Beginning of Winter 立冬 (2)

Mountains in winter 冬の山

There are places in the world where climactic conditions cause mountains to disappear from sight. In the desert air of Los Angeles, the mountains never move at all. They are always standing there, always the same. In the high plateaus of the Himalaya too, where the air is crystal clear and it’s quite simply too high up to rain or snow, so too do the mountains remain always visible-- Just like in Los Angeles.

I’ve heard that Mt Kilimanjaro, a great volcanic giant which rises up for no apparent reason in the middle of the African plain, is rarely visible. Hidden behind clouds, mist and haze—even those living in its shadow forget its there. In Taiwan too, the tallest mountains seemed to always be changing-- veiled, sometimes hiding, changing colors.

In Japan, the mountains are like that. They mostly remain invisible behind a veil of mist, haze. On particularly clear days though, suddenly you are taken completely aback. Wow! Was that mountain always there? In winter in Tochigi, all of a sudden you find Mt. Bandai and Mt Nantai both standing tall to the northwest and, on particularly clear days, behind Mt. Ohira, you can catch sight of Mt Fuji.

Winter is the 1-color world that Basho described. All the grasses turn brownish gray, the dried rice fields are also a desolate straw color, with heaps of discarded husks piled up in heaps in the fields for burning. All the trees have lost their leaves and a dry, freezing cold wind blows across Siberia, becoming colder and drier as it heads toward Japan.

Colorless and impossible to escape the frigid cold-- for a long time, this was my least favorite time of year in Japan. Now, though, I look forward to the clarity. I love the way the water birds—ducks and egrets- spend their winters along the Uzumagawa river; I love the warming foods, and I love the way mountains suddenly—as if by magic—appear in the distance.

There is a draw toward the mountains, and people who scale them sometimes find it very hard coming back down. Salmon Rushdie described a woman like that. Her feet were so flat that every step up was excruciating—yet, she couldn’t quit. Up that high, one can feel God, she said. My tea teacher’s daughter was married to a man who loved mountain climbing. It started off a few weeks a year and by the end, he hardly came home anymore. The air is different up there-- cyrstal clear.

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"As the highest and most dramatic features of the natural landscape, mountains have an extraordinary power to evoke the sacred. The ethereal rise of a ridge in mist, the glint of the moonlight on an icy face, a flare of gold on a distant peak--such glimpses of transcent beauty can reveal our world as a place of unimaginably beauty and splendor." --Edwin Bernbaum, Sacred Mountains of the World

Beginning of Winter Part 1

Finally, I leave you with Segovia ("If the spanish guitar is God, then Segovia is his prophet" These words from the introduction to Segovia's collected music CD that I have around here somewhere....)

Comments

[Eric]

Mountains, much like the sea, help to remind us of our place in a larger universe. I think the ocean has the most eternal feel - and is the only thing that is, was and always will exist. It's where whence we came and what will be left.

But mountains tend to inspire us more - as they reach to the heavens and leave us feeling small in a world of beauty.

However, you forgot my favorite mountains - and ones I know you've been around: the volcanoes of Bali, whoch act as the great parents of the island. They feel full of life, stand solid and each one on its own, and between them have the most gorgeous lakes. Bali's mountains are teeming with life - and the source and center of the most magical place on Earth.

They too disappear and come out to surprise you. But they can always be found, and are always gentle and full of life (except when one erupts).

These two posts on mountains are some of your most beautiful and poetic pieces.

[Vandor]

Mountains have, more than any other natural geographic feature on the planet, the ability to draw us all once again into that tempting world of the possible...and once up amidst all of that powerful air we taste the heavens.

[Bao Pu]

A nice read. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Peony]

Vandor, mountains as possibility and magnets drawing us into awe. And crystal clear and dazzling thin air as Clarity....

You must be surrounded in beautiful snow-clad mountains right now. Too cold to go up any higher though I imagine.

Hi Bao Pu! It's great to see you here (and there)!