Word 065
At the border of Nara and Mie prefectures stands Mount Takamiyama, rising to 1,249 meters. It is known for some of the most demanding trails in the Kinki region.
Not long after setting out, the path steepens into a climb of exposed roots and shifting stones. Breath comes hard. Sweat stings the eyes. Each step forward feels uncertain underfoot. Looking upward, the tree canopy closes off the sky — the summit remains hidden, still somewhere far ahead.
But when you finally reach the ridge, the view opens all at once. The Yamato basin and the ridges of the Daiko Mountains spread out below. The slope that pushed back against every step just moments ago now rests quietly as nothing more than a hillside.
You may be going through some kind of hardship right now.
Yet the you who has overcome it, years from now,
will look back and say, "Those were tough times — I really worked hard."
In that moment of looking back, this very instant will already be
"a place you can never return to."
So why not find joy even in the suffering of this very moment!!
The difficult hours do not disappear — they settle, quietly, into the path you have walked, and remain there as your own.