静寂

Great Catfishoh-nah-MAH-zoo

In blue ink beneath the moon, a giant catfish bears a sacred keystone bound with shimenawa. Tiny circles spread from its whiskers, but water and earth remain still. People once believed earthquakes began when the great catfish underground thrashed against Kashima’s restraining stone. Stillness is not the absence of motion; it is the time while the seal holds.

BakotsuBakotsu

The full moon lays a narrow path across the water as a horse skeleton in old robes stops by the bank. Only ripples and red leaves move; its hollow gaze rests on the quiet far shore. Bakotsu, the bones of a horse said to have died in a fire, has no grand record of attacking people. Tonight, even a life left without mourning is allowed to rest in the moonlight.