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| BLONOTEと蝶のブレスレット / BLONOTE and Butterfly Bracelet |
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| サボン（薔薇） / Savon (Rose) |
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| BLONOTEと蝶のブレスレット / BLONOTE and Butterfly Bracelet |
Since it's Sunday, I'm writing something gentle.
I finally got my hands on BLONOTE.
This is a collection of short, self-written phrases that EPIK HIGH's leader, TABLO, read aloud one by one at the end of his radio show.
I became interested because it's a book that strongly influenced BTS's RM.
However, since EPIK HIGH and TABLO are so highly respected and supported in both Korea and Japan, it was constantly sold out everywhere at the time.
So, I spent several years silently searching, wondering if I'd ever get it, or waiting while giving up hope. Then last month, I noticed it was available on Amazon. Only used copies were left, but I managed to get it delivered home and just finished reading it all at once.
I think reading requires stamina.
Right now, my stamina is lower than usual, so I can't get too absorbed in reading either.
The reason I could read BLONOTE in one go is that this book only has two or three lines of text per page, and it just seeps into your heart. So, I quietly drank in BLONOTE while sipping coffee.
Autumn is deepening now, but is it only in Japan?
Autumn is considered the season for reading.
Because once autumn arrives, evenings suddenly grow short, and before you know it, the silence that stretches longer than usual turns into night.
But even so, if you don't feel like reading, you just don't pick it up—that's the charm of books.
Sometimes, even before starting the content, just holding it makes me think, “Maybe not today,” and I gently return it to the shelf.
When I wonder why, I suppose it's because some vague part of me senses each book's promise and decides I don't have the stamina to meet that promise right now.
Normally, I always carry a paperback in my bag when I go out. But since I lack stamina, it just feels heavy and leaves me tired the next day, so I've stopped carrying one much.
Stamina really is the major foundation work underlying concentration and comprehension, isn't it?
It's something happening in our minds and hearts, so we can't actually see it, but I think for each book, we first prepare this foundation work, and then we probably build the structure of reading on top of it.
So first, the book shows us, as a sign, the blueprint for the kind of structure it will build for each of us. We look at it and decide, “This is okay to build,” and then we pick up the book.
And before we start reading, we assess the construction plan conveyed by the book. If we feel we have enough stamina right now, we flip the cover, confident we can pick it up and begin building the unique structure the author's blueprint describes.
That's why we don't read when we lack stamina, and when we absolutely don't want to read a book, it's because our stamina isn't prepared.
The reason you can't concentrate well when opening a book outdoors is probably because you've already exhausted your energy walking over and sitting down on the bench, isn't it?
However, on a bright, safe park bench, even if the words don't sink in well, I recommend opening a book on your lap.
Because the sunlight or dappled light filtering through the trees reflects off the pages, illuminating your face more elegantly and beautifully than usual.
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| サボン（薔薇） / Savon (Rose) |
Books like this might seem to rudely touch on sad feelings, or forcefully wrap you up in a suffocating blanket of unwanted maternalism—as if saying, “Here, taking care of you is my job”—all sprinkled with that irritatingly sentimental tone that makes you want to punch something.
BLONOTE is a book where someone, standing about two meters away, delivers words crafted with a remarkably precise line—dry yet strangely bright.
"Each time the calendar tears
It feels like I tear apart a little too"
"If you're going to cry anyway
Cry in front of me"
"When I don't have the energy to hold an umbrella for you
I'll get drenched in the rain with you"
For me, it's like encountering a young man who resembles ZICO—someone who first offered me Friendship in my life back when I wore a uniform—and having him coolly recite these lines to no one in particular.
When I turn my head, thinking “???”,
he says, “This book's good. Buy it.”
and walks away.
For some reason, it feels like we're standing side by side, a little apart, near some building.
"Over coffee, we talk of love
Over coffee, we discuss parting
There's nothing coffee doesn't know about romance"
Well then, I hope you have a wonderful Sunday, brewing coffee while holding back laughter.
“All quoted sections in this article: BLONOTE / Tablo / Translated by Chisako Shimizu / Sekai Bunka Sha”
