Akai Kutsu Yamashita Koen, Yokohama, Japan Gouache 7.5x7.5x2 Stillman & Birn Zeta Sketchbook Sketched live on location Tuesday December 16 2025
From China Town, I entered the East End of Yamashita Koen walking briskly in the cold air of Yokohama’s December. My heart beat fast as I strained my neck looking for her. I hadn’t seen her for 20 years and I was terrified at the thought that she wouldn’t be there any more. But there she was, just as beautiful as I’d always remembered her all these years. Her back turned and she seemed a bit grumpy as if complaining what took me so long to come back. “Akai Kutsu”, the little girl with the red shoes - my only companion in the WeekEnds living alone in Japan the first time. I would come here to Yamashita Koen standing next to her, looking across the Pacific to my home in California. She sat there hands on her knees with the tiny red shoes showing slightly under her long skirt. Kimi-Chan was quiet and gentle and she knew everything I felt and wanted to say but didn’t. And I felt less lonelier each time I turned and saw her large eyes and that tender face. For years I’d thought of this little bronze statue from time to time sitting in the cold and rain staring and longing at Yamashita Koen all alone, and I wasn’t there. But I am back, and she’s still here, unchanging, loyal ... forever.
I once heard a quote from Napoleon that he would give up all his conquests just to know there is a woman waiting for him somewhere faraway ... I think I might just understand what he meant.
Akai Kutsu (赤い靴, lit. “Red Shoes”) is a well-known Japanese children’s poem written in 1922 by poet Ujō Noguchi. It is also famous as a Japanese folk song for children, with music composed by Nagayo Motoori. The poem narrates the story of a girl who is adopted by foreigners and taken to the United States.
A young girl with red shoes was taken away by a foreigner.
She rode on a ship from Yokohama pier taken away by a foreigner I imagine right now she has become blue-eyed living in that foreigner’s land. Every time I see red shoes, I think of her And every time I meet a foreigner, I think of her.
#赤い靴はいてた女の子の像 #yamashitakoenyokohama #akaikutsu
