The Smaller Things in Life. SJ 25/5/17
Arriving at Izumo Taisha Shrine from Matsue I was struck by how nature is regarded by those around me and their awareness of space, each individual moving within their own sphere. They are uninterrupted except when I stand and get in the way, too busy looking at the considered aspects of every day objects, like sculpted birds on a stainless steel water pipe. I walk down the path to a small pond, still thinking too about the image of stillness and solidarity I felt the night before in my first experience of an onsen.
“Go at the pace of the place that you are in”, Judith tells me and it’s a good reminder that although we have a full itinerary, we don’t have to race to complete it. Slowing down, each moment has the capacity to contain more and I adapt to the slower pace of the movements of those around us – each one performed like a scored gesture. I observe a young boy looking into a pond full of coy carp big enough to swallow him whole, a group of children trying to buy sushi with too little change, and find the space to experience being moved body and soul after bowing twice, clapping four times, bowing twice again.