Editor’s Letter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
No.74\uff5cWAKAYAMA\uff082026\uff09 <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\nI\u2019d Rather be BIRDING.<\/strong> A trail changes when you walk with birds in mind. You still move forward, but not in the same way. A sound stops you. You look up. You wait. Then you walk again. In this rhythm\u2014walking, pausing, listening\u2014the trail unfolds differently. What was once a continuous path becomes a series of small moments. A hike becomes less about reaching a destination and more about being there, moving through it at a different pace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Wakayama, this feeling comes naturally. Walking the Kumano Kodo, Koya-san, and along the coast, we noticed small shifts: a bush warbler calling from somewhere unseen, the clear note of a varied tit echoing through cedar, a blue-and-white flycatcher crossing the path in a flash of color. Less like finding something, more like being quietly invited into a conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As we begin to recognize more\u2014sounds, patterns, small movements\u2014the forest comes alive. A call once unnoticed stands out, a flicker becomes something you follow. With that awareness comes a quiet excitement, a kind of creative energy. One guide said the more birds he recognized, the more the forest opened\u2014and that it even changed the way he played guitar. Little by little, you begin to notice more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Wakayama, this way of seeing has a long history. The naturalist Minakata Kumagusu observed the smallest forms of life\u2014mushrooms, slime molds, unseen networks\u2014believing entire worlds existed within them. The writer Ed Yong reminds us that every creature experiences the world in its own way\u2014and that most of it escapes us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Along the way, other rhythms appear\u2014plum blossoms, umeboshi, fresh water, an onsen along the trail. A place to reset, to let the day settle into the body\u2014like a human bird bath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At a certain point, as your attention deepens, a bird is no longer just a bird, but something older\u2014like a small dinosaur moving through the present. Colors and patterns stand out, like clothing worn lightly by nature. Observation begins to feel like play. And in that play\u2014listening, focusing, following\u2014the mind sharpens, the body relaxes, and a quiet clarity appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this issue, we explore how creativity and nature come together\u2014using birds as a bridge. Watching performing artist Aoi Yamada move, the line between human and bird softens\u2014gesture, rhythm, presence\u2014translating something we cannot quite see into something we can feel. In Mayuko Sannomiya\u2019s essay, we\u2019re reminded that to see is not always to look, and that birdsong can become a map of the landscape\u2014even a way of feeling the sky. Tomoki Kyuki\u2019s delicate hanga offers another way of seeing\u2014through line, memory, and time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of these expressions\u2014movement, sound, and art\u2014begin with paying attention to nature. Maybe this is where birding begins\u2014not in searching for birds, but in slowing down, becoming aware, and allowing ourselves to be found by the world around us. A small shift in attention\u2014and suddenly, everything is alive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n WAKAYAMA<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n PAPERSKY Soundtrack For Travelers A list of Songs to enjoy over a cup of coffee, while driving, and of course while flipping through the pages of the WAKAYAMA edition of Papersky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Selected by:
By LUCAS B.B.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At some point, I realized birding was less about seeing birds and more about awakening perception. At first, not everything draws you in\u2014a crow, a pigeon, a little scruffy, sometimes unwelcome, with all the squawking and the occasional risk of getting bombed. But when you begin to listen\u2014really listen\u2014the world starts to shift. What you thought you knew bends, and the road you walk opens in new ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSoundtrack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
WAKAYAMA Edition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
GOOD NEIGHBORS’ MUSIC VENDER
Kenji Hatogai\uff08studio ninebirds \/ BAGN\uff09<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n