Hyō ten ka

My family have lived in the the northernmost part of Hokkaido before I was born. They later moved to south Hokkaido and they still live there.

I moved alone to northwest Hokkaido and live there for a while and then came to Tokyo. The night before I left for Tokyo, heavy snow fell in northwest and it silently continued until morning. That was the last time I saw snow in Hokkaido.

A few years later, just before winter came, I visited my home in south Hokkaido. From the window of the train, I saw a large‐horned deer near a paper factory, and there was a herd of deer nearby, all with their mouths on the ground, looking for something.

That night there was a lunar eclipse, and I could watch the moon waning for a while at a windy harbor pier. I was satisfied that I had tasted the familiar cold which I haven’t felt in a long time. When I returned to Tokyo and walked around shrugging my neck in the recent cold, I closed my eyes and remembered the below breezing times of the land and missed it.

私が生まれる前、私の家族は北海道の最北の地に住んでいました。その後道南へと移動して、家族は今もそこにいます。私はひとり北西の街でしばらく暮らしたあと、東京にやって来ました。東京へ出発する前夜は静かな大雪で、朝まで雪が降り続けていました。それが北海道の雪を見た最後です。

それから何年も過ぎて冬の少し前、久しぶりの帰省をしました。電車の窓から立派な角を持つ一頭の鹿を見ました。製紙工場のあたりで、すぐそばには鹿の群れもいて、みんな地面に口をつけて何か探している様に見えました。その日の夜はちょうど月蝕で、風の強い港の埠頭で月が欠けていくところをしばらく眺めることが出来ました。久しぶりに身体に良く馴染む寒さを味わったことに満足して、また東京に戻り近ごろの寒さに首をすくめて歩くとき、目を閉じて彼の地の氷点下を思い出すと、懐かしく恋しいです。

all songs & lyrics, performed by ksayaka

except track4 Antaggata Dokosa is based on Antagata-Dokosa, Japanese old song

recorded, mixed, produced by Ueno T

Special Thanks to Saya, Moto