"Amenorrhea" Author: [Japan] Ito Hirumi Translator: Lake Publisher: Guangxi Normal University Press Douban 2022 Foreign Literature (Non-fiction)

🪞The Murasaki Shikibu Literary Award winner, a female poet, dissected her life and bravely ventured into the world to fight blood: living in a fighting posture and creating

Ito has a relatively legendary life. She suffered from anorexia at the age of 20, depression at the age of 35, divorced, went to live in the United States in her 40s, lived with an American painter at the age of 55, and has three daughters in the United States. The eldest daughter got pregnant before marriage, and Ms. Bilumei became a grandmother in a chic way. Before her father passed away, she traveled long distances between California, USA and Kumamoto, Japan every month. After her father passed away, she danced Zumba every day, lost four kilograms, and was able to wear jeans again.

In the second half of her life, the way she chose to live was to rush forward, take a gamble, do it, miss it, and start again!

🩸📢Amenorrhoea = inevitable, but age ≠ shame

Challenging the stigma of aging, breaking the taboos of the flesh, and facing the pain and joy of the second half of life

"Everyone, everyone, will grow old!"

Ito does not only write about amenorrhea in this book. With the delicate, humorous and vivid writing style unique to a female poet, she writes about every corner of life. The essence of her writing is still the bodies and lives of women around menopause, and the relationships between all of us who are or will be old and various people and things.

Aging, amenorrhea, caring for the loss of a loved one, loss of sexual appeal, fat that can never be reduced and uncontrolled menopause... Ito openly and beautifully faces the embarrassment and unspeakable secrets of being born a woman, writing without taboos and with tears and laughter about the privacy that all women will experience:

Our mothers, our sisters, ourselves

——Everyone, everyone, will experience amenorrhea!

📬 is a sincere confession from a woman to a girl, and also a gentle letter from your future self to your present self

It is a healing book dedicated to mothers, and also a cheering song for all women who are fighting against life.

"We are women covered in wounds. Whether old acquaintances or new girlfriends, we are all covered in blood and scars. Those with children are hurt for their children; those with living parents are hurt for their parents; those with men are the culprits; those without men also have their own pain. We are exhausted, broken physically and mentally, but when the new sun rises, we stand up calmly and do what we have to do. In fact, we don't even feel that we are covered in scars at ordinary times.

I want to convey my feelings to my girlfriends, and this is my motivation to keep writing. "

Being a woman, a mother, a daughter, a wife... the innate gender roles, the multiple identity changes given by society, and the gap between self-cognition and realization are all things that women need to bridge physically and psychologically. This book may help us better understand the life, suffering, and pain of mothers, and may also allow us to see the future life path in advance, so that we will no longer be afraid or feel unnecessary shame because of the same physical experience.

❤️‍🩹New translator Lake Resonance Translation × Xihe Fun Design

The same life experiences, the same emotions of sorrow and joy, the translator Lake's translation resonates with the audience, with a refreshing style and sincere emotions.

In terms of visual presentation, designer Xihe chose the work "Grapefruit" by Japanese illustrator Chisato Oda. The handwritten title of the book is unrestrained and free-spirited, the paperback has double covers, the outer cover is printed in special colors on special paper, and the inner text is printed on Swedish light paper, which is easy to read and delicate to the eyes.

【Media Recommendation】

Parenting, child independence, care, and husband-wife relationships. Why do all these problems occur at this age? The scarred body and the lion-like fighting posture are indeed a story of women fighting against life. The ultimate ode to old ladies!

——Chizuko Ueno

Looking at the path she had taken (which I had also taken), I felt a deep resonance and interesting aftertaste. I also joined the "woman" camp brilliantly, with a fierce determination.

——Mitsuyo Kakuta

The period before and after menopause is the momentary beauty of a woman's life. The poet even said that menstrual blood is colorful.

——Setouchi Jakucho

I will also experience everything that Ito Hirumi or my mother experienced after middle age, except for amenorrhea. What I didn't expect was that their bodies, seemingly bound by physiology, family and various conventions, deeply buried a freedom that I didn't know about, a freedom that was turbulent and difficult.

——Liao Weitang

【Content Introduction】

"Beautiful or ugly, screw it. Getting older means freedom, a whole new freedom."

Japanese poet Ito uses honest, humorous and naked writing (48 essays) to share the physiological and psychological changes and emotions of women before and after menopause. Women of this age not only have to face changes in their bodies: body deformation, increased wrinkles, and menopause, but also face the disintegration of the family at any time: parents are old, and the relationship with parents is wandering between tearing and reconciliation after a long period of hard care; children who are gradually growing up become independent and are no longer as close to them as when they were young; the relationship with their husbands is gradually cooling down...

Women's bodies age much faster than their souls. Amenorrhea is a journey of laughter and tears. The second half of life is a process of gritting your teeth and overcoming the embarrassing things one by one.

Ito Hirumi

Born in Tokyo in 1955. Poet.

Since her debut in 1978, she has led the female poetry trend in the 1980s. In 2007, "The Origin of Tweezers Shinsugao Jizo" won the Hagiwara Sakutaro Award, and in 2008, she won the Murasaki Shikibu Literature Award. She also wrote "Good Breasts, Bad Breasts" and "Women's Despair".

Translator

Lake was born in Beijing and now lives in Tokyo. She is familiar with Japanese culture and art aesthetics. Her translations include "Letters: First Love and Adultery", "Old Courtesan's Notes", "Ode to Destruction", "Ukiyo-e Daughter", "Beautiful Things Touch the Heart", "Cosmology of Dreams", etc.