The Way to the Hometown

Author: Yamasaki Tomoko
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-04-01
Features: I remember feeling terrified on rainy nights, but I have no memory of deliberately walking ahead of my husband with my head held high. I had always believed my attitude was dignified and natural, but after hearing my husband say so, I realized that the knot in my heart hadn’t truly been resolved, which is why my walking posture had become like that. According to my husband, I probably started walking differently about a decade ago. Now, looking back, it was around the time the scars on my face began to fade and people passing by no longer gave me special attention.
Tomoko, a woman who once modeled and aspired to become an actress, was tragically slashed across her face—with a knife, on what is considered a woman’s most precious part—with dozens of horrifying scars. The medical conditions at the time meant those scars were destined to haunt her for life, shattering her dreams. What path should she take? Where was her future? Tomoko, the author of this book, is the Japanese female writer Yamasaki Tomoko. After enduring that terrible ordeal, she reevaluated her career and soul, understanding that "scars are also a part of oneself." She bravely and resolutely faced others’ strange gazes, standing on the side of women who suffer discrimination and forging her own path—a path leading to Look Back on the Mountain.
Looking back at Tomoko’s life, we cannot help but admire her resilience and open-mindedness, but we must also acknowledge that those dozens of scars were an important factor in shaping her and in the creation of Look Back on the Mountain.