Yuzu finally got the answer. He would rather resonate with people than delivering a message to them. I wonder if he thinks it will be possible by showing himself as he is now. He suffered. He worried. And he decided to show them all on the ice rink.

Yuzu used the music named "Requiem of the Great East Japan Earthquake 3.11" by Yasunobu Matsuo for his new exhibition program. However the title of the program was changed to "Requiem for Heaven and Earth".

The words which remind us of the earthquake were removed. I wonder if Yuzu would like to tell us that the severe experience of the earthquake is not an unique experience for certain people but a common suffering for anyone.

Youtube link; "Requiem for the Great East Japan Earthquake 3.11" by Yasunobu Matsuo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R520kaU7dRU&feature=youtu.be

We have more or less experience – anger, fear, grief or solitude. When we feel other's grief or pain as if it were our own, we associate it with our own experience.

For Yuzu, delivering a message through his skating sounds like something one-sided. Yuzu would rather resonate in people's heart. He would like to resonate on the ice rink with people who support him. That is Yuzu's skating …

Why Yuzu's skating stirs our souls … 

He may have found the way to go for his skating.

Yuzuru Hanyu skated for the first time to "HANA WA SAKU (FLOWERS WILL BLOOM)" just a year ago, a song for the affected people of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Yuzuru talked about how he expressed his feelings in this program.

While he reached the top of the world at the Olympic Games in Sochi which was a great encouragement to the affected people as well as people all over Japan, Yuzu (Yuzuru Hanyu) had complex feelings.

 

"When I received a gold medal, I thought what I could really do for that …"

 

"What I can do …" he had strong feelings for expressing through his skating a story of hope for recovery from the earthquake. He skated to "HANA WA SAKU" on the ice rink where he used to train as a child in Sendai. The earthquake occurred when he was training there.

 

" I myself experienced such a huge earthquake. The ice rink didn't collapse but damaged by large cracks. it was pitch-dark there. That's why I felt quite different to before. "

" I experienced the earthquake here. It was a dreadful experience. As the music became more dramatic, lightings brightened up the ice rink and the image of the scenery around became sharp which made me skate feeling happy. I felt happy because I could skate and I was really thankful to so many people's hard work for the reconstruction of the facilities and buildings."

" While I feel like delivering a message to the affected people through my skating, I do hope to express the feelings I gained from my experience by showing myself as I am now. If it reaches people's hearts a little, I'm happy. "

He wrote his message "ARIGATO (THANK YOU)" to the affected people …

"I would like to say ARIGATO (THANK YOU) to them. To do something together, I'd like to join my THANK YOU to their support for my skating and my fan's THANK YOU toward me together. And it also means THANK YOU for their great support to me for the future "

 

Youtube link with English translation "HANA WA SAKU (FLOWERS WILL BLOOM)";

HANA WA SAKU (FLOWERS WILL BLOOM)

My heart goes out to you

When the winter snows give way to spring

My heart is longing now

Longing for the town where happiness had been

Been a place of hope and of dreaming too

Been a home where my heart always went back to you

But for now I only dream of the people who I loved and knew.

 

Someone is singing, I can hear singing now

Someone is weeping, I can feel their tears

 

My heart goes out to you

When the morning sun lights up the pale blue sky.

My heart is heavy now

With the grief I tried so often deny.

I regret mistakes that I sometimes made

But I know our love will never fade

And that you'll live on instead of me

And that you will have whatever love can be.

 

Someone is smiling, showing me

Why and how to go on living for years and years,

 

Flowers will bloom, yes they will,

Yes they will for you who are here or yet to be born.

 

They'll bloom, yes they will

And they'll bloom again

Until there's no missing sorrow and no reason left to mourn.

 

Someone is thinking, I can read every thought,

Someone is shedding tears for all that was lost,

Someone is leading you to love that they sought

Asking you to love all that you love the most.

 

photo : http://sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/photogallery/2015/06/29/post_131/