Today I traveled from Kinosaki Onsen to Kyoto, and my plan is to stay here for two days. I knew Kyoto was the old capital of Japan, and that it had a certain mystique. But coming here this time I learned that there was an even older capital in Nara, which was completely abandoned at one point, instead of remaining a significant city such as is the case with Kyoto. There is the city of Nara, which is a re-settled city in the same place as the ancient one, and efforts are underway to reconstruct sections of the oldest capital.
But that made me think about the itinerary of this trip - not in a sense of regret, but in a consideration of what sensations I am collecting. My first-day impressions walking around Kyoto did not align with the mystique that was sold to me, and especially with the idea that Kyoto would be a place more vibrant with its history. Instead, it kind of feels tired. Maybe it’s a certain vibe that I’m attuning to which might not be Kyoto’s general vibe. Or maybe it’s the places I walked around so far - the To-ji, Nishi Hogan-ji and Higashi Hogan-ji temples, and a few shrines like Rokusonnou along the way. This impression might change with going to a different side of the city - and that’s for tomorrow.
But there was one specific experimentation of Carlos’s that got me thinking about how I was approaching navigating the city - this spiral pattern that would swirl clockwise for a few loops, then anti-clockwise for a few more, then clockwise again, all the while progressing towards something. This pattern also illustrates the process of artistic discovery and exploration. And, poetically, in the exploration that Carlos made, the phrase “NÃO SEI ONDE QUERO CHEGAR” (I don’t know where I want to arrive) is the phrase being drawn over and over in the pattern, swirling wider and wider. Such is exploration, it seems.
Musical inspiration: