Beauty of Impermanence
Along the shore of the Pacific Ocean, weather can be severe. When I left Cape Muroto, for miles I walked in heavy rain. It did not bother me because I was well equipped.
Fish market after Cape Muroto
Orchards of loquat fruit trees
In front of the hōndō of Kongōchōji (temple 26).
On the temple ground was also an iron kettle where legend says that Kūkai turned three cups of rice into 10 000 cups.
Trunks of a camellia tree with knots like cancer. People pray here for the cure of cancer
A typhoon like storm came up one time, blowing boxes around and lifting my rain cape over my head. For a short time, I could not see anything anymore. It was dangerous to walk. Kuniko-san, a woman I met at the temple before, called a taxi to take us to the ryokan.
Kuniko-san calling a taxi
Life is not easy for people living in this area. Many production sites and homes are abandoned and deteriorating. However, I often found beauty in the deterioration and impermanence. It reminded me of the Japanese aesthetics based on imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness.
Even in a trashed up area, people do gardening on a tiny spot of earth.
A bathtub in the middle of nowhere.
Very often, everything in the home was left after the people died. The deteriorating house was often taken over by nature. Sometimes, an abandoned house was used to store even more trash. it was hard to see beauty in these sites.
An abandoned boat
Despite the poverty in this place, there was a very warm, welcoming spirit. In one of the shacks along the way, in a room full of origami, drawings and life size puppets, the ohenros could take a rest and have hot coffee or tea as an osettai.
At a beautiful sea restaurant, I had tea and cake.
The Japanese have such a stunning sense of aesthetics, captured in your remarkable photos.
yes, it is visible in so many different ways – food, ikebana, architecture, spaces inside the house….
I was intrigued by the beauty of contemporary architecture.Unfortunately, the buildings constructed after
the war do not show much aesthetics. Good to hear from you, Erica. I just came back to Vienna today.