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The Japanese are known for their cultural tradition of hanami — the viewing of cherry blossoms. The blossoms are seen as a metaphor for life itself; beauty tinged with an ineffable sadness because its so ephemeral.
There’s another tradition, one shared by photographers and visually sensitive people. Let’s call it janku hyōji — the viewing of junk. Unlike hanami, it’s not a seasonal event. Pleasing arrangements of junk can appear anywhere, anytime. The junk arrangement may be transient; a trash collector may toss it in the back of a truck, or perhaps gravity will displace the arrangement, or it might be casually pushed aside and the arrangement destroyed. Or it could stay as it is for years, gradually giving in to rust or rot. As with hanami, the uncertainty of junk can be seen as a metaphor for life; beauty tinged with ineffable sadness. Nothing lasts.
That, of course, is all the more reason to be aware of it — to engage in janku hyōji, to seek out random, pleasing arrangements of junk and celebrate them, to witness the beauty that’s right there in front of us while it’s right there in front of us.
Photo "10658941025" not found (invalid ID)Photo "10658941025" not found (invalid ID)Photo "10658941025" not found (invalid ID)Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
