Father’s shoes

I first visited Sendai in the fall of 2008, when I accompanied my father, a graduate of the Faculty of Science at Tohoku University, to his alumni meeting. Even weakened by pancreatic cancer, Father travelled everywhere on foot, just like before the disease. I still remember anxiously following him as he walked around the city.
Back then, I was working on my doctoral thesis in Nagoya. My thesis focused on Onna San no Miya from The Tale of Genji. Onna San no Miya, who has become a nun, and her father Suzakuin make a vow to meet each other in the afterlife… Mori Mari weaves with words a rich tapestry of father-daughter relations in the memory of her late parent… I myself was a ‘mother’s girl.’ Besides, my father was not into reading, so we had no common topics. And yet, for some reason stories about fathers and daughters have always fascinated me.
I currently keep Father’s shoes at my place. Mother made me take them to Tokyo after I had spent some time at my parents’ home. She thought it too dangerous to reveal that I was living alone and wanted me to use the shoes as a ‘camouflage.’ It would have never occurred to me back then that I would receive a position at Tohoku University. Maybe my father’s shoes wanted to take another stroll around Sendai.