In Memory of Ms. Kayo Akiyama: At the Event Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Dr. Shinzo Koizumi's Death

2018/02/01

Image: From left, Professor Emeritus Shinsuke Ando, Ms. Kayo Akiyama, Ms. Tae Koizumi, Junzo Koizumi (May 11, 1996)

Looking at the photograph, I will write down the deeply personal memories that immediately came to mind.

Kayo Akiyama was my cousin, fifteen years my senior. She wore high-quality kimonos well, possessed a calm yet proactive atmosphere, and whenever people gathered, she was always at the center of the conversation, acting like a leader.

When I was in the first grade of Yochisha Elementary School, Kayo attended a parent-teacher meeting in place of my mother, who was hospitalized. This was before Kayo graduated from Sacred Heart Women's University. She must have delivered the formal greeting as a proxy attendee quite splendidly. Impressive. My homeroom teacher likely said, "He is a well-mannered child. When making paper boxes in craft class, he cuts off all the glue flaps."

Kayo had her arranged marriage meeting with Mr. Tadashi Akiyama at my house. In the drawing room we rarely used, Tadashi, my parents, and I—who was allowed to watch—waited, and the plan was for Kayo to quietly carry in a tray with tea. Kayo, who was usually never timid, didn't come for a long time. She still hadn't come. What was she doing? The door opened unnervingly quietly. "Finally, she appears," I said. Because of that, Kayo says, "Shin-chan, you were scolded by your uncle," but I have no memory of being scolded. I checked with my father while he was alive, and he replied, "I wouldn't scold a child for something like that."

Kayo's engagement was in 1943, and the following year I went to Shuzenji for the "Group Evacuation of Schoolchildren." Shinsuke Ando was there, a sixth-grader three years above me. Years later, at my solo exhibition venue, Mr. Ando purchased a painting of a naked dancer jumping and leaping. I was even more humbled to learn that the Ando family was expecting a baby soon, and he had squeezed the money for the painting out of those expenses.

In 1988, the "Party to Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Dr. Shinzo Koizumi's Birth" was held at the Imperial Hotel, and my wife Fumiko sang "Hamabe no Uta" (Song of the Beach) to Mr. Ando's piano accompaniment. Mr. Ando wore a tuxedo and bought new patent leather shoes for the occasion.

Kayo's younger sister, Tae Koizumi, is exactly ten years older than me. By "exactly," I mean we share the same birthday. From a certain point, Junzo, Tae, my wife, and I started holding joint birthday parties. We would go to a restaurant in Shibuya that served whale or to "Hachimaki Okada" in Ginza.

Of the four people standing with the Old Library in the background, three have already passed away. One by one, those I was close to are disappearing.

(Painter, 1958 Graduate of Faculty of Letters, Shinzo Abe)