Author: bleu_ineffable

the samurai detectives – shotaro ikenami / vol 3

*******

The sky was a clear deep blue. When Kohei had crossed the bridge to the foot of the Matsuchiyama Shoden temple, a single swallow grazed his cheek and flew like an arrow towards the River Ohkawa. Gazing after it, Kohei murmured, ‘It’ll be summer soon …’

*******

‘Iori and Oteru are happy with it, so why not? The line between truth and falsehood is paper-thin. Wrap yourself in a layer of untruth and live an honest life – there’s nothing wrong in that.’

*******

ma relaxeaza aceasta – nu comuniune, as spune comuniunea sfarseste la un moment dat in acceptare si obisnuinta – sarbatorire a anotimpurilor – in mentalitate, traditii, vesminte, gastronomie, produse, stil de viata, existenta insasi…

2021:
privire pictand
dâre de inmuguriri
si viata in roz…

2022:
si viata in roz
fluturandu-se duios,
fara lentile…

2023:
fara lentile,
amestec de emotii
stand a inflori.

2024:
stand a inflori,
bobite de soare ce
scapara visand.

2025:
scapara visand
speranta mugurilor
de inflorire…

2026:
de inflorire,
umbrela nu se teme, –
atunci cand ploua…

the samurai detectives – shotaro ikenami / vol 3

*******

When he turned the corner of Hisamatsu, his attention was caught by the scent of the new leaves sprouting from the trees inside the walls of the mansion which drifted over the street. It was, without a doubt, the fragrance of a spring evening.

2021:
toamna isi cerne
amurguri si frunze pe
kimono-ul tau…

2022:
kimono-ul tau
pe pielea-ti de zapada –
ce anotimpuri!…

2023:
ce anotimpuri
aprinzand luminile:
patru camere!…

2024:
patru camere:
dar cate sentimente
porti in inima?!…

2025:
porti in inima,
prin ploile de toamna,
raze de soare…

2026:
raze de soare:
cand zambeste inapoi,
zambetul vietii…

the samurai detectives – shotaro ikenami / vol 3

*******

‘A solid plan in the right order is the key to everything in life.’

2021:
tramvai plutitor
prin valuri de albastru –
in vis, furtuna…

2022:
in vis, furtuna
sperantelor uitate
se insoreste.

2023:
se insoreste
poveste azurie,
in litere de…

2024:
in litere de
unduiri maritime,
se semneaza: Cer.

2025:
se semneaza: Cer
ce iti surade zilnic,
cand te-ntrebi “de ce?”…

2026:
cand te-ntrebi “de ce?”,
priveste – te bucura:
inca poti privi…

the samurai detectives – shotaro ikenami / vol 3

*******

‘There’s nothing better than staying in bed on a morning of spring showers. Somehow, I feel as if fresh bamboo shoots might start sprouting up from this old body of mine.’

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

“History is often what we as a society deem worth remembering,” the professor said to a surprised Rinako in Japanese, handing her a sheet of yellow paper that stuck to her fingers. “And your family is worth remembering.”

*******

“Your education is what you make of it. If you go into it thinking it’ll be useless, it will be. But if you go in with the intent to learn and to unlearn, to be critical of the world around you, you’ll start to pick up on how institutions work. See how beliefs are made and taught.”

*******
intr-un final, am plans la ultimele pagini – nu de tristete, sau de fericire; de eliberare a furiei acumulate in toate paginile cartii.
este o carte in care elemente de magic se intrepatrund cu realul, insa este o carte foarte reala, care avea nevoie de putina magie ca sa nu-ti pierzi mintile.
o carte care atarna, care nu lasa sufletul sa se aseze comod, asteptand o poveste lina, ci il nelinisteste, ii distruge reperele, si il incarca cu revolta, oroare si groaza.
intr-un alt final, este o carte despre ocupatia japoneza si “comfort girls” – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_former_comfort_women

2021:
cale boltita
in culori de inima –
un maine-n culori.

2022:
un maine-n culori:
pasiunea pentru viata,
manifest intens…

2023:
manifest intens:
sensul absolutului
dintr-o pace Zen.

2024:
dintr-o pace Zen,
de-un soi de armonie –
irump razele…

2025:
irump razele
vulcanului ceresc in
foliaj de-amurg…

2026:
foliaj de-amurg:
foitaj de croissant in
praf de zmeura…

2021:
sarutul verii –
amprenta buzelor ei
petale rosind…

2022:
petale rosind –
dualitate trista:
dragostea arde…

2013:
dragostea arde,
intre viata si moarte,
ca un yin si yang…

2024:
ca un yin si yang:
kanji si Japonia,
sufletul meu si…

2025:
sufletul meu si
lumina lui, un dans – in
pasi impiedicati…

2026:
pasi impiedicati.
lumina frumusetii, –
coplesitoare…

*******

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

Throughout it all, she bit her tongue, learning not to share what she had come to know of the people around her. Their hopes, their fantasies, their fears. From a young age, Rinako internalized the lesson that disclosure led to ruin. Secrecy preserved comfort and safety.
[…]
Rinako had vivid dreams. Some were ungraspable and forgotten, but some played so clearly behind her closed eyes she could not always recall if she had been asleep. Her dreams rarely centered her, however. Some were a pastiche of absurd situations featuring people she did not know. If her dreams presented more familiar faces, she would see her neighbors’ pleasures, her teachers’ hobbies, her classmates’ nightmares.
[…]
While these dreams stoked her sense of kinship toward others, no one returned the sentiment. She did not understand why connecting with people was so difficult for her when it came so easily to everyone else, in dreams or otherwise.

*******

“I WANT TO GO WITH YOU!” Rinako screamed louder than she had ever screamed before, startling a host of sparrows to flee from a nearby maple tree.
[…]
A sparrow was perched on his nightstand next to his pager and a pile of coins, staring at him.

*******
faptul ca vrabiutele lui Tayiji – personaj secundar in poveste, vegheaza inca – indirect – asupra lui song young-ya peste ani, ea in korea, iar fiul si nepoata ei in tokyo, ma induioseaza peste masura…

2021:
ploua cu ceata
in ingustimea strazii –
soare prin ganduri…

2022:
soare prin ganduri –
in haosul de idei,
o calauza…

2023:
o calauza:
umbreluta rosie
prin razele gri…

2024:
prin razele gri,
o umbrela rosie:
cireasa coapta.

2025:
cireasa coapta:
in forma margelata,
dulceata verii…

2026:
dulceata verii:
o felie de soare –
pepene galben?…

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

Born Ilha—Manchu for “flower”—Tayiji entered the world with a crown of fragrant hair. Noses gravitated to his head’s pleasant scent, which grew famous in his village for clearing sinuses. Women made their husbands smell his head to silence their deafening snoring. The elderly sought good-luck whiffs to breathe in a new day. His sweetness was so inviting it drew sparrows and bees to circle him as they would a true flower. Tayiji learned early on he did not much like bees after one stung him and caused his fat baby hand to swell to twice its usual size. When none of the villagers’ usual remedies for insect stings worked, the sparrows rose to his cries. They plunged into a nearby mountain spring rumored to be the home of a great healing spirit and shook the water drops from their feathers onto his hand to rid it of poison. The sparrows then swatted the bees away until only songbirds remained to tend to their plump little flower.

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

While the invaders were not known for their sense of humor, they liked to embellish their new structures with the Chinese roofing style as if in a cheeky nod to the ruse of nominal Sino rule: Chinese hats were worn here, but the head of the beast was Japanese.

*******

She looked around nervously, wondering if the room had darkened in the absence of Yong-Woo’s brightness.

*******

“Everything has a price. Never take anything you’re not ready to pay for,” Feng-nüshi said in Korean.

*******

o carte a carei scriitura o apreciez, insa ma nelinisteste…

2021:
“mergem acasa?”
“mai stam; sa se scuture
rozul din ciresi”

2022:
rozul din ciresi
in lumini parfumate
se imprastie…

2023:
se imprastie
cu fiece clipire,
pixeli in priviri…

2024:
pixeli in priviri:
din realitate in
Realitate…

2025:
Realitate,
esti atat de frumoasa, –
te confunzi in vis…

2026:
te confunzi in vis
cu Fericirea; si iar –
te cufunzi in vis…

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

Father, mother, brother, she would join in the earth. She shut her eyes and curled into her fallen kin. What she could not see, she did not have to accept.

*******

In receiving this tea, Seiko unknowingly drank from the well of the girl’s unspeakable sorrow and shed it as her own.

*******

She crafted elaborate stories about their character in her head, surprised how easily the conjectures came with each additional detail her eyes picked up. She had never thought to assume a narrative of others’ emotions, to extrapolate their inner lives. How much had she missed in the past when all she focused on was herself, on how she might better please others with what she served?
[…]
“Public life’s a performance,” he continued. “If you want to be able to read people, you must make them think their actions are private. People will be quicker to reveal their true selves if they think no one’s watching.”

2021:
pe timp de toamna,
lemnul devine frunze –
podet plutitor…

2022:
podet plutitor,
mesterit din trunchiuri de
toamna si-alte vremi…

2023:
toamna si-alte vremuri,
anotimpuri inverse:
anti-tipare…

2024:
anti-tipare:
in mijloc de vara, un
suflet tomnatic.

2025:
suflet tomnatic,
nascut imbatranit, din
suflarea verii…

2026:
suflarea verii,
ca o sarutare de
buze in rosu…

2021:
martisorului
impletind anotimpuri
ii lipseste ac…

2022:
ii lipseste ac
transfuziei de Frumos prin
venele mele…

2023:
venele mele –
culori de foc si gheatza,
sange roz intens…

2024:
sange roz intens
picurand in albeata –
pete de toamna…

2025:
pete de toamna:
rubine-n foi de aur –
prima ninsoare.

2026:
prima ninsoare:
ce amalgam de culori,
si anotimpuri!…

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

As he gathered his furs, the most enchanting sound Geum-Jin had ever heard rang out from behind him. It spoke human words, yet could not be a human voice, for it was clearer than the delicate chirp of a songbird and more beautiful than the sound of any instrument that could have been crafted by men.
[…]
Jung-Soon did not discover her voice could compel the truth until she was old enough to go into town with her attendant.

*******

“Why are you wooing me?” “I love your voice and how you use it. I want to hear it every day until the day I die.”

*******

“You won’t like my voice if I ask you questions you don’t want to answer. I can force you to show parts of yourself you wish to conceal.” Jung-Soon scanned his flushed face for an apprehension she hoped not to find. “There’s nothing I want to hide from you. Your voice makes it easier to tolerate the truth.” Geum-Jin stepped closer, the steam of his breath warming her nose. “It’s not always good to hear the truth,” she said with a sad smile, looking away as Geum-Jin drew nearer. “People’s truths can be cruel.” “Nothing would be crueler than never hearing your voice again,” he whispered in her ear. Jung-Soon blushed and met Geum-Jin’s eyes. There, she saw herself reflected in his truth.

*******

ma incanta povestile de indragostire…

2021:
toamna ascunzand
curcubeu – prizonier
in timp si frunze…

2022:
in timp si frunze –
culori nemaivazute,
intelepciune.

2023:
intelepciune:
cautarea luminii,
multele umbre.

2024:
multele umbre,
in nuante cazatoare
isi lasa umbra…

2025:
isi lasa umbra
sa umble pierduta prin
visul ravasit…

2026:
visul ravasit
de soare, isi cauta –
razele lunii…

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

Green sprouts spread on Dahn’s chest where his wife’s weeping head lay, spilling tiny leaves down his shoulders and onto the forest floor. Guttural sounds neither beast nor human, perhaps from the earth itself, rang through the forest as Dahn bled out.
[…]
Myoung-Ok let out one final wail as her body crumbled into a pall of grave dirt and grass, engulfing her lost love in a final embrace as she, too, surrendered to the earth.

*******

Desperation gnawed at the empty stomachs of the villagers. What little food the farmers managed to produce was confiscated and shipped overseas to cater to the rising needs of the Japanese Empire. They were left with meager government rations, if that, and resorted to pouring more water into their flavorless gruels to make them last longer.
[…]
Hungry and humiliated, the country broiled with protest. Farmers, students, scholars, workers, poets: all linked arms to push against the emperor of Japan.

*******

*imi doresc sa stiu a desena sau picta.
*reversul medaliei nipone

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

“No, our parents can’t leave. They belong to this mountain, and the mountain will care for them in its own way. But you and I are different. We can still go somewhere human destruction can’t follow us.”

*******

Letting her tears fall into his palms, she said, “Rub this into our parents’ feet while they sleep, and their souls will not run from their bodies. But don’t tell anyone I was here or the medicine won’t work.”

*******

am citit “un veac de singuratate” acum multi ani, iar scriitura imi aminteste de sentimentele acelei lecturi – voce evocativa, de poveste la gura focului, in balansoar, si un univers mistic, cu magie…

2021:
raza de soare
suflarea trecutului
ravasind modern.

2022:
ravasind modern,
tren fura lumina din
templul de carbuni…

2023:
templul de carbuni,
pe cer scrijelind semn de
prosperitate…

2024:
prosperitate:
o sageata de aur
pe-un cer-diamant.

2025:
pe-un cer-diamant,
un colier decorat
haotic. noapte.

2026:
haotic. noapte.
cand iti simti existenta
ninsa cu stele?…

2021:
citesc imagini
in ceasca mea de cafea.
matineu nipon.

2022:
matineu nipon –
sperante calatoare;
zile cu senin.

2023:
zile cu senin:
seninatatea e in
cer, si nu numai…

2024:
cer, si nu numai:
dau inapoi iubirea
pentru ea, Japo.

2025:
pentru ea, Japo,
armonia interna
i-e innascuta…

2026:
i-e innascuta
privirii, cautarea;
incantatoare.

honey in the wound – jiyoung han

*******

Myoung-Ok came to know what she would name her children only after feeling their weight press into her arms: geum, or gold, in hopes they might prosper in a way she never had herself. The sudden provenance of this wish surprised her, as she had always been more concerned with the gold of a fallen gingko nut than with the gold of a coin.

*******

she repeated what she said to him the day he nearly killed her: “I feel your footsteps in my chest.”

*******

Myoung-Ok cultivated her children’s love for the earth so that the earth would love them in return.

*******

When she asked Myoung-Ok about the village, her mother clucked and told her that life was better in the mountains. “People bring the burden of expectation,” she said. “Being trapped in that expectation is suffocating, even for the richest yangban in the village.”