Gods and humans think through feeling

It's been a while. It's cherry blossom season in Kyoto now, and many places will be in full bloom tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but this year the weather has been unstable and I'm worried that the cherry blossoms will fall right after they've bloomed.

I believe that practicing swordsmanship sharpens my mind and body, and enables me to more certainly appreciate the beauty of beautiful things, so if possible, before going to see flowers, or to an art museum, or before reading a good book, I will put my all into a single sword stroke.

Therefore, I always get hungry. I have declared that sword training and eating are two sides of the same coin. Even though I'm already in my mid-30s, I still eat like a growing child (lol). The feeling of the nutrients I eat being effectively absorbed into the parts of my body that I work on is as pleasant as a famous hot spring.

However, the other day, when I was enjoying the cherry blossoms at a botanical garden on a hill in my hometown on a weekday when there were no people around, the air and the scent of the flowers were delicious, my hunger was satisfied, and any sadness I might have felt mysteriously disappeared for a moment. Just having a cherry blossom mousse cake set with milk tea at a cafe in the botanical garden filled me up in both body and mind that day.

It may sound exaggerated, but at times like these, I remember the story of eating mist. I think the nutrients that make up the mind and body are taken from invisible sources, and they make both the mind and the body. People can be born into anything. The spirits and kami could be our children or ancestors.