Hato san (鳩さん）

There are many things about Japanese culture that I dislike and many more that I love. To keep things on a positive note, let’s analyze their closeness to nature.

Likely a consequence of the prevailing religious beliefs of Shintoism and Buddhism, the Japanese are extremely close to nature. There are so many “Kami” here to represent different aspects of the natural world that they sometimes worship “Yaoyozuro no kami” or the 8M gods. A Japanese coffee shop owner told me he reckons there are a lot more, but they couldn’t be bothered to count the exact number, understandably.

All this is to circle back to a particular situation today in which I saw this behaviour in a child. The Japanese use the suffix “san” to respectfully refer to someone or something else (often used for mountains). As I heard the words “Hato san” come out of the child’s mouth I felt compelled to write down this reflection. I do not know the origins here but “hato” means pigeon in Japanese (“Pato” means duck in Spanish/Portuguese; the way language evolves is fascinating…)

Lots of people hate pigeons. I believe they get a bad rep… They have been so useful throughout history (and even saved lives) and are now hated by most today. So to see this kid respectfully address one like that, gave me a bit of hope and put a smile on my face.

There are many things to be said about this closeness to nature and the respect for it that there is here. I think that though incomplete, it is an amazing way to close the gap between us and the world and thus between us and the present of “what is”. There is something there that others are missing out on for sure. The Yamabushi know this better than most, and that is why they venture into the mountains so often. In the silent music of the forest, the gap is very thin.

P.S. somehow that does not seem to extend to dolphins and whales out here, one of those inconsistencies of Japan I suppose 🤷‍♂️