I Burn Bamboo
I know i've mentioned it before, but just to set the scene... i live at a shrine. it's not a particularily old shrine, though it could be. i've never asked. the shrine itself looks quite new, though all the surrounding buildings, including the one i live in, are quite old.
there is a great private cherry orchard up the little path from my place that is part of the shrine grounds, and though the trees are too old now to blossom with the beauty of younger trees, the location has me dreaming that i could have drank under those trees 30 years ago when they must have been at their prime.
just beyond the cherry orchard, and enclosing the shrine grounds on two sides, is a bamboo grove that i like strolling through. at night the sound of the wind through the bamboo reaches my room and goes "wheet wheet wheet" as the amazing strength and flexibility of this amazing plant is tested by god.
in a couple weeks or so baby bamboo shoots will start to pop up through soft earth, which if you don't know, is a tasty treasure that people go hunting for... scavaging for... searching for in groves reminding me of the people that would drive down the dead end dirt road i lived on looking for asparagus. so recently, i've been helping the grounds keeper burn old and fallen trees to help the little shoots grow, and to make searching for them easier. it's a fun and rewarding job that also takes me back to my farm days gathering wood with my dad in the forest.
yesterday's unseasonal snow, however, made it a misserable day, as my hands went from wet, to cold, to rediculously painful, to a numbness that scared me. that was the signal to start the fire, warm up and burn all the trees we had cut up and gathered.
i'm sure there's a wax on mr. miyagi lesson to be learned, but i have yet to find it.
there is a great private cherry orchard up the little path from my place that is part of the shrine grounds, and though the trees are too old now to blossom with the beauty of younger trees, the location has me dreaming that i could have drank under those trees 30 years ago when they must have been at their prime.
just beyond the cherry orchard, and enclosing the shrine grounds on two sides, is a bamboo grove that i like strolling through. at night the sound of the wind through the bamboo reaches my room and goes "wheet wheet wheet" as the amazing strength and flexibility of this amazing plant is tested by god.
in a couple weeks or so baby bamboo shoots will start to pop up through soft earth, which if you don't know, is a tasty treasure that people go hunting for... scavaging for... searching for in groves reminding me of the people that would drive down the dead end dirt road i lived on looking for asparagus. so recently, i've been helping the grounds keeper burn old and fallen trees to help the little shoots grow, and to make searching for them easier. it's a fun and rewarding job that also takes me back to my farm days gathering wood with my dad in the forest.
yesterday's unseasonal snow, however, made it a misserable day, as my hands went from wet, to cold, to rediculously painful, to a numbness that scared me. that was the signal to start the fire, warm up and burn all the trees we had cut up and gathered.
i'm sure there's a wax on mr. miyagi lesson to be learned, but i have yet to find it.
posted by Akira Sundance at 4:37 PM
2 Comments:
that sounds amazing brother... listen i'm planning a trip around the world in two years... if you're still there, i'll come knock on your door.
yeah. and the thing is i'm having trouble putting bamboo into words. i'm trying to create some, actually, to describe the sound of movement.
two years? i'll be here most likely. maybe not where i am now, but somewhere in japan. drop on by. i'll show you some wicked shit, and depending on what time of year you come, can prolly fit in some hands on festivals or culture.
Post a Comment
<< Home