ka z u o
dan
Postwar Japanese writer and poet Kazuo Dan
lived 1 year and 4 months at Santa Cruz beach. He
had originally planned to live there for only half a
year, but he adapted so well to life, in what was in
1970-71-72 a rustic fishing village that he decided
to extend his stay.
The reason he chose Santa Cruz Beach was because
the location allowed an intimate interaction
between himself and Heaven and Earth, all with
the sound of the sea in the background.
When he moved to Portugal, Kazuo Dan was 58
years old. He rented an abandoned little house,
which he considered his palace, which can be
visited on the street that now bears his name,
Kazuo Dan Street, No. 6.
At that time, only around 200 people remained
in Santa Cruz all year round. Every day Kazuo Dan
traveled the 10 km from his house to the cliff to
contemplate the vastness of the ocean. Kazuo
Dan's greatest passion, however, was the sunset
in Santa Cruz: “What is truly splendid there is the
sunset.”
He quickly made friends among the inhabitants.
The surname Dan resembled Dão phonetically
- by the way, his favorite wine - and, therefore,
his presence and his name were well marked in
the memory of the Portuguese. It was thanks to
Kazuo Dan that Dão wine and Santa Cruz Beach
came to be known by the Japanese.
On his way to Japan on the eve of his 60th birthday
on February 2, 1972, he was hoping to return to
Portugal, but in the meantime he fell ill. In 1976,
Kazuo Dan died, unable to fulfill his last wish: to
return to the small Portuguese village.
Kazuo Dan's memory, however, would be
perpetuated in the village through the initiative
of a group of Japanese friends of the writer and
poet, led by Takao Nakatani, who instituted a
monument in his honor on the north side of
Santa Cruz Chapel in 1992. On the monument is a
writer's poem about the setting sun in Santa Cruz
that reads:
“Beautiful setting sun! Ah! Could I pick you up,
There, at the end of the sea!”
At the base of the monument you can also read:
“Kazuo Dan was one of Japan's most popular
postwar writers. Possessing a rare literary
sensibility, Dan lived a life full of adventures,
having traveled all over the world.
This poem "Sunset", which he loved, was written
in Santa Cruz, where he lived and created close
bonds of friendship with the inhabitants of the
village. Shortly after returning to Japan, he fell
ill. In 1976, at the age of 63, this wandering poet
ended his life cycle without fulfilling his dream
of returning to Santa Cruz.
In fulfillment of his wish, we built this monument
here, in order to deepen the friendship relations
between Portugal and Japan. ”