Earthenware Poem by Nanashino Ryu

In the old times of hunting-gathering,
people were making earthenware.

Clay was managed by administrators.
Permission was necessary to bake wares.
Size and number of wares were imposed a tax on.
People bought clay or rented earthenware
from merchants having the special privilege.
And they paid it back debt by crops and labor.
The nobility owned earthenware decorated beautifully.
People in general used sooty and fragile one carefully.

The weather of that year was bad.
Many people got only poor harvest.
Then the merchants jacked up price of clay.
After that, cheating increased, thieves were caught,
and families without meals cried.
While poor people endured hunger and cold,
the nobility and the merchants continued to feast.

When I had such an imagination in a museum
while staring at an earthenware which was restored,
I felt emptiness to the world as usual in all ages.
I really want to hope that, in the past,
things were so simple, not same as complicated present,
and people also had deep affection and pure heart.

However,
if there were the rulers and the ruled,
if there were owners and non-owners,
I couldn't find a difference between
a man who was using an earthenware and
a man who is using an electric rice cooker.