Hasu Transitoire (The Transient Lotus)

The rain pounds down outside, a sweet song the skies have really been enjoying of late. I don't mind, in fact it inspires a soft creativity in my mind. Thoughts drift to mountain adventures, which continue to reveal themselves as the path of my heart. I've just returned from a four-day run in Nara. A quiet and thoughtful reconnecting with sites, sights, and a few familiar faces. I collected a new gem for my mountain treasure chest, and beautiful indeed she is. Hasedera in southern Nara Prefecture is the reward of a meandering journey: south and east about an hour from Nara, alighting then descending stone steps from a lonesome train station, crossing through a small and sleepy town situated on a hillside, over a lulling river, and then up another hillside and hundreds more stone steps. Nestled is a good descriptive fit; nicely exhausting a good,  realistic reflection. The air shifted as I moved, thick near the river, and ever so subtly lighter and more accommodating...

A month-long celebration across the whole city to celebrate and preserve life. I've never seen a city so alive. And this is just the lead up for the big parades on July 17 and 24. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gion_Matsuri

Mt. Omine is a place of terrific beauty and wonder. It lies deep in the mountains of Nara Prefecture, and the small hot springs town of Dorogawa Onsen nestles at the base of its largest peaks, Sanjôgatake and Inamuragatake. I am watching late afternoon shadows casting over colorful hillsides, writing while sitting at the window of my inn. A few locals mill about, and the sound of running water from Gorogoro springs forth as a constant. This area has been held as sacred for well over a thousand years, and for good reason. Steep cliff faces, deep limestone caves, fresh spring water, not to mention the effervescent spirit of the locals and their histories. Mt. Omine is also the headquarters of Shugendo, Japan’s tradition of mountain asceticism…men (mostly) clad in white dangling themselves from cliffs, meditating under frigid waterfalls or in pitch black and seemingly endless caves. It’s my second research trip here to study a lesser-known aspect of the mountain’s history, its exclu...

Can't seem to stay away from Tokyo for more than a few weeks...weak to its magnetic pull. An academic meeting gave the official reason, and adventures with friends (new and old) supplied the rest.

I've been remiss with writing, more to come soon. Images from recent travels for now. Kyushu is lovely, especially Fukuoka, a seaside port town that reminds one quite a lot of Seattle. The air is clean, people are friendly and seem generally happy, and there are lots of green spaces and parks and water. The food is delicious, too. A busy week of academic conference'ing, field tripping to shrines, temples, castle ruins, and museums. The history is rich and deep here, as Kyushu is the the closest point to Korea and China. Trade of ideas, goods, people, and also war gives Kyushu a unique character unlike other parts of Japan. Heading back tomorrow! 

are everything.

Places change us. Beauty awes us. Energy penetrates us. The natural world, and the human history we’ve laid across it, always leaves me simultaneously at a loss for words and wanting to say something. Perhaps more than ever before, yesterday’s trek to Mt. Kurama, had this profound kind of effect.  Mt. Kurama and its religious center, Kuramadera , is said to be Kyoto’s most powerful site, energetically speaking. Haunted, some say, by former samurai and ninja who trained on its steep slopes.  The place where a deity from Venus descended six million years ago. A place of combined religious practice, mysterious and shadowy twists and turns, and a sense of stillness and purity I will never forget.  Being so sensitive to light/dark/emotions/the moon/everything, I was especially curious how it would ‘feel’ to be there. And in retrospect, it could have been those anticipatory feelings that influenced the reality…but I must say that around Yuki Shrine and its massive tr...