（続き）
The music used for the slides was
Nomyn
Idyllic
SoundCloud
I would rather read a pleasant story than a sad one.
The main focus should not be on the abnormal beings, but on the classic beauty, as I alone think of it.
It is only a far-off memory that I used to like stories of the bizarre and terrifying, and now I want to deny even that memory altogether.
Then I would have to bury all the time I have lived.
In my first year of employment, I went to visit one of my seniors. She was a book lover and reader, and was a regular customer of a small bookshop on the Motomachi Koukadori shopping street, which regularly delivered books to her workplace. Whenever she accumulated a few books, she would take a taxi on her way home and bring them back to her home. The main purpose of the visit was to have a look at the book collection.
The majority of the bookshelves were lined with reprinted first editions of well-known publications from the Meiji, Taisho and Showa periods. The bindings I had seen in my high school Japanese language handbooks. Although they were reprints, their beauty was exceptional.
All of them are things I have already read,' she said. But as a post-retirement pleasure.’ I remember my seniors saying that.
I heard from someone that she left Kobe after the Hanshin-Awaji earthquake and moved to Kyushu. I wonder if she took that collection of books with her. Even if she did, I wonder if the pleasures of the 30s and 40s remained the same over time.
This slide and the slide in the next article are the last ones taken that day.
The curtains had remained closed all the way up to this point. Was it because it was so terribly hot and humid? The room was so air-conditioned that it was chilly for me.
I opened the curtains, which were still closed, a little and looked at the sky at dusk and the ridges of the mountains leading to Rokko. I realised for the first time that the interior light was on, and switched it off.
I remember that even though I had only opened the curtains a little, I felt as if the blockage in my mind had been lifted.
哀しい物語よりも愉しい話を読みたい。
メインは異形の存在ではなく、私一人が思うようなクラシックな美しさを中心に据えて。
怪奇と恐怖の物語が好きだったのは、もう遥かな記憶でしかなく、今は、その記憶さえ全否定したくなるのだが。
それでは、これまで生きてきた時間全てを葬らなければならないことになる。
就職一年目の年、或る先輩のところへ遊びに行った。本好きで読書家だった先輩は、元町高架通商店街にあった小さな書店の贔屓で、定期的に本を購入し職場へ届けてもらっていた。先輩は何冊か溜まると、帰りがけにタクシーを使い、自宅へ持ち帰っていた。蔵書を見せてもらうのが、遊びに行った主たる目的だった。
本棚の大部分を占めるところに明治大正昭和の著名な出版物の復刻初版本が並んでいた。高校の国語便覧で見ていた装丁。復刻とは言え、美しさは格別だった。
「どれもみな既に読んでいるものばかりだけれど。定年退職後の愉しみとして。」先輩がそう言ったのを思い出す。
しかし、阪神淡路の震災の後、神戸を離れ、九州へ移ったと人伝に聞いた。あの蔵書も一緒に持って行ったのだろうか。仮に持って行ったとしても、三・四十代の愉しみは、時間を経ても変わらなかったのだろうか。
このスライドと次の記事のスライドは、この日最後の撮影分。
ここまでずっとカーテンは閉じたままだった。あまりにもひどい猛暑日だったからか。室内は、私には肌寒いくらいクーラーが効いていたのだが。
閉じたままのカーテンを少し開いて、暮れてゆく空、六甲へ連なる山の稜線を眺めた。室内灯が点いていたことに初めて気付き、それを消した。
僅かばかりカーテンを開いただけなのに、心の塞ぎがとれた心地がしたのを覚えている。
