%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 Review #3730745 |
 | Aokigahara  [18+] Just read it...  |
| (5.0)| Fyn, I am seldom taken on such a journey of wonderful discovery. I am thrilled when I am. You of course captured my interest and imagination in your marriage of mythical Japanese philosophy, lore, and reality. The fact that you seamlessly wed it to Greek mythology was no small task, but accomplished with brilliance. I think this may be one of your finest works - and that's saying something  Where to begin - I can only take snippets and highlight their faultless imagery and brilliantly twisted musings... Imagery: this passage early in the piece paints a picture of a forest watching, waiting, and grasping the destitution of those who come here to complete a task, a final task. Breathing woods absorbing souls... as if the forest had gone for a stroll and then knelt when a soul ventured near. Identification: Jukai - "Sea of Trees", so flawlessly painted is this Mt. Fuji Aokigahara forest of suicides and last hopes - dark and lifeless it sustains little life and takes more than it births - "breath forever away...swallowed whole" - amazing writing here... Jukai, of the breathtaking views where hanging hemp ropes take breath forever away. Living greens so dense, sounds are swallowed whole: No one hears the screams in Aokigahara The path to the Mystic: Here you change the direction to invite the wanderings of the mind to the mystic, mentioning the "Yurei" - angry spirits, lingering ghosts...the frightening and unwelcoming - who are never far from the visitor, misting, but present. Yurei, Japanese spirits who yet cling to Earthly realm flit between the trees-- white, shifting forms caught only in the corner of your eye Wedding Mythology: Wedding Theseus- son of Poseidon, how apt. The great hero and slayer of beasts. The journeyer and conqueror of the underworld and feared Minotaur (man & bull) who existed in his own labyrinth - not unlike the tubes and mazes of the Aoikgahara itself. The analogy is a piece of brilliance - the analogy of the visitors who use tape to mark their paths in Aokigahara wed to Theseus' own path marked with "thread" to slay the Minotaur and find his way out of this island of Crete Labyrinth. I am reminded of gaily wrapped presents but here, what is unwrapped is death-- here, there is only the past where Theseus unwinds his ball of thread in the labyrinth of the Minotaur, in the labyrinth of Aokigahara. You continue the theme in the Japanese Apollo butterfly that is indigenous, and Apollo, who holds the promise of light or not - Death lies in the mists, in the midst of the living. An Apollo butterfly rests on a sign pleading for life-- Apollo, god of light, of plagues, of music seems to have no place here but for the plague of suicide which runs rampant. Finale: You wrap up the piece with a summary and conclusion that isn't trite but emotionally powerful. Aokigahara, Sea of Trees looks up to the sun glinting off Mount Fujiyama but beneath the canopy are only the fallen. This was a feast for the senses - in the image of Homer. I'm one lucky Rising Star to have a mentor who possesses this within them. Brilliant - just Brilliant  Calli ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only **
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You responded to this review 07/10/2012 @ 6:59pm EDT