Osame no Daishi: A prayer for the end and a sign of the beginning
Osame no Daishi | A prayer for the end and a sign of the beginning
December 21st is the monthly memorial day for Kobo Daishi, also known as "Osame no Daishi."
At temples around the country associated with Kobo Daishi, including Toji Temple in Kyoto, this day marks the end of the year's festivals. Stalls are lined up selling rakes and lucky charms, and the approach to the temple is filled with the aroma of fragrant aromas and the sound of people praying.
However, what WABISUKE wants to focus on is the quietness of the "Final Prayer" that lies behind the bustle.
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Joining hands at the end
We begin with a prayer, a wish, a vow, a determination.
But how often do we pray at the end?
Osame no Daishi is exactly that "day of prayer at the end."
Looking back on the past year, we quietly join our hands together with gratitude, regret, and a touch of nostalgia in our hearts. There is a deep, gentle feeling in the air that is different from the prayer at the beginning.
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Rakes and prayers for gleaning
Known as a lucky charm, the rake is a symbol of "raking in good fortune."
At Osame no Daishi, it is meaningful to pick up the rake with the feeling that you are gathering up the good fortune of the current year, while also praying for good fortune in the coming year.
It's an act of gently embracing the small happiness that you overlooked, the kindness of others, and the unexpected encounters that you had.
WABISUKE's craftsmanship is also similar to a "prayer to pick up" in many ways. We gently scoop up the beauty that exists in our daily lives and give it form. The gleam of worn-out fabric, the shine of worn metal fittings, the colors that remain in our grandmother's memories.
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A sense of the end dwells in the space
On the night of the final Daishi festival, the lights of lanterns flicker in the temple grounds.
As the voices fade away, the stalls are cleared away, and the cold air bites the skin, a sense of the end fills the air.
It's not loneliness, it's silence.
It's not emptiness, it's white space.
In the spatial design of WABISUKE, how to create a "sense of ending" is an important theme. How to place tools after use, when to turn off the lights, the expression of the space when no one is there. All of these things reside in the space like a prayer.
Closing a beautiful end is a preparation for a beautiful beginning.
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The beginning in the end
The Osame no Daishi is a prayer for the end, but also a day that carries the feeling of the beginning.
At this time of year, when many people are heading towards the end of the year, they buy their next year's planners, write New Year's cards, and prepare shimenawa ropes. Right next to the prayers for the end, there are preparations for the beginning.
It is this "gap" that embodies WABISUKE's poetic sensibility.
The end and the beginning are not opposites, but a continuum.
Prayer is the act of standing at a crossroads in time and reaching out to something invisible.
Please join your hands in prayer on this December 21st.
Say "thank you" quietly to this year.
And when they arrive, quietly say "Welcome."