered everywhere, so the usual sandy path was as green as a meadow.
A carpet not of grass, but of branches and leaves, snapped with every step I took, making a sound as if they had just died.

The books were wet and stuck together, or damp and heavy.
Mud was stirred up in the remaining puddles, blooming like flowers.

Where had the refreshing used book fair of the first day gone?
On the final day, the shopkeepers' cries of "Everything half price, half price!" as they tried to sell off their stock, added a sense of hopelessness and anticipation, like a black market after a disaster.

That said, the selection hadn't changed much, and the prices hadn't been drastically altered.

What I did was the same as the first day: I looked through them one by one, and when I found a book I wanted, I checked the price and decided whether or not to buy it based on the balance between my heart and my wallet.

I participated on the first day with a backpack.
As a result, I bought so much that my shoulders felt like they would come off, and I was plagued by self-reproach.

What am I going to do with all these books?

I go home and stack them on the bookshelf.
It is a happy thing to discover brand-new books in my room, but what am I going to do with so many more?

So, on this final day, I decided to bring only a tote bag and go home after finding just five or six books that I absolutely had to have.

As a result, I bought so much that my fingers felt like they would break, and I was plagued by self-reproach.
I ended up bringing home more books than on the first day.

That aside, my room has some new faces, and it feels a bit brighter.
Like when a new member joins a club, for some reason, I feel fresh myself.

Hasegawa Nyozekan Criticism CollectionEdited by Taizo Iida and Kenji Yamaryo, Iwanami Bunko
The World of Null-AA. E. van Vogt, translated by Yasuo Nakamura, Sogen Suiri Bunko
Dramaturgy of Noh: The 100-Performance Diary of Kikuo TomoedaTamotsu Watanabe, Kadokawa Bunko
MarginaliaTatsuhiko Shibusawa, Fuku-kan Bunko
Tohoho no HoRamo Nakajima, Futaba Bunko
Eugénie GrandetHonoré de Balzac, translated by Ryo Mizuno, Iwanami Bunko
Madame Bovary(Vol. 1/2) Gustave Flaubert, translated by Takehiko Ibuki, Iwanami Bunko
Lecture Collection: Talking About GoetheThomas Mann, translated by Akio Yamazaki, Iwanami Bunko

And so on, just a random list like this.

The manager is also beaming, saying that this year's new recruits are all top-notch.

Among them, there are even some so famous that I thought, "That one!"

Finnegans Wake I & II by James Joyce, translated by Naoki Yanase, Kawade Shobo Shinsha
The Complete Edition: Kachiku-jin Yapoo by Shozo Numa, Million Shuppan

If I find the 'III & IV' edition, I will have the complete set of 'Finnegans Wake'.

But for now, I have these two.

—These two books are huge.

When I say huge, I mean the books themselves are physically large.
Just holding both at once is like lifting a small dumbbell.

I'm so glad I found them.

I found 'Finnegans' on the first day, and 'Yapoo' on the final day.

I had heard rumors about it, but this is the first time I've actually seen 'Kachiku-jin Yapoo' with my own eyes.
To think the day would come when it would sit in my room.
To think the day would come when I would open it with my own hands.

I am writing this text right now just because I want to brag about that.

In my room, there is a great river of collected world literature, and these two books are floating on it.
They are sailing alongside the German edition of Momo and the works of Kenji Nakagami.