The bath of a thousand bathers
fortunately not all at the same time
Konnichiwa friends
My residency here at Aomori Contemporary Arts Centre draws rapidly to a close and it feels like time is speeding up. It’s been a rich and busy month, and although it will be sad to say goodbye, I am looking forward to having some time to reflect and absorb everything that these weeks have meant.
The exhibition is over, everything has been dismantled, and a truckload of stuff is now stacked in the studios. My own pieces were easily enough dealt with. As for ‘Confluence,’ it was simply a matter of rolling it up, sliding it into a sturdy carboard tube and then zipping this into a ski bag I can sling over my shoulder and bring back with me to Orkney (although I did have a couple of Laurel and Hardy moments getting stuck in doorways until I got the hang of carrying it!) The big table has been taken apart, ready for repurposing - sadly I can’t take it with me!
I also gathered up all the water offerings that people had brought to add to the little water shrine in the gallery, and brought them back to ACAC where we held a small ceremony to return them to the larger flow of the world.
I said a few words inside in the warm, before we all went outside.
“Thank you for joining me here this morning for this small ceremony to gather up all the waters that people have brought me from around Aomori, together with those I brought with me from my home in Orkney, and to return them with gratitude.
Because we must always give back what we borrow.
All of us are made of borrowed water. Our bodies are two thirds water. But this water is not ours to keep. It is borrowed from the rain, the snow, the rivers, and the clouds. This water in our bodies renews and replenishes itself every ten days or so. Each of us is a small vessel of borrowed water which we must continually empty and refill. The water that flows through the world also flows through us.”
“Our life, too, is not ours to keep. It’s merely borrowed for a short while before it must be returned to that great mystery from which it came, a mystery we give many different names.
While I have been here in Aomori, someone I was close to, my very first teacher in and a lifelong friend, passed away. Although I could not be there at her funeral, she has been much in my thoughts and in my heart this last two weeks, thinking about the influence she had on so many lives, as a teacher of thousands of children.
My work here has been about ‘confluence’, about how waters and human energies come together and increase in power. But, of course, there is also ‘influence’, how one life shapes another. We are shaped by all the lives; human, animal, plant, that have flowed into ours. In turn, our lives, actions and words flow on to influence others in ways we cannot know.
And so, as I return these waters from Aomori and Orkney so they can rejoin the great flow of the world’s waters, I invite you to join me for a moment of silence as we watch the ripples go out across the pond, in gratitude for water, for the life it gives us, for all the other lives that have flowed into ours to make us who we are today, and to reflect on how our own words and actions may send ripples of influence out beyond our knowledge or control, even after we ourselves have gone.
Thank you.’
Now that the exhibition is finished, I’ve had a bit more time to explore some of the local waters here in Aomori.
A visit to Sukayu onsen, a thermal spring high in the mountains, involved a long and winding drive up into the snow…
Sukayu onsen is known for its “Sen-nin-buro” or “Bath of a thousand bathers”, a large mixed gender public bath that dates back to the Edo period, 300 years ago.
Fortunately they were not all present on this visit, with just a dozen or so bathers bobbing around in the mist.
There are many niceties to observe as you enter, so I was glad to have Tomo to keep me right. Once inside the steam-filled bath house itself, I gratefully slid into the opaque jade-coloured water, which is hot, acidic and sulfurous as it springs from the ground directly beneath the three-hundred-year old bathing pool.
Lost in the dreaminess of thick steam, dim lighting, old timber and the heat of the waters, I stayed long enough to feel my skin tingle and for the silver necklace, which I forgot to remove, to turn completely black from the sulphur!
A few days after onsen bathing I managed a spot of forest bathing in Oirase Gorge, a magically atmospheric place that resounds with the sound of water flowing down the many waterfalls that join the river as it drops towards the Pacific through mossy rocks and trees. The road that winds along beside the river was mercifully quiet in this off-season, and the rushing, roaring, trickling, dripping sounds of water echoed off the rocky sides of the steep gorge, filling the whole place with a powerful sense of ancient water energies.
Now, in the last couple of days here before I head to Tokyo for a few days en route home, it’s time to start packing, cleaning up, saying goodbyes.
I’m indebted to the generosity and help of the team here at ACAC, especially Tomo Setou, who has tirelessly transported, assisted, explained and translated for this clueless foreigner.
I’ll have to learn to fend for myself in Tokyo!
Jaa, mata! じゃあ、また
Sam
P.S. A quick reminder that there is no Life Raft co-working while I am in Japan. I’ve had some people asking why it’s not running – it would be the middle of the night here! We will be relaunching in the New Year so watch this space.
Oh, and P.P.S. For those in or near Edinburgh, I have a painting in the exhibition ‘Nature Turns’ opening soon at the Royal Scottish Academy, that was completed just before I left for Japan. RSVP HERE to receive the invlitation to the online preview on December 4th and/or the gallery Private View on December 6th. Sadly, I won’t be there.
Your residency seems to have gone in a flash. As someone who lives in a village where three rivers meet, this post resonates with me. I love the thought of us simply being temporary vessels of water.
Your words and the ritual were such a thoughtful way to make us all more conscious of our borrowed water as well as our interconnectedness. We are so fortunate to be able to turn on the tap or shower and expect an endless supply (subject to rising charges) or fill a water bottle, or better still drink from fresh water in the wild. I have been enjoying all your sharing of your trip, it has been thought provoking as well as inspirational. I also have bathing envy! I appreciate your sending out these ripples of energy and life, thank you.