In our upcoming December circular, we print Essays XV through XIX (Part I) of Yoshida Kenkō’s Essays in Idleness. These sections cover the invigorating nature of travel, the purification of a temple retreat, the excellence of simple tastes, and meditations on the changing seasons of spring and summer. To prepare for these passages, it is worth looking at how unfamiliarity and geographical displacement act as vital tools for intellectual and aesthetic renewal.
Kenkō writes that travel is "invigorating," because it exposes the mind to unfamiliar environments, breaking the autopilot of routine. When we remain in one place, our surroundings become invisible; we stop looking at the houses, the trees, and the people, treating our daily environment as a passive background. Travel forces our attention to power up. In a new city or along an unfamiliar mountain road, we must actively process the landscape, noticing the specific details of a building's eaves, the scent of the air, or the unique character of the locals. Unfamiliarity is a cure for cognitive blindness, inducing the necessary friction to make us see again.
Similarly, a temple retreat or the choice to live with simple tastes is an intentional step away from the clutter of worldly ambition. It is an act of geographic and material subtraction. By removing ourselves from the busy competition of the capital—what Kenkō calls the "craving for worldly success"—we allow our hearts to cleanse themselves of impurities. We realign our minds with the natural seasonal cycles: the gentle sprouting of spring, the scattering of cherry blossoms, and the wild moonflowers of summer. We learn to find satisfaction in the fleeting, simple realities of the present rather than the abstract, liquid promises of the future.
This December, we will reflect on how to build a practice of geographic and cognitive retreat in our own lives. We will explore how to use the change of seasons and the minor friction of travel to shake off our routine habits, clearing our eyes to appreciate the beautiful, impermanent world we inhabit.