Calligraphy by Yoshiyasu Kawakami
	< HISEN >   "The Battle Of Compassion"

2003/3/22 　Photo by NAVIL/AP/WWP Photo: The American and British armies dropped cluster bombs in Basra, the southern Iraq. Most of the injured and sacrificed in the city were civilians like this girl.		"HI" of a Buddhist term Jihi means compassion to take other's suffering as one's own and remove it. It expresses empathy. There are pains and sufferings in killing or losing someone at war and to be forced to kill someone. We wondered if we could do something at a our temple to stay close to those hearts that were filled with pains and sufferings, and to expand our imagination to take action to re-emphasize our hope for peace. (A chief priest of the Dairin-ji temple, Tasuo Kinoshita) This past spring, the Dairin-ji temple hosted a photo exhibit. One of the photos immediately caught my attention. The photo captured a shocking moment of a casualty of war. Looking at the photo, I thought that this is the reality of war. I am a pianist. Therefore, what I can do is to pray for peace through my music. I believe my mission is to send out a message that is engraved in each work such as in Chopin's "Revolution." I appreciate the chief priest of the Dairin-ji temple for planning a gathering for loving music and peace, entitled, "Battle of Compassion," on August 15th. We should never forget the pains of the girl and of the father who is holding her body that this photograph mercilessly displays. (Pianist, Asuko Seta)