Pilot K was born in Kyoto in the spring of 1923<\/p>\n
From an early age he admired Tiziano Vecellio<\/p>\n
Otherwise known as Titian<\/p>\n
He often visited galleries to study the Italian and other great artists<\/p>\n
Pilot K wanted to be an artist<\/p>\n
A successful artist<\/p>\n
Who would travel beyond Japan<\/p>\n
To Italy and then to America<\/p>\n
He admired America<\/p>\n
He liked Americans<\/p>\n
On one occasion an American visitor gave him a book<\/p>\n
This book contained the complete works<\/p>\n
Of the Italian<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Today would be the last day that<\/p>\n
Pilot K would breathe<\/p>\n
The calm summer air<\/p>\n
Of his beloved country<\/p>\n
In hours he would fly his Zero<\/p>\n
Into an American battleship<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He had left his paper blank<\/p>\n
Leaving on a sketch of<\/p>\n
Venus Rising from the Sea<\/p>\n
In honour of the Master<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This was taken as an acceptance<\/p>\n
By his superiors<\/p>\n
As Kamikaze Pilots<\/p>\n
Were volunteers<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pilot K knew that he would<\/p>\n
Never visit<\/p>\n
Italy<\/p>\n
To study the master<\/p>\n
But hoped that<\/p>\n
By attacking the battleship<\/p>\n
That his spirit<\/p>\n
Would be transported<\/p>\n
To the countries<\/p>\n
He would never know<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On the night before the attack<\/p>\n
Pilot K<\/p>\n
Removed the painting of<\/p>\n
Venus Ring from the Sea<\/p>\n
From his beloved book<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He sent the remainder<\/p>\n
Of his damaged book<\/p>\n
To his other self<\/p>\n
In Italy<\/p>\n
Wrapped in brown paper<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pilot K hid the painting<\/p>\n
Under his flying jacket<\/p>\n
As he walked towards his Zero<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The ceremonies were over<\/p>\n
But the summer air<\/p>\n
Was still soft<\/p>\n
Like the body of Venus<\/p>\n
He imagined<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As he climbed aboard<\/p>\n
The explosive laden plane<\/p>\n
He looked into the narrow cockpit<\/p>\n
This will be my place of death<\/p>\n
My coffin<\/p>\n
He thought<\/p>\n
I will experience<\/p>\n
My last thoughts here<\/p>\n
My last thoughts will be of<\/p>\n
Venus<\/p>\n
Venus Anadyomene<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
High above the clouds<\/p>\n
He removed the painting<\/p>\n
From his flying jacket<\/p>\n
And placed it in his line of vision<\/p>\n
It obscured his view<\/p>\n
He was flying by instruments alone<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Within the hour the ships<\/p>\n
Had been spotted<\/p>\n
And he prepared to dive<\/p>\n
He would dive blindly<\/p>\n
Into the sea<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He would die<\/p>\n
But the battleship would survive<\/p>\n
Perhaps the son<\/p>\n
Of the kind American<\/p>\n
Who gave him the book<\/p>\n
Was serving on the ship<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
His Zero went into a vertical dive<\/p>\n
Its engines screamed<\/p>\n
The plane shook<\/p>\n
But the blue sea<\/p>\n
Far below<\/p>\n
Remained still<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pilot K thought he would experience<\/p>\n
His own death<\/p>\n
But he was wrong<\/p>\n
Due to ferocity of his dive<\/p>\n
The page he had removed<\/p>\n
From the book<\/p>\n
Given to him by the American<\/p>\n
Wrapped itself around him<\/p>\n
And he became unconscious<\/p>\n
His last mortal thoughts were of<\/p>\n
Venus Rising from the Sea<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The first after memory of Pilot K<\/p>\n
Was of a girl<\/p>\n
With flaxen hair<\/p>\n
It was long<\/p>\n
Stretching almost to her waist<\/p>\n
She was naked<\/p>\n
But her exposure<\/p>\n
Seemed indifferent<\/p>\n
Due to the length<\/p>\n
Of her hair<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
She had obviously been in the sea<\/p>\n
As her body<\/p>\n
Was still damp<\/p>\n
And the many droplets<\/p>\n
That clung to her<\/p>\n
Were reflecting<\/p>\n
The blue of the sky<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Pilot K looked away from the naked girl<\/p>\n
His Zero lay smashed<\/p>\n
Partially hidden by a huge shell<\/p>\n
It’s colour had however changed<\/p>\n
It was now as blue<\/p>\n
As the sky<\/p>\n
And the sea<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the spring of 1963<\/p>\n
Forty years after the birth of<\/p>\n
Pilot K<\/p>\n
A Titian exhibition<\/p>\n
Was held in<\/p>\n
Kyoto<\/p>\n
Japan<\/p>\n
A large number of works<\/p>\n
By the master<\/p>\n
Were sent by an American Foundation<\/p>\n
The aim was to bring the two countries<\/p>\n
Closer together<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
One of the paintings sent was<\/p>\n
Venus Ring from the Sea<\/p>\n
It was exhibited in<\/p>\n
Exhibition Hall K<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On the last day of March<\/p>\n
A tall American<\/p>\n
Stood before the painting<\/p>\n
It was his favourite painting<\/p>\n
He had studied it often<\/p>\n
But had never noticed<\/p>\n
The small imperfection<\/p>\n
That could be seen<\/p>\n
Almost hidden<\/p>\n
Behind the shell<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pilot K was born in Kyoto in the spring of 1923 From an early age he admired Tiziano Vecellio Otherwise known as Titian He often visited galleries to study the Italian and other great artists Pilot K wanted to be an artist A successful artist Who would travel beyond Japan To Italy and then to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}