Encountering Nature Part 1
I was born in 1948 in a small farmhouse in Toyoda near Tokyo. I remember that my father in his farmer's clothes working diligently on the field, harvesting fruits and vegetables, while my mother was busy watering plants. She wore a worn-out work trousers(in Japanese "monpe").
One day my mother took me out for a walk. It was a beautiful, sunny, and warm day. As a matter of fact we were surrounded by the green forest, the small Asakawa-river and the yellow rice field. At a far distance in the west I could see the blue colored Keio train chugging along in the direction of Shinjuku. In the west I enjoyed watching the small Takao Mountain on the edge of Tokyo.
It was the first time in my life that I encountered nature. It was so peaceful.
However, I belatedly got to know that my family had lived in so many different regions in Nagano Prefecture during the Pacific War. After the War they ended up living far out in Toyoda from downtown Tokyo.
Because of the bad traffic connection, my father was not able to commute to Tokyo University. He took a so-called lifestyle of Seiko Udoku(晴耕雨読）. That means in the fine weather he worked in the field, while in the rainy weather he caught up his reading at home.
It was dumb of me to run down the corridor on the balcony and I made a big noise. In the back of Shoji ( a sliding door made of translucent paper that separates the balcony from my father's study), he barked at me and said, "Sadaji, be quiet! Or you'll get a spanking! You're lousy!"
Apparently he couldn't concentrate on reading difficult philosophical books. That's why he scolded me.
In my Seikei elementary school days my mother often took me to Inamuragasaki, Kamakura where my grandmother lived. Especially in summer I went swimming every day from the grandma's house. The sky is always mesmerising blue without clouds. I like the Shonan seashore the best of all. For I found the Pacific Ocean quiet, mild and comfortable. Far away I enjoyed seeing a lighthouse on the Enoshima Island. The seashore was a historic battleground between Masashige Kusunoki, a rebel against the Government, and Shogun Yoritomo Minamoto. On the seashore I collected seashells and grabbed red crabs whose mouths generated a large amount of foams, as if they were angry.
My grandma's house was located on the top of the hill. In the yard I found an air raid shelter where my family used to hide when the American big fighter planes B29s dropped bombs on us in 1945.
I had a feeling that I wanted to probe the shelter. It was dark, still and humid. Somewhere at the end of the hole I heard water dripping down. It gave me the creeps. Then I threw away all the crabs into the deepest part of the cave. All the crabs ran away into the labrynth.
One day my mother took me out for a walk. It was a beautiful, sunny, and warm day. As a matter of fact we were surrounded by the green forest, the small Asakawa-river and the yellow rice field. At a far distance in the west I could see the blue colored Keio train chugging along in the direction of Shinjuku. In the west I enjoyed watching the small Takao Mountain on the edge of Tokyo.
It was the first time in my life that I encountered nature. It was so peaceful.
However, I belatedly got to know that my family had lived in so many different regions in Nagano Prefecture during the Pacific War. After the War they ended up living far out in Toyoda from downtown Tokyo.
Because of the bad traffic connection, my father was not able to commute to Tokyo University. He took a so-called lifestyle of Seiko Udoku(晴耕雨読）. That means in the fine weather he worked in the field, while in the rainy weather he caught up his reading at home.
It was dumb of me to run down the corridor on the balcony and I made a big noise. In the back of Shoji ( a sliding door made of translucent paper that separates the balcony from my father's study), he barked at me and said, "Sadaji, be quiet! Or you'll get a spanking! You're lousy!"
Apparently he couldn't concentrate on reading difficult philosophical books. That's why he scolded me.
In my Seikei elementary school days my mother often took me to Inamuragasaki, Kamakura where my grandmother lived. Especially in summer I went swimming every day from the grandma's house. The sky is always mesmerising blue without clouds. I like the Shonan seashore the best of all. For I found the Pacific Ocean quiet, mild and comfortable. Far away I enjoyed seeing a lighthouse on the Enoshima Island. The seashore was a historic battleground between Masashige Kusunoki, a rebel against the Government, and Shogun Yoritomo Minamoto. On the seashore I collected seashells and grabbed red crabs whose mouths generated a large amount of foams, as if they were angry.
My grandma's house was located on the top of the hill. In the yard I found an air raid shelter where my family used to hide when the American big fighter planes B29s dropped bombs on us in 1945.
I had a feeling that I wanted to probe the shelter. It was dark, still and humid. Somewhere at the end of the hole I heard water dripping down. It gave me the creeps. Then I threw away all the crabs into the deepest part of the cave. All the crabs ran away into the labrynth.
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