The wind from Mount Fuji
I laid on the fan
Here is the memory of Edo.
Matsuo Basho
Haiku poet (1644-1694)
As a Catholic I did not realize that Mount Fuji is a mountain sacred to the Japanese, who are mostly Buddhists was. To them, Mount Fuji is the great gods, or kami-sama. They believe it is a mystical gateway between heaven and earth. Pilgrims climb Mount Fuji is 12 388 feet (3776 meters) to reach the top and read haiku into accountthe landscape. In literature, a haiku poem usually with three unrhymed lines, 5, 7 and 5 syllables respectively. A haiku is a pair of contrasting images, evocative of time and place, the other a vivid but fleeting observation one.
I understand the feelings of Buddhists. Even for Catholics, a high mountain is the closest place on earth to pray to God in heaven, as Jesus illustrated in the Mount of Olives. Since I was not able to "climb" Mount Fujiwhile in Japan, I could only guess at its peak from the train station in Odawara, the hope which is located near Hakone National Park. In our sixth and final day in Japan, we were rewarded with a sunny, clear day and the perfect, white as snow cones in the sky looked like a painting. What a nice souvenir from Japan! My feelings at that moment could be expressed by this haiku:
The older we get
tears more easily
of a long day.
Yoshi Mikami Issa
Haiku poet
It istrue that when we travel to a place for the first time we see through the eyes of a child, doing everything we encounter. If my last day was emotional, it's because my first few days were a miracle. If my experience in the Narita airport toilets would describe as a haiku, it would sound like this:
I sit down slowly
buttons and here is one hand ...
Shower in the spring.
Yes, the toilet-bidet combination with heated seats, called the shower-toilet, very popular in Japan,in public places. Then came the trains. There was something reassuring in the sweet sound of a buzz as a modern train chugged its way. Through the large window, I saw many Japanese houses that looked the same, usually painted white with brown-colored tile roofs.
The next stop was Shinjuku station, where we moved the train. It 'been a blur of black stockings with mini-skirts, leggings, boots, coats, pashminas, jeans folded STILLET heels, black jacket and tie,Chic hairstyles. Need I say more of Tokyo fashion? Fortunately for the stomach, we bought a meal from Ekiben bento (station bento) and a bottle of hot green tea from a vending machine. Yes, local fast-food Japanese version.
Just saying the word
House, that a single word
the most nice and cool.
Kobayashi Issa
Haiku poet
Have you ever tried to sleep on a mat on the floor? As for the food heated on a low table with the legs beneath the earth, as in a kotatsu? ThePart I liked best was called Yukata Japanese pajamas, it's almost like a kimono, but made of cotton. I was at home drinking green tea and miso soup sipping, eating dried tofu, ginger, maki, sushi, sticky rice and dried fish. There was so much to know about Japan and its culture of learning, and thanks to my "adoptive parents" in Japan, I felt at home.
How to keep your heart
something for a lifetime ...
long conversations.
