It has been exactly eight years since I moved to Iga, in Mie Prefecture, Japan. Since I began living here, I have started paying attention to the changing sky and weather every day.
When I lived in Osaka, I hardly ever looked up at the sky. I only really wondered whether it would rain that day. I checked the Japan Meteorological Agency weather forecast, and that was enough.
But since coming to Iga, the first thing I do every morning is look up at the sky.
Iga Days Shaped by the Sky
Should I go to the farm? Should I weave in the workshop? Or should I dye cloth? In Iga, what I do that day can change greatly with the sky.
One evening recently, I happened to look outside and saw the sky glowing with an extraordinary color. The tiled roofs and the trees in the garden all seemed wrapped in a pale reddish-purple light.
▼ A pale reddish-purple evening sky I looked up at in Iga.
I probably would not have noticed it from inside a city building.
Not just looking at the sky to check the weather, but simply looking at the sky.
Somewhere during my eight years of living in Iga, that quiet moment became part of my everyday life.