Uchikura & Co., LLC

ふるさとは遠きにありて思ふもの
そして悲しくうたふもの
“Home is something we think of from afar,
and sing of with a sorrowful heart.”

 

These words are from a poem by the Japanese poet Muro Saisei. They express a feeling many people know: when we are far from home, memories of the place where we grew up can become especially vivid.

 

Home may be a town, a house, or a familiar landscape. It may also be the sound of a particular voice, the taste of a meal, or the small routines we once took for granted. Distance gives us time to remember these things, but it can also remind us that we cannot return to the past exactly as it was.

 

The poem does not describe homesickness as simple sadness. There is affection in it, along with longing and a quiet ache. We remember home because it helped shape who we are. Even when we build a life somewhere else, a part of us may still look back.

 

Perhaps that is why we sometimes “sing” of home—not always in words, but through stories, memories, and the feelings we carry with us.