Track: Yamadera

Yamadera is a beautiful small town nestled at the base of a mountain, on the Yamagata Prefecture side of the Miyagi-Yamagata border. It’s located in the Tohoku region of northern Japan, on the main island of Honshu. In Japanese, yama means “mountain” and o-tera means “temple” – the town of Yamadera gets it’s name from the temple of Risshakuji (also commonly called Yamadera) which is scattered all over the mountainside from the base of the mountain to the top. During our Christmas-New Year trip to Japan, I visited Yamadera again with family. Continue Reading →

Track: Asanagi

Asanagi is a Japanese word that means “Morning calm over the sea”. It’s the image that I had in mind when writing this piece. One of my favourite times to be near the ocean is in the morning, watching the sky turn from the pre-dawn blue to the deep golden-orange of sunrise. At that time, the sea falls still – as if it were holding it’s breath, waiting for the sun to appear.

Another Hirogari piece inspired by the sun rising over the sea is Hinode. It has a very different mood of the sunrise…