July 15, 2012 : Having Dinner Under the Sound of Breeze
© 安岡喜晴 (JoyShine)
I had dinner with my friends on a balcony that a restaurant opens only in the summer period for their customers to look at the Kamo River during their dinner time.
So I can feel the breeze from the river as I eat some food and drink some soft drinks tonight.
Listening to the sound of the wind, I can't help but imagine how many dramas have taken place here.
This river runs through the center of Kyoto and is a really historically and traditionally important river in Japan.
For example, there is a legend that Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Benkei, both one of the most famous historical heroes in Japan,
met for the first time in their lives at the Gojo Bridge over this river is one of the most famous historical events for Japanese people.
Aside from this famous story, I have heard some horrible stories, such as many abandoned babies were found crying alone at night on the banks of this river, especially just after the end of World War II.
As you can imagine, this may be rare in Japan now, but it wasn't uncommon in the postwar period. So it seemed like there were a lot of souls wandering around this riverbank.
This is not the only reason for all this. Imagining from the past, I wonder how many souls were taken on this riverbank.
For example, the Onin War, one of the largest civil wars in Japanese history, took place in Kyoto and lasted for ten years,
it was the beginning of the next period of warfare, which brought about the most terrible chaos in all of Japan that they'd never seen before,
and this river water was said to be stained with the blood of fallen soldiers.
So this river that I'm enjoying now under the sound of the breeze must not have a glorious history in the past.
No, it's not just dark things, there must be as many bright stories as there are.
Because this river was a center of traditional festivals, people in the Stone Age must have celebrated after a good hunt and gathering.
In the Yayoi period, people must have prayed for good harvests and sometimes prayed for the gods not to bring down their wrath on them, such as floods or the spread of disease.
So I mean a lot of dramas that people have done since the beginning of human history.
As for me, here is really near the apartment where my maternal grandparents once lived,
so I often saw the bank where I am and Demachi Bridge, which crosses this river and is famous for its appearance in the popular movie in Japan,
when I visited my grandparents' apartment accompanied by my parents.
And now I'm enjoying eating, drinking and talking with my friends, but in a way I think I'm drinking to many souls, many memories and many people around this river. lol.