A music-story-telling unit called “Nocanan” (my friend Haruhiko Saga and his wife Takako) will perform at the former Tea House in the Nishijin district, Kyoto, on April 21.

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To compensate the audience for the expensive ticket, I am going to give away everyone of the audience a music CD containing Saga’s Morin Khuur tunes.

He played the “Oshirasama Morin Khuur” I made while traveling in the Tohoku and Hokkaido regions one and a half years ago. I was so happy that he liked my work and its sound. I almost cried out when he played the rough and rustic instrument just for me in a dark midnight park where no one else is around.
“Making of Oshirasama Morin Khuur”

In the morning of my departure to complete the last leg of my Tohoku-Hokkaido jurney, Saga kindly recorded five pieces of music, which are in the CD above-mentioned. The CDs have been burned with the labels and jackets printed, and packaged already.

Aside from the CD, I have set up the stage in the former Tea House. It is so small and can accommodate only 15 people as the audience. That was the reason for the high entrance fee. Although small, the stage has the wooden floor made of hinoki planks that are considered to be the best material for the stage board. thus the term “hinoki butai (hinoki stage)” = on the first-class stage, or more metaphorically, be in the limelight.

Now that the show biz stuff is ready, only thing yet to be done is to tidy my place. The house is now full of mess! (and of course no photo of it here). I have been busy fixing my another house in Hanase and neglected the house in Haradani, which the Sagas are going to stay in. However, I am not necessarily good at putting things away… and the time is running out…
phew!

野花南の入場料を高く設定したので、お詫びにおみやげCD作成し、ライブに来た人に無料であげちゃう。

札幌を発つ日の朝、嵯峨さんが演奏、録音し、自ら調整までしてくれた５曲入。

西陣茶店跡のステージ設営完了。台所の板襖取っ払って板の間が舞台になる。床はヒノキ張りなので当に「檜舞台」。

客席は何とか１５人のキャパを確保した。極小のハコであるために高額入場料となってしまった。（3,000円を高額というと嵯峨さんに失礼だけど。。。僕の財布感覚ではそういうことになる）

まあ、ショー売の話はさておき、まだやることがある。花背の家の修理にかまけて、原谷の家が放ったらかしになり、物やゴミの散らかり具合のエゲツナイこと！（当然、写真はナシ）。嵯峨さん一家が泊まりにくる前に何とかしないと。。。（でも僕は掃除、嫌いなんだよねえ、、、と言ってるうちに時間が迫る！　ふう〜）

The mountain village where I used to live had a small ski slope. It was closed down long time ago and no one visits any more– I doubt even local villagers ever remember this place.

There is a big cherry tree right in the middle of the skiing course. That is rather an unusual  thing for a ski slope, but I like it very much, though.

When I was living in the village, I would go on a picnic under the cherry tree in spring and fall. Today, having had the day’s work done, I walked up the slope to the old cherry tree, which had already started to bloom.

Once there was a cherry tree

In the WP blog post, I mentioned a small stuffed doll that I found the other day.
先日見つけた小さなぬいぐるみ人形のことWPのブログで書いたんだけど、、、

I am not a *Hello Kitty* fan at all, rather a Miffy fan, but I couldn’t leave the poor Kitty doll behind, couldn’t stand seeing it becoming weather-beaten when I come back here some time… So I decided to take her back home, but I don’t know what to do with this tiny stuffed doll.
僕はぜんぜんキティちゃんファンなんかじゃない、ていうか、どっちかいうとうさこちゃん（ミッフィー）のファンなんだけど、かわいそうなお人形を放ったら かしてはおけず、いつかここに戻ってきて雨ざらしで傷んでいくのを見るのも嫌だったし、、、　そんで、うちに連れて帰ることにしたんだ。でも、このちっこ いぬいぐるみ人形を一体どうしたらええのん？

Just a few years ago, I found a cherry tree in a vacant land with weeds and remnants of fallen building walls. The cherry was in full bloom then, and the wind was blowing off the flower petals like snow flakes falling and whirling around.
数年前、崩れた建物の壁と雑草だらけの空き地に桜の樹を見つけた。桜はちょうど満開で、風に吹かれた花びらが雪のように舞い落ちていた。

That was such a beautiful place on the nicely terraced and banked terrain, with rubbish in the weeds, graffiti on the ruined walls, and the tire swing hung from the cherry tree; although the lot was nothing but a small patch of abandoned land, it had everything a kid could dream of. And I WAS a kid as I just stood there.
程よく段差と斜面があって、草むらにはガラクタ、廃墟の壁にはラクガキ、桜の枝にはタイヤのブランコが吊りさがり、それは美しい場所だった。たかがうち棄てられた小さな空き地であれど、子どもにとっては夢の国に違いなかった。そして、そこにいたら僕も子どもになれた。

Today, the cherry tree has been cut down, the swing gone, the wire fence mended so as to keep out kids from trespassing.
今はもう桜の樹は切り倒され、ブランコは無くなり、子どもが立ち入らないようにフェンスが修理されてしまった。

Warning notes are posted on the fence: “This is a municipally owned land. Withdraw the plants and the storage immediately, for private use is considered illegal occupation. If in case of no withdrawal, they are to be removed by the City of Kyoto. Please understand.”
フェンスの上には警告が貼ってある。「ここは市有地です。私的な利用は不法占拠となりますので、すみやかに樹木、物置を撤去してください。なお、撤去なき場合は京都市によって撤去しますので、ご了承ください。」

Now I know who cut down the cherry tree…
なるほど、誰が桜を切り倒したのか、これで判った。。。

Just down below the warning was a small stuffed doll left and forgotten. The doll was of “Hello Kitty” in a dinosaur (or monster) costume, which reminded me of the picture book “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.
その警告のすぐ下に小さなキティちゃんのぬいぐるみ人形が置き忘れられていた。キティちゃんが着ていたのは恐竜か怪獣のきぐるみ。それを見て僕はモーリス・センダクの絵本『かいじゅうたちのいるところ』を思い浮かべた

What an adventitious miracle! I was a Max every time I came here. Although I just stood by the fence and didn’t actually play with the swing, my mind was running around among the weeds and playing with the Things nobody else could see.
何という奇跡的偶然！ここへ来るたびに、僕は絵本の主人公マックスになっていた。フェンスの脇にたたずむだけで、実際にブランコに乗ったりはしなかったけれど、心は他の草むらを駆けまわり、人には見えない「あいつら」といっしょに遊んでいたんだった。

When I came home tonight, I didn’t find a hot supper waiting for me, though.
今夜、家に帰ったときに温かい夕飯が待っていてくれたわけではないけどさ。

The verandah is done now. No more lumber cutting and the days of sawdust are past.

When I was leaning against the fence railing, a soft rattling came in my ear. Fist, I thought it was a woodpecker in the distant forest, but soon found out that little green frogs (Rhacophorus schlegelii) are the source of the sound. Spring has finally come in the mountain village (though the cherry buds are yet to bloom)