Shrines, Trains, and Autonomy

From living 12 miles outside of a midwestern town of 566 people to visiting Tokyo on a whim, life brings awesome paths. As a pre-driver's license, sugar-addicted adolescent, I remember riding my 1-speed bike (the kind where you break by peddling backwards) that long hilly road into town just to buy a pack of baseball cards and a can of coke. In that amount of time now, I can go from my little mountain village in the middle of Japan to the bustling streets of Tokyo. The amount of open land and sky seemed infinite in west-central Minnesota. Whereas, the only thing that seems infinite in Japan are the overcast skies and the line of cars.


Above is a picture of me on my way back from Tokyo. In the background is the blurred image of a torii. Torii are gateways to Shinto shrines and can be seen all over Japan. In Japanese, torii is comprised of two kanji; 鳥 tori (bird); and 居 i (place). According to the mathematical law of summation, the two together create a place for birds--a perfect bird perch. Birds are considered messengers of the gods in Shintoism.


During the summer night festival in my village, some determined, young lads marched up the mountainside equipped with flaming torches to set ablaze the nearby torii. This is not seen as satanic, as in burning a religious symbol like the cross. Instead, it is a special celebration of something important that I never fully understood. To use an idiomatic expression: it's for the birds.