Sketch the landscape with your eyes and watch it.

Shinjuku Gyoen was originally built as a residence and garden of the Naito family. The former garden site is the current Tamamo Pond. The simplicity of the place has not changed since the time it was created. A gorgeous mansion was created, and the garden can wear down the senses of the onlooker if they concentrate on the superior wood and stone craftsmanship.

Yet for all this gaudiness, the Natio family was quite down to earth. They did not like luxury, and they slowly created this scenery without touching on gaudy elements over the course of a 100 years . The family often invited people into the garden to enjoy the scenery. Eventually Naito became the owner of the Shinshu high castle, and the place became a villa for the family. During their stewardship over the place it was surely a time of great greenery. Around this area, the Takato-Ohigan cherry blossom was planted on a quiet edge of the garden, a perfect place to sketch.

Even if you cannot draw a picture, everyone is capable of sketching a scene in words. It is perfectly acceptable to just write down bullet points in about the scene you’re seeing.

The question is how you see it. What you think is beautiful. The sky, ground, greenery, wind, sound, and light. One by one carefully, like you are trying to sketch with words, try to write something about the scene around you. Based on the context, without intention you may find connections, and the scenery before you may come alive. The scene which you see through your words is none other than your mental scenery of the place.

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