The Kuragari-goe Nara Kaido is an ancient mountain pass road connecting Nara and Osaka, crossing over Mount Ikoma. Along its steep stone-paved slope, countless travelers have left their mark over the years — merchants carrying their loads, pilgrims bound for distant shrines and temples, wanderers hurrying home.

Each stone must once have been as rough and angular as the next. That they now reflect the light so smoothly is not the work of any single person. It is the accumulation of countless footsteps, left by travelers whose names were never recorded.

No traveler taking their first step onto the pass knows what awaits on the other side. And yet people keep walking, and each step, in time, becomes something no one can ever take away.