Stranac u Beogradu / Foreigner in Belgrade
va nadu, baš kada izgleda da nema izlaza. To mi je Desanka rekla. Ona je za mene uvek unutrašnji sa- govornik. Kad imam neku dilemu, ja se zapitam šta bi rekla Desanka Maksimović – podseća nas naša sagovornica na snagu poezije. Kajoko, kršteno Anastasija, svake nedelje odlazi na liturgiju u Hram Svetog Georgija u Bežaniji. Tu peva u crkvenom horu i otkriva na još jedan način veze između Japana i Srbije. Ovog puta kroz religiju. – Hrišćanstvo i budizam nude slične stvari: do- brotu, tajanstveni prostor, ideju da smrt ne znači da smo nestali. Taj tajanstveni svet simbolično postoji iza ikonostasa i stvarno duboko u nama. Tu se krije odgovor na večna pitanja, kako ćemo lečiti samo- ću, kako ćemo prizivati ljubav, kako ćemo razume- ti smrt. To nam daje duhovni poredak i smisao i u crkvenom hrišćanskom i u budističkom životu. U svakom kulturnom i religioznom obrascu, čini mi se, zajednička je i dobrota. Možeš da ideš u crkvu ili budistički hram redovno, ali ako nećeš da činiš komšiji dobro, kao svom detetu, onda sve što ra- diš ništa ne vredi – kaže Kajoko i dodaje da joj, kao ostrvskom detetu, u Beogradu naročito znače reke. – Volim da idem na reku ujutru. Divan prizor. Vodena površina nikad nije ista. Na primer, kad je sunčano i plavo nebo, Sava divno treperi, kao da je neko otvorio kutiju s nakitom, pa bacio na tu vode- nu površinu, tako to lepo svetluca. Nekad je uzbur- kano, tamno, nikad nije isto. Ja to malo posmatram i to me smiri. Volim i da odlazim na Kalemegdan da vidim baš mesto gde se Sava i Dunav susreću. Vo- lim letnje noći u Zemunu, pored Dunava. Ponekad idem i na Adu Ciganliju i Adu Međicu. Ima mno- go smiraja na vodi. Voda nas podseća da smo pove- zani, bez obzira na to da li smo udaljeni. Ja osećam da je Sava, pored koje živim, povezana sa mojim Ja- panom, iz kojeg mi nedostaje miris okeana – kaže Kajoko, koja svake godine obilazi svoju otadžbinu i u susretu sa rodbinom i piscima zaliva svoje ja- panske korene.
Kayoko, who was christened under the name Anastasia, attends Sunday Mass every week at the Temple of St George in Bežanija. There she sings in the church choir and reveals another link be- tween Japan and Serbia. This time through religion. “Christianity and Buddhism offer similar things: goodness, mys- terious spaces, the idea that death doesn’t mean we’ve ceased to ex- ist. This mysterious world symbolically exists behind the iconostasis
and really exists deep within us. There lie the answers to eternal questions like how we’ll cure loneliness, how we’ll invoke love and how we’ll understand death. This gives us spiritual order and meaning in both Chris- tian church and Buddhist life. It seems to me that goodness is also common to every cultural and religious form. You can go to the church or the Buddhist temple regular- ly, but if you won’t do good for your neigh- bours or your own child, then everything you do is worth nothing,”says Kayoko, add- ing that for her, as the child of an island, Belgrade means rivers in particular. “I like to go down to the river in the mornings. It’s a wonderful scene. The sur- face of the water is never the same. For ex- ample, when it’s sunny and the sky is blue, the Sava shimmers wonderfully, such is its radiance. Sometimes its tempestuous and dark, and it’s never the same. I watch that a little and it calms me. I also like to go to Kalemegdan to see the spot where the Sa- va and Danube actually meet. I like sum- mer evenings in Zemun, beside the Dan- ube. Sometimes I also go to Ada Ciganlija and Ada Međica. There’s a lot that’s calm- ing on the water. Water reminds us that we’re connected, regardless of whethser
Poetry should instil a sense of hope, precisely when it seems there’s no way out. That’s what Desanka said to me. She’s always an internal interlocutor for me. Whenever I have some dilemma, I ask myself what Desanka Maksimović would say dilemu, ja se zapitam šta bi rekla Desanka Maksimović Poezija treba da uliva nadu, baš kada izgleda da nema izlaza. To mi je Desanka rekla. Ona je za mene uvek unutrašnji sagovornik. Kad imam neku
we’re far apart. I feel like the Sava, which I live beside, is connected with my own Japan, from which I miss the scent of the ocean,” says Kayoko, who visits her homeland every year and feeds her Japa- nese roots in encounters with relatives and writers.
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