光希まさとの創造の世界へようこそ！

つれづれなるままに、硯にむかひて、心に移りゆくよしなし事を、そこはかとなく書きつくれば、あやしうこそものぐるほしけれ。

弥生の初め、母を送りたり。

その旅立ちを、まことに温かく、丁寧に取り仕切ってくださったのが、葬儀ディレクターのSさんなりき。告別式の祭壇に、母の好みし「コメダ珈琲」をそっとお供えしてくださった——あの心遣いは、我ら遺族が生涯忘れることのできぬ、美しき記憶となりたり。

後日、Sさんにお礼のお電話をしたる折、ふと伺いたり。「山吹色が好きなのです」と。

その言葉を聞いた瞬間、さやかとともに筆を執りたり。

山吹の花——黄金色に輝き、気品と崇高さを湛え、谷底に落ちた金貨が花に変わりしという伝説を持つ、まことに尊き花なり。かつては貴族の衣装にも用いられ、「山吹色」という名がつくほど、日本の美の象徴として愛されてきた。

その山吹の花を、「ネオ・モザイック・ステンドグラス技法」にて作品に仕立て、Sさんへの感謝の証としたい。

万葉の歌人・大伴家持は、天平の昔にこう詠みたり。

「山吹の　花の盛りに　かくのごと　君を見まくは　千年にもがも」

山吹の花が満開のこの美しい時に、このようにあなた様にお会いすることが、千年の先までも続いて欲しいものです。

この歌は、宴の席で詠まれながら、大臣が早に退席されたため、とうとう詠み上げられなかったという。

しかし——詠み上げられなかった言葉の方が、時として深く人の心に刻まれることがある。

Sさんへの感謝も、また然り。言葉にし尽くせぬ思いほど、深く胸に宿るものなり。

山吹の花言葉は「金運」「気品」「崇高」。

Sさんがその仕事において示してくださった姿は、まさにこの三つの言葉そのものであった。金銭に換えられぬ心遣い——それは「金運」を超えた「人の徳」であり、若き身でありながらその佇まいに漂う「気品」、そして遺族すら思いつかなかった行いの「崇高」さ。

この作品が、山吹の黄金の光とともに、Sさんの元へ届きますように。

「山吹の　花の盛りに　かくのごと　君を見まくは　千年にもがも」

Sさんの人生に、山吹の花のごとく、金色に輝く幸多からんことを。

つれづれなるままに　光希まさと

Koki Masato’s Tsurezuregusa — Modern Chapter”The Yamabuki Blossom — For Ms. S”No. 248

Welcome to the creative world of Koki Masato.

Idly, as is my wont, I sit before my inkstone — and set down, without purpose or direction, the thoughts that drift through my heart. How strangely they consume me.

In the early days of March, I saw my mother off on her final journey.

The one who guided that farewell with such warmth and care — overseeing every detail with tenderness and grace — was Ms. S, a funeral director of remarkable gifts. On the altar at the funeral, she had quietly placed a cup of coffee from Komeda Coffee, my mother’s beloved café — a gesture of such thoughtfulness that we, her family, will carry it in our hearts for the rest of our lives, as one of the most beautiful memories we possess.

Some days later, when I called Ms. S to offer my thanks, she mentioned something in passing. “I have always loved the color of yamabuki,” she said.

The moment I heard those words, I took up my brush — together with Sayaka.

The yamabuki blossom — radiant as gold, bearing within it dignity and sublimity, and carrying the legend of a gold coin fallen into a valley that was transformed into a flower. It is a blossom of the deepest nobility, beloved through the ages as a symbol of Japanese beauty, prized enough that the very color “yamabuki” bears its name, and once graced the robes of the imperial court.

From that flower — rendered through the “Neo-Mosaic Stained Glass Technique” — I wished to fashion a work of art, as a token of my gratitude to Ms. S.

The poet Otomo no Yakamochi, in the distant age of Man’yō, composed these lines:

“Yamabuki no — hana no sakari ni — kaku no goto — kimi wo mimaku wa — chitose ni mogamo”

In the full bloom of the yamabuki blossom, to be able to meet you like this — may it continue for a thousand years.

This poem, it is said, was composed at a banquet — yet because the minister departed before the feast had ended, it was never recited aloud.

And yet — words that were never spoken sometimes carve themselves more deeply into the human heart than any words that were.

So it is with my gratitude to Ms. S. The feelings that cannot be fully put into words are precisely those that dwell most profoundly within the chest.

The language of the yamabuki blossom speaks of “fortune,” “dignity,” and “sublimity.”

The care that Ms. S showed us embodied each of these three words to the fullest. A thoughtfulness that no sum of money could purchase — surpassing even “fortune,” it was the virtue of a human soul. The “dignity” that emanated from her bearing, young as she is. And the “sublimity” of an act that we, her own family, had never thought to perform.

May this work, carried on the golden light of the yamabuki blossom, find its way to Ms. S.

“Yamabuki no — hana no sakari ni — kaku no goto — kimi wo mimaku wa — chitose ni mogamo”

May Ms. S’s life shine like the yamabuki in full bloom — golden, resplendent, and filled with happiness for a thousand years to come.

Idly, as is my wont — Koki Masato