IWATE | Kenji Miyazawa

PAPERSKY #65

IWATE | Kenji Miyazawa

宮沢賢治のビジョンを探しにイーハトーブへ。物語と今をつなぐ岩手の旅

故郷、岩手をフィールドに、自然と人が共生する世界を描いた宮沢賢治が、そのビジョンの実践を行なっていたのは今から100年以上も前のこと。地球という大地にふれる農的な暮らし、自在に次元を超えていく想像の世界は、コロナ禍以降、世界規模で広がる新たな暮らしや未来のビジョンとも重なって見えてきます。今号は、岩手各地の暮らしやカルチャーなど、人々にふれ、賢治の世界と今を行き来する旅を提案します。旅のゲストは、賢治文学を愛する、イラストレーターの塩川いづみさんと、音楽家の小島ケイタニーラブさん。言葉と音、イラストで、独自の世界を表現するおふたりと幻想的でリアルなイーハトーブの旅へ出かけます。

■塩川いづみさん プロフィール
イラストレーター。広告、雑誌、プロダクトなど幅広いジャンルでイラストレーションを手がける。2019年には宮沢賢治の詩にドローイングを描き下ろした詩画集『春と修羅』を出版。賢治の言葉をモチーフに、新たな解釈でイラストレーターとしての新境地を開いた。shiokawaizumi.com

■小島ケイタニーラブさんプロフィール
ミュージシャン、作家、翻訳家。「毛布の日」（NHKみんなの歌）をはじめ、アコースティックな音色と細やかな歌による独創的な世界を追求。またラジオDJや小説執筆、朗読イベントのプロデュース、中国文学の翻訳、2021年4月には中国でデビューを果たすなど多彩な活動を続ける。instagramID： @keitaney_love

Cultivating a Quiet Joy

In this issue of Papersky we welcome you to the wonderous world of Kenji Miyazawa’s Ihatov. The Dreamland that author, philosopher, scientist, musician, record collector, vegetarian, and utopian social activist Kenji Miyazawa created based on his home state of Iwate.

Despite Kenji’s deep knowledge of the world, science and his awesome creativity; to many he is no more than a rusty old author of children’s literature whose name appears in Japanese textbooks. It’s our hope to update Kenji’s image to the true Philosophical, Genius, Hipster he is. And most importantly to share his grand vision to a peaceful life in the universe for all people with true equality amongst all living beings and an utmost respect for the natural environment.

To do this we travel to Iwate, visiting locations that influenced Kenji’s thinking and stories. We begin our exploration in his birth town of Hanamaki. Next up, we travel into the story The Night of the Oakwood which takes us to the Mount Hayachine area. From here it’s onto the town of Tono and into Kenji’s fantasy The Story of the the Zashiki Bokko. And we wrap things up by diving into Gauche the Cellist in Morioka before jumping on The Night on the Milky Way Train in the Sanriku area.

Kenji Miyazawa in his creation of Ihatov and through his stories, poems and essays was not only an astoundingly talented writer but he was a 21st Century visionary born in the 19th century. He was quietly writing while contently chuckling about a vision to enhance the welfare of all people everywhere. The constant theme running through all his work is interconnection: We are all connected to each other as well as to every natural phenomenon on Earth and in the universe.

In short, his worldwide view is cosmic. He sees every object or phenomenon on Earth, organic or inorganic as being linked to all else both on this planet and in the universe. He is the grandaddy of chaos theory. And if read carefully one will notice his work cultivates a quiet joy to help Japan prosper into a more humanistic future.