Beauty of Impermanence (temples 25 – 27)
Along the shore of the Pacific Ocean, weather can be severe. When I left Cape Muroto, for miles I walked in heavy rain. It did not bother me, because I was well equipped.
Fish market after Cape Muroto
A typhoon like storm with rain came up at one time, blowing boxes around and lifting my rain cape over my head. For a short time, I could not see anything anymore. It was dangerous to walk. Kuniko-san, a woman I met at the temple before, called a taxi to take us to the Ryokan (Japanese style inn).
Since the 2011 tsunami in Fukushima , escape towers like this one were built all along the shore.
Life is not easy for people living in this area. Many production sites and homes are abandoned and deteriorating. However, often I found beauty in the deterioration and impermanence. It reminded me of the Japanese aesthetics based on imperfection, impermanence and incompleteness (Wabi Sabi).
An abandoned industrial site
A bathtub in the middle of nowhere
The garden of an abandoned home. Very often, everything in the homes was left after the people died from this house, deteriorating and taken over by nature.
An abandoned boat
Despite the poverty in this place, there was a very warm, welcoming spirit. In one of the shacks along the way, in a room full of Origami, drawings and life size puppets, the Ohenros could take a rest and have hot coffee or tea as an Osettai.