The World of Kiyoko Nagase’s Poems [City of Literature Okayama Participation Project]

Organized by Akaiwa City Board of Education, Nagase Kiyoko no Sato Zukuri Promotion Committee

Supported by Okayama Prefectural Board of Education, Sanyo Newspaper, RSK Sanyo Broadcasting

The 25th reading session “The World of Kiyoko Nagase's Poems” was held at the Kumayama Fureai Center in Akaiwa City On Saturday, February 17.

The event started with Ms. Numamoto’s reading from Kiyoko Nagase's poem “Beautiful Three Sisters,” about the three major rivers in Okayama Prefecture. Ms. Numamoto was inspired by acitivitiesof Tsubojo World Explorers by students of Notre Dame Seishin University. 

After the lecture of poems, the Award ceremony for the Nagase Kiyoko Prize was held. This Prize is a the 21st poetry contest for elementary and junior high school students in Okayama Prefecture. 15 winners were presented with certificates. Excellence Award winners read their works and received words of encouragement from Selection Committee Chairman Ichiro Kobayashi.

After the Award winners’ ceremony, a singer, Chie Sawa, gave a piano performance on the theme of “Kiyoko Nagase and the Leprosy Sanatorium.” Sawa has long been devoted to the residents of the Leprosy Sanatorium and has been conducting research on music at the place. The residents contributed poems to “Aisei,” the journal of Nagashima Aisei En sanatorium. And she read their works introducing a selection of poems by Kiyoko Nagase. She also played the piano and narrated “Dajase kudasareta katayaku (Please deceive me with your kind words)” and “Beautiful Country,” both poems by Kiyoko Nagase, as well as a poem by Kazuko Toh, a resident of Oshima Aisei-en who had been in contact with Kiyoko Nagase and Sawa. In addition, Keiko Morita read her poems “To Your Island” and “Mitsuda Sensei. Kiyoko Nagase tried to build bridges between people through poetry. Through Sawa's story and piano performance, participants had an opportunity  to learn and think about Nagase Seiko and the leprosy sanatorium.

(This article was written by secretariat of City of Literature Okayama based on a report from the Akaiwa City Board of Education.)