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CHILDHOOD
“Even the most obscure mountain covered with the petals of spring and the leaves of autumn, is but a means, it is said, of conveying men across to the Other Shore.”
Shunsei

Shinran held her hand tightly. It felt good to be walking and skipping along their favorite pathway. The sun came through the woods and made pretty zig-zag shadows. The ground was soft with a thick carpet of pine needles. Birds sang their songs and called to one another freely.
lA butterfly perched on a thin reed, enjoying a seesaw. All in all, it was a lovely day.

At first he chattered, telling mother of all sorts of things. One day he had lost his rope and couldn’t find it. It was the rope he tied and untied around pieces of wood, which like magic became a horse he rode, as a great Samurai. Then one morning, he thought he saw a snake wiggling in the grass. He was only afraid a minute, because it was his rope. Oh, it seem- ed such a long time since they had walked this path together.

To a small boy, aged seven, a few weeks or months are like a year or a whole lifetime. Mother hadn’t been too well before baby bro- their joined their small family. So when mother said, “Let’s go for a walk, just the two of us”, why, Shinran’s heart had given a leap of joy.
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