Abstract

A ship that travels through the sky to the paradise that is said to be far away from the earth.
Inside the ship, boys named after flowers lived in dormitories with adults called guru. The lives of the boys, who had been taught that the most important thing was the purity of heart, were modest and pure, and the life on the ship seemed closer to paradise than anywhere else in the world.
One day, a boy named White Violet (Shirosumire) falls from the ship. Everyone mourned his death as a tragic accident, but after hearing of his behavior just before his fall, his close friend Cornflower (Yagurumagiku) questions whether he committed suicide. But what misfortune befell this beautiful, hopeful ship? Looking for the true reason for his best friend's death, Yagurumagiku steps into the dark place on the ship.

Kawano is a remarkable young poet of tanka (a traditional Japanese poem of thirty-one syllables) who won the Modern Tanka Poets Association Award, so-called the Akutagawa Prize in the world of tanka poetry, in 2021 for her first collection Lilith. Her highly modern style portrays the world of fantasy and fascination while resolutely resisting discrimination and oppression in the world.

Author’s Information

Born in Kanagawa in 1991. Currently studying at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the University of Tokyo. In 2017, she was selected as a finalist for the 3rd Sogen Fantasy Prize for New Writers for Kaijin ryosyuu shou (Excerpt of the Sea God Prisoners) under the name Nemuko Magiwa. In 2018, she won the 29th Poetry Circle Prize for ‘Lilith’, the collection of 30 poems. In 2020, the first poetry collection Lilith was published, which won the 65th Modern Tanka Poets Association Award in 2021.