eleven portraits

 

shapes draped

 

 

shapes draped

in silence

freeze-framed

 

 

 

reflections

 

 

alone

 

a dark passage

takes me

to the light

 

reflections

of a city

 

the last monk

 

The komusō (虚無僧, komusō, hiragana: こむそう; also romanized komusou or komuso) were a group of Japanese mendicant monks  of the Fuke school of Zen Buddhism who flourished during the Edo period of 1600–1868. 

The order went underground following reforms introduced by the post-Edo government. The last adherent disappeared mysteriously in the 1950s, since when nothing has been heard of the order.

 

Komusō were characterized by a straw bascinet (a sedge or reed hood named a tengai) worn on the head, manifesting the absence of specific ego but also used for being able to travel incognito.

 

It was very rare to catch sight of a Komusō with his mask removed.

 

 

 

a year in village life - part 2