Library

This is a collection of reminiscence essays. The author faithfully records his time from the age of two to nine, recounting childhood scenes and Meiji customs. The writing is simple, but what is revealed between the lines are nostalgia for childhood life and innocent and warm memories. Most of the things written in the book are warm things. Even though there were many unpleasant things when I was young, they have a softer tone under the filter of warm colors. The living figure exhibition that my father took me to see is still vivid in my memories after forty years. Uncle Furuya's pickle shop, Brother Hideo's kite, the time spent alone in the mountains, the snow-white naked body of a geisha accidentally encountered while bathing in a hot spring... These are all completely preserved in memory, and when recalled decades later, they still feel like they were yesterday. Hometown, fishing village, and broad bean fields have become an endless thread in Wen Quanzi's heart. There was the childhood in his memory, in the small town apartment with the fence with hibiscus, the gate with the ancient tiled roof, and the old camphor tree with the soaring flowers, that childhood with Silu Gu, Aixing, many generations... And also with the dolls, the drunken boy, the fish... All kinds of people and things passed through his life and then gradually faded away. Through the eyes of "I", the market is described as lively and uniquely warm, and the simplicity and meanness are combined with the diversity of living beings. This is the protagonist's innocent and warm childhood. See joy in peace, calm and soothing. Western lanterns, kelp, and unlined clothes, these are the warmth that shines through in one's bones. The poetry flowing in the blood becomes as quaint as the old house, making people yearn for it. Although this book describes children's life, it is not children's literature, it is written for adults. Like the Chinese "Old Things in the South of the City", it is not written by children themselves, but by an adult looking back on his childhood memories. The reason why I want to emphasize this point is that the interest conveyed in the article is a taste that has been experienced and examined. If there is childlike interest in it, then it is also the childlike interest of a thirty-six-year-old adult.