Song of the Samurai by C. A. Parker

Author:C. A. Parker [Parker, C. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781955062992
Publisher: Running Wild Press

A cold, lifeless sun gave light to the morning, but no warmth. Kurosawa arose, stamped his feet to get the blood moving through his frigid limbs, and ate a rice ball for breakfast. He was still frustrated by his failure the previous night; nevertheless, he wanted to find the main shrine and spend some time there before returning to Myoan-ji. As he made his way through the seemingly endless maze of torii gates, he crested a small incline overlooking the valley to the west, which—at this hour—still lay in the shadow of the sacred mountain. He realized with some surprise how high he came the previous evening and knew that he must be near the mountain’s summit. He climbed a large rock and craned his neck, as he tried to get a sense of where the main shrine might be. He saw nothing.

And then, in a flash of insight, he understood what he missed the night before: there was no main shrine at Fushimi-Inari. The mountain was the shrine. The whole mountain. The mountain itself was sacred and holy, and the endless paths of torii gates were simply opportunities to commune with the mountain itself. Just as any major temple or shrine would have an abundance of small sub-shrines and a graveyard within its precincts, this mountain was littered with small shrines and graveyards as well. He had spent his night in the very place that he sought the whole time.

It was all so obvious that Kinko laughed out loud. He felt light and carefree. Unbidden, the words of the poet Basho came to his mind:

I still want to see

in blossoms at dawn, the face

of the mountain god

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