FROM THE GARDEN OF ZEN: January 2022

January 23, 2022

Winter seascape: Morito-beach (Hayama)

Just before it disappears beyond the distant silhouette of Izu Peninsula, the setting sun is shining radiantly and continues to illuminate the ash-blue evening sky with its bright golden color.

The calm surface of the sea is rippling finely and is sparkling like the white sands of a stone garden in the moonlight, faintly reflecting the gold hues of the transitory afterglow.

A number of ink-black shore reefs look like the rock arrangements of a dry landscape garden.

The small lighthouse has begun to light up to guide fishing boats back to the beach at the dusk.

Winter seascape: Morito-beach (Hayama)

In the transparent evening sky, the clouds of indigo-iron color are floating in the vermilion afterglow like the silhouette of a flock of huge seabirds slowly returning to their nests in the chilly wind.

The finely waving surface of the sea is shining dimly as if it had been lacquered with mat-silver flakes.

A number of rugged rocks are standing out from the rippling surface of the sea and are quietly withstanding the ruthless waves and sea-winds of midwinter.

Winter seascape: Morito-beach (Hayama)

In the vivid cinnabar afterglow beyond the shadow of the distant peninsula, the snow-topped figure of Mt. Fuji is emerging dignifiedly from the horizon like the legendary Mt. Sumeru (Mt. Shumisen), which is considered in Buddhism as the highest mountain rising in the center of the universe.

There is no cloud in the cold windy sky. The sunken sun, which has disappeared behind the peninsula, still continues to cast rich golden brilliance into the air, tinting the gray-blue sky in various shades.

The surface of Sagami Bay, which is rough with small waves, is faintly reflecting the twilight left by the sun. The gleam of the light house on Enoshima Island can be seen, and the darkness is gradually deepening.