「赤レンガ倉庫ができた1923年に
　ハンマ（おばあ）は
　済州島で生まれたことになってるねん

　ほんまは丑年生まれやねんけどな

　同じ村の出身のハルバン（おじい）と
　結婚したけど
　ハルバンは日本育ちでことばも通じひんから
　結婚式終わって何日かしたら
　すぐに日本に帰ってもうてん
　ほんでハンマも後からひとりで
　船に乗って大阪に来たんや」


そしてわたしも
海の近くにいる
気がつけば
ポンポン船に乗って
赤レンガ倉庫に行ったり来たり

潮の流れが
女たちの暮らしを
たゆやかに
つらぬいている

からだをなめてみると
潮の味がする


The Taste of Tides...in Japan


It is known that my grandmother was born on Cheju Island in 1923
when the Osaka harbor red brick warehouse was built

In fact, she tells she was born in the Year of the Ox

She married
As a teenager
With a man from the same village
He didn't understand Korean
because he was brought up in Japan
In a few days after the wedding ceremony
He returned to Japan by himself
She followed a ship and came to Osaka later

I'm near the sea now
and
aboard a ferry boat
coming and going
to the side of a red brick warehouse

A flow of tides
carries through
Lives of women
Wildly and peacefully

I lick my skin
tasting the tides

20 Nov 2005 near Osaka Bay in Japan