It
was my first experience in the rural world and I was full with curiosity and
insecurity simultaneously. I got into the train as if I was going to a picnic,
nibbling my rice-ball and watching) the landscape changing. It was as if the
landscape with its mountains and nature was absorbing me.
Getting down the train we star walking a sloping road for 30 minutes till
we reached a hermitage in the middle of a thick forest and illuminated by
the summer sunlight. The sister received us with a smile and a glass of
cold water wiht sweet beans cultivated in the fields of the hermitage.
Delicious beans, the pleasure of the natural water, the genuine smile, the
beauty of nature... I believe it was at this moment when we start
experiencing what Takamori's life is. To feel again and again the wind
among the trees, being grateful for the trees, a wind that moves without
need of a fan...
For dinner we had vegetables taken that day from the orchard and again we were
impressed of the taste, of the natural flavor of the vegetables. After having
dinner, we listened to the tape of one of the chats given by Fr. Oshida. It was
a voice that draws us into it, sometimes full of power, sometimes making us
laugh with a joke. It was as if in this voice there was an echo of nature, the
deep echo of our own heart, the echo of a pure way of human living.
The following day another new experience began. Getting up at half past five, we
have the prayer, and after breakfast we work. With the gloves, the towel, the
hat of straw, the boots and the muffs we went working. A rice-field filled with
water was waiting for us with the rice plant up to the hips. To work bent
weeding and removing insects ... the hips start hurting ... the sister and those
that live there worked very fast... The grieving hips were waiting for the sound
of the bell at 10 a.m. and at 3 p.m. The maintained sound of that bell and the
tea cooled in the creek... In spite of being sweaty and tired, the smiles were
shining. More than the weariness, we felt the pleasure of the cold water and the
sensation of the wind in the skin.
We also cut grass. When it was cut and we could lie down on the clean plot I
could feel the force and affection coming up from the mother earth.
Also we went to a spring that flows out from the mountain and is called Koizumi
with delicious and cold water. What one feels there is something that cannot be
put into words nor be understood with the mind. That generous and wonderful gift
of nature can be only felt with the body and the heart.
We take turns in cooking. Food is prepared with things taken in the
orchard and is at that time when the pleasure of harvesting is known and
the original flavor of things are appreciated. That day I was taken to a
mulberry tree replete with fruit. It was necessary to take them one by one
with care. What sweet they were! Food is not fabricated, is not made. The food is a fruit of the
earth, is cultivated.
I cannot also forget the orange evenings after the prayer and how near the moon
and stars could be felt in the darkness when I was going away to sleep.
The most usual things and the things that we have in front of our eyes are
carrying really a power. It is not enough with the force of the mother earth,
the generosity of the nature and our cooperation cultivating it? Is it not good
like that, without changing, without making, without destroying? I believe that
the earth and nature have everything we need. If we could live in harmony with
nature...
I was one week in Takamori and every single day was unforgettable. The time
passed quickly but I learned many things. One week is not sufficient to learn.
The longer one stay there, the more one live there, the deeper looks the
treasure hidden in the hermitage.
It was a wonderful experience. Thank you very much. Also I give thanks to all
those who I met and helped me, including Roku (the dog) and to Bunta (the cat).
That week in Takamori's hermitage was a blessing for me.
