Originally written, recorded for Nikkei Music Reclamation Project and included on "NMRP," this is an apology letter to my mother, Mikako.
She’s been dealt a tough hand in the last few decades, and as much as I’ve tried to listen to her my whole life, I might’ve failed to make her feel like she’s really heard, with the biggest hurdle being that I’m not there physically. The lockdown of 2022 was another reminder of the distance, and of the fact that I’ve grown too comfortable with it. I’ve been trying to visit as often as I can since I got 2nd vaxxed, and while she seems to be doing okay, my stay is never long enough.
The picture for this release was taken in Oyashirazu Beach on Toyama/Niigata border, where I nearly drowned as a child.
The name translates as "Neither the parent nor the child knows" and there are various theories as to how it came about. One version has it that the wife and her child were traveling from Kyoto looking for the husband who was captured in a battle in Niigata, but as the they walked along the cliff the child was taken by the tide unbeknownst to the mother who couldn't even look behind her.
Stories like this are a dime a dozen all over the country, but when you see the terrain, or if there's something on your mind, it hits you differently.
on Youtube:
youtu.be/L7BWET3Fyj4
released July 21, 2023
Sara Sithi-Amnuai: Flugelhorn
Ryoji Hata: Mastering