Once more, Sai created the cover art herself. “The painting I created features a cat and a goldfish bowl, which represents a mother’s womb,” she said.“I’ve always loved cats, and I feel like they watch over me and protect me. Cats are truly mystical creatures.” Sai’s heavily jazz-oriented fourth album, 1978’s Chou no Sumu Heya (The Room Where Butterflies Dwell), marked yet another shift for the singer. “I’ve always loved jazz,” she said. “Aside from my own music, the genres I feel the most affinity with, and find calming, are jazz and classical.The songs I wrote for this record had a jazzy feeling, so I worked with pianist Tsuyoshi Yamamoto and his trio.Though it was my first time recording jazz, I didn’t feel any hesitation at all. It was very natural performing with the Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio, and I sang and recorded comfortably.We recorded most of the album through live takes together.” Following Chou no Sumu Heya , Sai suddenly vanished from the music scene.“I felt I had expressed everything I wanted to express, and that I had grown up,” she said. “My husband had left his job, so we traveled to India because the Beatles had gone there. After that trip, I did not feel the urge to return to music. I wanted to see if I could live in society as an independent person, so I decided to get a regular job.” She worked as an editor at a magazine, then as a translator at a securities firm in Tokyo, translating reports written by economic analysts—a complete one-eighty from her previous life as an artist. “I’ve always loved writing, so I enjoyed my corporate job as a translator. I also discovered that I enjoyed having a routine in my lifestyle,” she explained. While keeping busy with her corporate job, Sai enjoyed mountain climbing and practicing martial arts like Shorinji Kempo, but fate had other plans for her. Jojo Hiroshige, founder of noise band Hijokaidan and a music journalist, tracked her down in 2001 and encouraged her to join him in the studio.The resulting sessions led to the release of their collaborative album Crimson Voyage, featuring Sai’s first recordings in over twenty years. “Jojo Hiroshige was a fan of mine and doing a lot of research about me, and he contacted me about collaborating on Crimson Voyage ,” Sai said of the LP, released on Hiroshige’s Alchemy label. Encouraged by Hiroshige, she began writing new music again, leading to the release of her 2008 album, Taklamakan .This project, and the cover artwork Sai created for it, were inspired by her travels along the Silk Road, particularly the Taklamakan Desert in northwest China. “After finally getting to travel to places like Uzbekistan and China, I had a lot of things I wanted to express,” she said. “The concept was an image of the desert, and a woman traveling through it to become the bride of a foreign king. What I felt in the Silk Road and the desert were eternity, infinity, resignation, and harsh beauty. In contrast to humans, who are finite beings, these landscapes evoke a sense of resignation. And yet, throughout history, people walked through those harsh places, following narrow paths and difficult routes, transporting goods. I find that history precious and beautiful. I even feel a kind of peace in that simple relationship between nature and human beings.”
became focused on her fascination with the Silk Road, the fabled trade route that connected the East and West from the second century B.C. until the mid-15th century. “It’s often said that the Silk Road ends in Nara, and ever since I was little, I’ve felt that Nara was deeply connected to the flow of culture passing from Rome through China and the Korean Peninsula,” Sai said. “You can feel that when you visit temples in Nara, like Shoso-in. So much culture came over from the continent. I’ve always felt that I was living in a special place.” Mikkou —the title of which translates to “Secret Passage” or “Stowaway”—was arranged by Kuni Kawachi, known for his work with psychedelic rockers Flower Travellin’ Band. “The label decided to bring in Kuni-san as an arranger because I had told them that I wanted to use instruments like the sitar, and other instruments from the Silk Road and India,” she said. The sultry “Kinu No Michi,” which combines elements of American folk with the sitar and dulcimer, sonically sums up the album concept. “This song is literally about the Silk Road,” Sai explained. “I imagined a large city floating above the desert like an ancient illusion. Europeans and Asians traveled back and forth with their caravans, met one another, and created a city in the sky. The Silk Road inspired me because many different cultures mixed together. People carried spices and silk, and although there may have been conflicts, they mostly traded and coexisted. Unlike Japan, which is a small island country, the Silk Road stretched endlessly, and people of many nations walked, danced, and interacted along it.That image felt incredibly free.” Sai drew the evocative cover illustration for Mikkou , inviting listeners into the world behind the album title and concept.“The first album used a photograph, but I told the label I loved drawing, so they let me create the cover,” she said.“I imagined the woman as a princess brought along the Silk Road, perhaps from Persia, taken captive after her country lost a war, and transported secretly.” After Mikkou , Sai signed with Nippon Columbia and, in 1977, released Taiji no Yume , fusing folk-rock and psychedelic influences. “ Taiji noYume was inspired byYumeno Kyusaku’s novel Dogra Magra ,” she explained. “The book includes an essay called ‘The Dream of a Fetus,’ so I named the album after that. The essay explains that every cell in a fetus carries all the history and memories of human history stretching back through generations. Reading that made me realize that humans are only a short part of history, and that we are not alone in this universe.” Taiji noYume , like her debut, was produced by Yuji Ohno.This time, however, they opted against using traditional instruments. “ Mangekyou expressed a feminine and childlike part of myself that resisted adulthood,” Sai explained.“With Mikkou , it felt like I was quietly stepping into the world. Taiji noYume had a more universal sound, so I did not request Japanese instruments to be used on this record. As the title suggests, I wanted to express an imaginary world that exists before birth or after death, and wanted to have a dreamlike sound. I believe Ohno-san achieved this to a great extent.”
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