Snake and Centipede 

 

One day, I visited a legendary forest. According to the legend, two giant mountains had been fighting a territorial dispute over a lake with an abundance of water. One of the mountains transformed into a giant snake and the other one changed into a huge centipede and fought fiercely.

Once I stepped into the forest, there I felt the ambience of the battlefield. The sounds of the wind cutting through branches were the hisses of the giant snake. The centipede wormed roughly around wild grass. There were sparks of the battle in the air. The river turned red with flowing blood of combatants.

The inspiration that I got from there was the story of brave warriors. Transforming into a snake or a centipede was a self-sacrificing spirit, showing his will to get a great power for protecting loved ones. For that, they don’t care for being beasts. Japanese myth is a story that people had transformed their thoughts for lives and put them into the landscape. Those legends are the things that we want to leave to the next generations. The story from the ancient times has awakened again in my consciousness transcending centuries.

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 蛇とムカデ

 私は伝説の残る森を訪れた。その昔、豊かに水を貯える湖の領有権を巡り、二つの山が巨大な蛇とムカデに化身し激しく戦ったと伝わる。

森に足を踏み入れるとそこは戦場に変わっていた。枝を切る風の音は大蛇のうめき声に変わり、荒々しい草をざわつかせてムカデが這い回る。宙には戦いの火花が散り、川は流れる血で赤く染まった。

私が受け取った伝説のインスピレーションは、勇敢な戦士たちの戦いの物語である。蛇やムカデに化身することは、愛するものを守るために大きな力を得たい、そのためには獣になることも厭わないという犠牲の精神であった。日本の伝説は人々が残したい心のあり方を物語に変えて風景の中に委ねたものだろう。そして、古代の物語は何世紀も時を越えて私の意識の中で再び目覚めたのだ。