![\"170117_going_down_sun_shadows_600\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/170117_going_down_sun_shadows_600.jpg\")
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Christmas Day, 2016, we strolled along the ridge connecting Kita Kamakura Station with downtown Kamakura. Along the way, we stopped at an outdoor restaurant for clam chowder and sausages. At the table next to ours was sitting a single flower.<\/p>\n
![\"161225_purple_flower_itsuki_600\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/161225_purple_flower_itsuki_600.jpg\")
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Just a flower. No people. No plates, no bowls, no coffee cups.<\/p>\n
![\"161209_persimmon_blue](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/161209_persimmon_blue-_2_450.jpg\")
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It looked a bit like a dahlia\u2014or maybe a chrysanthemum\u2014but for sure it was a vivid, energetic lavender-pink (Pink!<\/em> my companion said), and had, I thought a certain lotus-like quality to it\u2014it didn\u2019t burn but stayed ablaze.<\/p>\n We hadn\u2019t ordered so much food (we were sharing a single bowl of chowder and a single order of sausages), but compared to the flower\u2019s table, ours seemed jammed pack.<\/p>\n So I couldn\u2019t help myself. I turned to the flower and said, \u201cYou\u2019re a light eater, aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, it\u2019s a terrible joke\u2014but it\u2019s a joke, a line, that I can\u2019t get out of my head.<\/p>\n Most of us, in so many ways, could benefit from becoming light<\/em> eaters. And there is so much we can learn from the flowers in the fields and the trees in the forests.<\/p>\n And just what do they know? Well, they\u2019ve learned to get the bulk of their sustaining energy directly from the sun\u2014something our scientists are trying to mimic, though in a much more humble way. Yes, the trees and flowers take essential minerals from the soil, but the vast bulk of their intake is water and light. We, on the other hand, tend to consume\u2014eating, playing, working\u2014bigger chunks of solid things<\/em>, heavier<\/em> things, and we surely have to wonder how long these big, heavy chunks of things, at our current rate of consumption, can sustain seven billion of us.<\/p>\n So one small piece of advice: From time to time, think a bit about the \u201clight\u201d eaters. They help us a lot, and they help to keep things in balance. They will <\/em>keep things in balance, if we let them.<\/p>\n Winter, especially, is good for contemplating light. As I go for walks beneath the trees or out about town, I feel, maybe imagine, at least three different types of light. One I call New Year\u2019s Light. This is the light that warms you to the bone, that makes you ask yourself, \u201cWow, is it really January?\u201d Maybe this light cannot be experienced everywhere, but it certainly can be here in Shizuoka.<\/p>\n And then there is what I call December Light. This is, to me, a somewhat melancholic light. You can feel the cool all around. Just before twilight, you feel the temperature dropping. You wish your gloves were doing a little better job. You know<\/em> it\u2019s going to be a cold night, but just then, you are happy to be there beneath the maple tree, the tree that has kept its leaves longer than any maple tree anywhere else in town. You are happy to see the December sun slice into the yellow and red, setting it ablaze. This light, you know all so well, is one you can only hold your palms up to for a few more minutes.<\/p>\n And then there is something I call Persimmon Light. This light is warming, certainly, at least a little bit, but that is not its main appeal. Persimmon Light is something I feel must stay in the sky. There\u2019s something spiritual and mystical about it, something that seems to connect me, here on Earth, with something far out in the universe. I\u2019ve never actually seen a persimmon tree, leafless, full of fruit, atop a mountain, but I can imagine pretty clearly the feeling I would have if I hiked up a snowy trail, beneath the bare-branched hardwoods and the shimmering evergreens\u2014here and there, the sun lighting up the bamboo grass\u2014<\/p>\n —and came out into the open air, the sky azure, and there a single persimmon tree, its dark, spidery branches seemingly etched into the sky, the hundreds of translucent-skinned, orange fruit glowing.<\/p>\n Oh, man.<\/p>\n So I\u2019m happy to have this opportunity to say thank you to the light.<\/p>\n Light, thank you.<\/p>\n You sustain me\u2014and give me joy\u2014all the year round.<\/p>\n Ah, and now I\u2019m imagining the lovely komorebi<\/em> (more or less, sunlight filtered through green leaves, the lighter green the better) that is to be had (for free!) this spring on the trail up Yambushi. I can see myself bathing in it.<\/p>\n Hearty Hikers, get ready!<\/p>\n Persimmon Light<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"161225_daibutsu_tamami_600\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/161225_daibutsu_tamami_600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"161223_persimmon_mountain_2_600\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/161223_persimmon_mountain_2_600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"170117_big_tree_450\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/170117_big_tree_450.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"170117_alps_bamboo_grass_2_600\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/170117_alps_bamboo_grass_2_600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"170117_jizo_pass_fuji_600\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/170117_jizo_pass_fuji_600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"170117_ocean_jizo_ridge_600\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/170117_ocean_jizo_ridge_600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"170117_snow_sun_sky_4_600\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/170117_snow_sun_sky_4_600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"170117_bamboo_grass_aglow_2_600\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/170117_bamboo_grass_aglow_2_600.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"161210_star_persimmon_book_cover_450\"](\"http:\/\/persimmon-dreams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/161210_star_persimmon_book_cover_450.jpg\")
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