Shuji Terayama was born on December 10th 1935 and died on April 4th 1983. He would have been 80 years old next week.
The dreams you dream when you’re asleep always end when you wake up. If you want a dream that won’t end, the thing to do is die.
death is
cicadas
in the summer rain
crying out for dreams
Shuji Terayama, from Fond Memories of my House
from the day of my death
the clock ticks time backwards
not yet reaching the present
Shuji Terayama; from To Die in the Country
“What thing exists but can never be seen?”
“Well… that’s the underworld, the other world. What can be seen but doesn’t really exist – that’s this world. The other world… you can’t actually see it but it’s there…”
Shuji Terayama, from Terror Mountain.
playing hide-and-seek
count to three
and it’s winter
Shuji Terayama, from To Die in the Country
I dreamed that I was dreaming. “What I thought of as reality turned out to be a dream. What I thought of as a dream turned out to be reality.” That is the dream I dreamed.
Shuji Terayama, from Hollow Earth Theory.
“The next-door town doesn’t exist. The great black dragonfly is a liar. If you close both eyes, everything disappears. The next-door town is nowhere to be found. After a hundred years you’ll understand what I mean. Come back in a hundred years’ time.”
Shuji Terayama, from Farewell to the Ark
playing hide-and-seek
I was never released from the role of “it”
and so grew old
who shall I seek
at the village festival
Shuji Terayama, from To Die in the Countryside
In the underworld, people age the other way round. Gradually the day of their birth grows nearer and nearer.
Shuji Terayama, from The Kyushu Scrolls.
Dead people all turn into words.
Shuji Terayama, from Chronicle of Hell.