The Japanese Stone Lantern ~ Light in the Garden

God, how is it possible? It really has been a thousand years ago!

I was working on a project for the Port of Seattle Sea-Tac Airport. It was my first small works contract. I'd been hired to design something else when I got a call from my project manager at the Port. "We need you to stop doing what you're doing right now and start designing something to display a Kasuga-dōrō." "Great," I said. But, what I was really thinking was ~ Mmmmm, what's a Kasuga-dōrō? 

Things I learned on that project: First, a Kasuga-dōrō is a Japanese stone lantern in the style associated with the Kasuga-Taisha shrine. Second, it represents the five elements of the Buddhist cosmology ~ Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Heaven. Third: With the exception of the firebox, Kasuga-dōrō can be configured in many ways. Fourth: It is usually displayed at the third torii (gate) to the temple.

Well, the Port's Kasuga-dōrō was a gift from the City of Kobe to the City of Seattle. It was over six feet tall. Massive! Really handsome. Granite. Heavier than hell. So, the mayor of Kobe was coming to town and someone decided that not enough had been done to the Kasuga-dōrō since it arrived as a gift in the past and in honour of the visit an exhibit / display was desired. STAT.

After many design meetings, much marshaling of craftsmen, the display was completed in time and on budget as the mayor of Kobe got off the plane in Seattle.

On Saturday, when Ramses and I were at Barb's for dinner, I was reminded of that project and the beauty of a Kasuga-dōrō in the garden. Barb and Rico's is a particularly nice one. Last winter, when everything was so dreary, we cleaned out all the pots on her deck and placed a lovely Asian bowl filled with rocks beside her Kasuga-dōrō. It was pretty all winter and through the spring as the rainfall wet the rocks making them shine bright black against the hibernating grass.

A silent sentinel. 

My little Kasuga-dōrō isn't nearly as grand as Barb's or as amazing as the one at the airport but, I love it all the same. It sits at the top of my driveway quietly doing its little stone lantern job. And, when all the perennials planted around it come up this spring, it will nestle even more gently into the garden.

Day 26 Everyday Grateful ~ 

the doors open to the back deck,

the air is still,

a sunny beautiful day.

Thankful.