At a nursery school where my daughter goes at an altitude of 1,300 meters, there is “Forest Time” and children spend lots of time in the forest adjacent to the nursery.
My two and a half-year-old daughter can’t tell much yet, but a correspondence notebook between a class teacher and parents in which the teacher writes about things they did and happened on each day, tells about making strawberry jam sandwiches and taking them to the forest to eat.
It tells about playing with swaying hammock in the grove, and dabbling in a mountain stream.
It even writes about encountering wild deers! All these many things are written.
What’s more, she brings back home the treasures met in the forest such as a coronet made of white clover, pinecone, conker and even deer dung.
Children are growing up protected by the peaceful presence of the forest.
Six months have passed since I moved to the foot of Yatsugatake.
In my new life, I wander in the forest alone when I have some time.
When I set my foot in the forest, it feels chilly for a moment and the air changes from there.
If it’s sunny, a ray of sunshine filtering through the branches of trees leads me to a light step, and it’s also good to wander in fog with drizzles as I feel I become enriched by fresh & watery-looking trees & plants, moss and rocks.
When I am enshrouded in the forest which is like a cocoon made of trees, stillness appears inside me.
Spending time in such a forest is somewhat similar to handloom-weaving which restores silence to myself, and just like dyeing with plants, it goes well with me.
The “Forest time” which is also linked to dyeing and weaving, brings me up just like the children.