Kumomi: The Next Japanese Sensation

TIM BUNTING

KIWI YAMABUSHI

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Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud and home to some of the best places for Kumomi in the world.

I propose a new Ikigai. A new Shinrinyoku. A new Wabisabi. A new practice based on Japanese culture.

I call it Kumomi.

Cloud-watching.

Sure, watching the clouds is a common pastime in other parts of the world.

But so is taking a walk in the forest.

Blue, black, and white skies all in one. In Kumomi, we call this the trifecta!

Why should taking a walk in the forest get all the attention? What about those fluffy things in the sky? Anyone who has spent more than a few minutes staring up would know, clouds are awesome!

Sometimes they are black and scary.

Sometimes they flash!

Sometimes they are white and dainty, like a giant sheep you just want to cuddle.

Sometimes they hide, leaving you longing for more.

The Shonai Region here in Yamagata gets amazing Jacob’s ladders in Autumn, the best time for Kumomi!

Other times they look like dragons, and in case you missed the memo, dragons are cool!

Plus, like forests, and as the Japanese always remind us, clouds change by the season.

Autumn clouds are the best clouds.

Early-autumn clouds in Sakata with a ‘country elevator’ (the Japanese word for rice silo) centre-left in front of Gassan. That’s Yunosawa-dake to the right.

Autumn clouds are my favourite clouds. In autumn, you get very fine days of pure blue with long stretches of white. Then you get cloudy and rainy days with the added bonus of holes creating Jacob’s ladders that put the spotlight on random things in the distance: a certain section of a forest, a mountaintop, a building like the ‘country elevators’ (see above photo caption) here in Japan.

And sometimes, if you’re really lucky, the torii gates of Yudono-san:

I actually took this photo during a yamabushi training. Please don’t tell anyone. I wasn’t supposed to have my camera on me, but true Kumomi enthusiasts know you always need your camera on you.

It all makes for such drama on a literal worldly scale. It is also such a simple form of entertainment, like people watching.

Or walking in the forest.

Kumomi.

Cloud-watching.

Try it when you’re next outside. See how it changes you as a human, and let me know how you go while you’re at it!

This article from the Kiwi Yamabushi newsletter got more than 1,000 reads, so I decided to put it here for everyone. Get articles just like this in your inbox by signing up here. Paid subscribers get priority access and access to the full archive of over 100 articles.