HANA-YOMI-BITO for Cello and Piano (or Guitar)（2020）

Throughout the Covid pandemic I spent much of the time trying to come to terms with myself. Until then I had been fortunate enough to see my various activities going more or less according to plan，but once the pandemic took hold I initially experienced a sense of deprivation and impotence. Having until then faced entirely outwards I found that I was gradually turning in on myself. I began to think about why music was necessary for me and I became aware once again of how much it meant to me. In the course of this process of regained self-awareness I became motivated by a desire to create a piece that issued from my starting point as a composer，a piece that would make me aware once again of my creative identity.
It was just at that time that I happened to watch a documentary about a geisha from Kyoto whose career had similarly been brought to an abrupt halt by the Covid pandemic. It depicted the emotional turmoil she was undergoing in the midst of her sense of expectation and anxiety and offered a portrayal of her life before and after she had immersed herself in the geisha’s world.
The portrayal was poignant and beautiful，and the way in which the career to which she had devoted her life had been brought to an abrupt halt seemed to echo with my own experience. I felt a strong desire to depict in music directly and in a manner inexpressible in words the feelings and emotions that she and I were undergoing under these conditions. This piece is the result.
My career resumed once again with the recording of this piece for a music programme to be broadcast later on NHK. The time I spent playing it with Mari Endō，who kindly agreed to perform it for the recording，was enormously pleasurable and I recall how deeply it affected me at the time.
The cellist Dai Miyata was generous enough to praise the work and has performed it many times in an arrangement for cello and guitar，with the guitar part being played by Yasuji Ōhagi.
It was from around the time that I was working on this piece that I began to compose music imbued with a distinctively Japanese mood and spirit. I would be most happy if this piece which has already been performed by numerous cellists were to strike a responsive chord in the hearts of many others and succeed in conveying the joy that only music can provide. A situation that no one could have foreseen has thus opened up new avenues of expression for me.
Sometimes too I conjure up the image of this geisha who I trust has now managed to re-establish herself in her career and who I hope is now once again using her grace and charm to enchant her many admirers.